The Tennessee Achievement School District is holding meetings this week at Madison Middle and Neely’s Bend Middle to determine which of those two schools it will takeover and likely hand to a charter operator in 2015.
Back in October, it was announced that five Nashville middle schools were on the potential takeover list. They included Jere Baxter, Bailey, and Joelton.
Now, it’s down to Madison and Neely’s Bend.
As the discussion moves forward, it’s worth noting how these schools have been doing relative to the ASD average.
In Reading/Language Arts, Neely’s Bend and Madison Middle outperform all ASD schools except LEAD Academy at Brick Church. While the two year gains are slightly lower than the ASD average, the number of students scoring proficient or advanced is nearly 7 points higher than the ASD average.
| Dist | School Name | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2 year gains | ||
| Achievement School District | Brick Church – LEAD | 23.7% | 12.8% | 37.20% | 13.50% | ||
| Davidson | Neely’s Bend Middle School | 25.0% | 21.60% | 24.30% | -0.70% | ||
| Davidson | Madison Middle School | 23.0% | 23.60% | 24.00% | 0.98% | ||
| ASD | C1 – Humes Upper | 15.2% | 27.6% | 18.8% | 3.6% | ||
| Achievement School Distrit | Achievement School Distrit Average | 15.60% | 13.60% | 17.00% | 1.40% | ||
| ASD | C2 – Whitney Elementary | 18.7% | 9.6% | 16.3% | -2.4% | ||
| ASD | C1 – Westside Middle | 16.9% | 14.2% | 15.5% | -1.4% | ||
| ASD | C1 – Cornerstone Prep (Lester) | 10.0% | 4.3% | 15.4% | 5.4% | ||
| ASD | C1 – Corning Achievement Elementary | 20.6% | 12.1% | 12.4% | -8.2% | ||
| ASD | C1 – Frayser Elementary | 13.1% | 4.8% | 8.9% | -4.2% | ||
| ASD | C2 – Georgian Hills | 11.1% | 15.9% | 8.4% | -2.7% | ||
| ASD | C2 – Hanley Elementary | 11.2% | 10.4% | 5.0% | -6.3% | ||
In Math, Madison Middle is slightly below the ASD average while Neely’s Bend is slightly above. Again, LEAD at Brick Church outperforms all others.
| Dist | School Name | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2 year gains | ||
| Achievement School District | Brick Church – LEAD | 17.5% | 24.20% | 41.20% | 23.70% | ||
| ASD | C1 – Corning Achievement Elementary | 18.3% | 32.8% | 31.0% | 12.7% | ||
| ASD | C1 – Cornerstone Prep (Lester) | 8.3% | 10.6% | 25.3% | 17.0% | ||
| ASD | C2 – Whitney Elementary | 17.7% | 18.5% | 24.1% | 6.4% | ||
| Davidson | Neely’s Bend Middle School | 15.7% | 23.20% | 23.70% | 8.00% | ||
| ASD | C1 – Humes Upper | 18.6% | 17.9% | 22.1% | 3.5% | ||
| Achievement School Distrit | Achievement School Distrit Average | 15.1% | 19.60% | 21.80% | 6.70% | ||
| ASD | C1 – Westside Middle | 18.6% | 18.8% | 16.6% | -2.0% | ||
| Davidson | Madison Middle School | 16.20% | 12.30% | 16.30% | 0.10% | ||
| ASD | C1 – Frayser Elementary | 10.8% | 13.3% | 14.6% | 3.8% | ||
| ASD | C2 – Georgian Hills | 10.6% | 23.6% | 11.6% | 1.0% | ||
| ASD | C2 – Hanley Elementary | 15.4% | 22.7% | 8.1% | -7.3% | ||
When compared with Jere Baxter, Bailey, and Joelton, both Neely’s Bend and Madison Middle score higher than the other three in RLA
| Dist | School Name | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | TVAAS 2014 | Enrollment |
| Davidson | Neely’s Bend Middle School | 25.0% | 21.60% | 24.30% | 2 | 548 |
| Davidson | Madison Middle School | 23.0% | 23.60% | 24.00% | 1 | 756 |
| Davidson | Bailey STEM Magnet Middle | 17.30% | 17.10% | 16.20% | 1 | 445 |
| Davidson | Jere Baxter Middle | 24.00% | 17.70% | 15.80% | 1 | 435 |
| Davidson | Joelton Middle School | 15% | 21.40% | 21.50% | 4 | 277 |
Neely’s Bend is solidly in the middle in Math, while Madison is at the bottom there.
| School Name | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | TVAAS 2014 | Enrollment |
| Neely’s Bend Middle School | 15.7% | 23.20% | 23.70% | 2 | 548 |
| Madison Middle School | 16.20% | 12.30% | 16.30% | 4 | 756 |
| Bailey STEM Magnet Middle | 11.40% | 11.80% | 19.90% | 3 | 445 |
| Jere Baxter Middle | 24.70% | 26.10% | 25.50% | 5 | 435 |
| Joelton Middle School | 19.70% | 25.10% | 25.80% | 5 | 277 |
The data analysis raises some questions in my mind:
1) Why were these two schools targeted for potential takeover when other schools in MNPS show a lower performance?
2) Why would parents want their schools, which outpeform the ASD average, to be taken over by the ASD?
3) Why is LEAD an ASD anomaly? What’s going right at LEAD that can be replicated? Or, is it even practical to replicate what LEAD is doing across Metro Schools?
4) In Shelby County, iZone schools outperform ASD schools. Why not consider an iZone conversion for these Nashville schools?
5) What are the plans to provide resources/assistance to Jere Baxter, Joelton, and Bailey? These schools clearly need help and the ASD takeover in Madison won’t make that happen.
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What has always amazed me is that the argument is always made that the school is failing.
Schools are made up of brick and mortar. The scores come from the students and what causes those scores is complex and has little to do with public school or teachers. That was determined in the 1960s and no one has proved it wrong. In fact, follow up studies have only supported the original report that a child’s family and environment out side of school has the biggest impact on what a child learns and even more so on test results.
I’m all about using data, but I think it’s important to value growth more than absolute achievement in this situation. The ASD is working with schools primarily in Memphis that have had proficiency percentages in the single digits or low teens. Schools where only a handful of kids are proficient or advanced prior to takeover.
Turnaround work is hard work. In these situations, looking at growth data is more valuable and accurate then looking at absolute achievement, AND we should look at growth over the number of years. Does the ASD have room for growth? Sure. But an inaccurate depiction of the data such as this doesn’t paint a true and full picture of the situation.
The growth data is also included for review. And schools other than Neely’s Bend and Madison have lower rates of growth. The ASD is showing growth, albeit slowly. That’s not hidden — it’s right there in the data to be examined. In terms of both performance and growth, LEAD at Brick Church does a nice job relative to other schools both in the ASD and in MNPS overall. For what it’s worth, the ASD’s growth is still well below what Chris Barbic called for when he took over. And in some cases, the growth is slower than it was before the ASD took over. It’s fair to question what’s going well at LEAD/Brick Church and how both the ASD and district schools might replicate that.
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