58 schools inflated grades in math, state agency says

— The Arkansas Department of Education on Tuesday cited 58 public high schools for inflating the grades of 20 percent or more of their students in Algebra I and geometry last school year.

The state’s action has immediate ramifications for those schools’ 2010 graduates, including those who took Algebra I and geometry before last year. Graduates of those schools who have taken the state’s recommended curriculum will now have additional requirements to qualify for the new lottery funded Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship.

The scholarship amounts, which will be set by the Arkansas General Assembly, could be as much as $5,000 a year.

Graduates of the 58 schools will now have to do more than earn a minimum 2.5-grade point average in the state’s preferred Smart Core curriculum or a composite score of 19 on the ACT college-entrance exam to be eligible for the scholarships, said Tara Smith, coordinator of financial aid in the Arkansas Department of Higher Education.

The Smart Core curriculum for the more than 20 high schools in the state includes four years of English, four years of upper-level mathematics and at least three years of upper-level science, as well as courses in social studies, career education and other subjects.

Now graduates from the 58 schools will have to earn the minimum 2.5 grade-point average, and either a 19 ACT composite score or score at a proficient or better level on all three of the state’s End of Course exams, Smith said. Those End of Course exams are in Algebra I, geometry and biology.

Some of the schools identified as having a 20 percent or more grade-inflation rate are Mills University Studies High, Oak Grove High and Jacksonville High in the Pulaski County Special School District; North Little Rock High-West Campus; and J.A. Fair, Hall and McClellan High in the Little Rock School District.

A sample of other affected schools around the state includes Dermott High, Osceola High, Mount Judea High, Nettleton High, Watson Chapel High, Newport High and Blytheville High.

Some of the state’s alternative schools are affected, as are two charter schools: the Osceola Communications, Arts and Business School, an open-enrollment charter school; and the Academic Center of Excellence, a conversion charter school in the Cabot School District.

The Education Department report is required by Act 2197 of 2005, said Julie Johnson Thompson, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Education. The inflation rates are posted yearly on the state’s performance report for each school.

The inflation report compares the grades of high school students who took Algebra I and geometry in the 2008-09 school year with their scores on the 2009 End of Course tests in those subjects.

High schools identified as inflating grades were those in which 20 percent or more of students made an A or B in math courses but scored at below-proficient levels on corresponding state exams.

Dollarway High, for example, had one of the highest grade-inflation rates in the state at 77.8 percent. Twenty-seven of Dollarway math students earned A’s and B’s in the math courses, but 21 of those 27 failed to score at proficient or better on End of Course tests.

Eighty of the math students at Little Rock’s J.A. Fair High earned A’s and B’s last year,but 48 of them missed the proficient mark on the state exams, giving the school a 60 percent grade-inflation rate.

“One of the main reasons for standardized tests is to make sure that the same level of rigor is being taught in classrooms across the state,” Arkansas Education Commissioner Tom Kimbrell said.

“It is important for an Algebra I student in Mena to know he is receiving the same quality of instruction as an Algebra I student in Marion.”

The state report had at least one high school principal calling foul Tuesday.

Tracy Allen, the new principal at North Little Rock High School-West Campus, said he was disappointed with the report, which showed that 50 students at his school earned grades of A’s and B’s, but only 21 of them earned a proficient or better score on the End of Course tests.

“We’re a campus of more than 1,400 students,” Allen said. “The vast majority do not take Algebra I or geometry on this campus. Yet for the 50 classified in the report, the other 1,350-something students we have are negatively impacted by those results. It’s not a fair evaluation.”

He also noted that the school did not get credit for the more than a dozen students who did not earn A or B grades in math last school year but did score at proficient or better on the state tests.

Allen said he and his staff will take steps to raise student achievement in math this year and into the future. That will include using the results of intermittent tests to prescribe extra help to students in need.

Thompson said the Education Department’s accountability monitors will also work to ensure that the 58 schools are teaching to the state’s standards in Algebra I and geometry.

A total of 46 Arkansas high schools had no grade inflation at all this past year, according to the report.

Some of those with no inflation included Robinson High in the Pulaski County Special School District, Benton High, Huntsville High, Gravette High, Bismarck High, Caddo Hills High, Marvell High and Barton High. Also included was the Knowledge Is Power Program: Delta College Preparatory Charter School in Helena-West Helena.

Statewide, the grade-inflation rate for the 2008-09 school year was 10.8 percent. There were 16,532 students who made A’s and B’s in Algebra I and geometry, 1,788 of whom did not score at a proficient or advanced level on state exams and thus had “inflated” grades.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 01/13/2010

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