2008 Florida school grades released

I took the school grades for Orange county high schools and entered them into SPSS ver. 15.

The Pearson correlation coefficient for school grades and percent minority is -.667 (p=.003); this means that as the percent of minority students increases, high school grades decreases.

The Pearson correlation coefficient for school grades and percent poverty is -.650 (p=.005); this means that as the percent of poverty increases, high school grades decreases.

Next, I ran linear regression with high school grade as the dependent variable.

Percent minority accounts for 42.2 percent of the variation in high school grades (b=-3.67, t=-3.31, p=.005)

Percent poverty accounts for 44.4 percent of the variation in high school grades (b=-3.92, t=-4.62, p=.003)

These are the results, you may account for them as you wish.

"The 1,933 schools that earned A's or improved a letter grade this year will win bonus money at a rate of $85 per student."

My school went from a "C" to a "B", when can I expect this money?

Bobby wrote:

"The 1,933 schools that earned A's or improved a letter grade this year will win bonus money at a rate of $85 per student."
My school went from a "C" to a "B", when can I expect this money?

The state deposits the money into the school's account within the first month or two of the new school year.

If you are a teacher, don't let the SAC at your school dictate how the money will be spent.

According to state statute, it is between the faculty, staff and SAC to jointly decide on how the money will be allocated (e.g. bonuses, non-renewable supplies, temporary staff, etc.). If no agreement can be reached by Nov. 1, the money is divided equally among classroom teachers ONLY.

I had my twin, Lelise, fill in for me today. I hope to be back to work soon.

Thanks,
Leslie

Wait, do I have a twin? Or am I having trouble spelling my own name today?

Leslie Postal wrote:

I had my twin, Lelise, fill in for me today. I hope to be back to work soon.
Thanks,
Leslie
Wait, do I have a twin? Or am I having trouble spelling my own name today?

What in the bluest of blue hells are you talking about?

Freedom High School received a D for the second year.

The first few years this school was open, it ran itself because the first principal had health problems and was constantly absent. During those years, Freedom High received a C.

Since Mark Brown took over, the grade has dropped down to a D. So, the school actually performed better without a principal than with him.

I wish they would get rid of him.

Thank you Orlando Sentinel for presenting an accessible, full report of all the public schools. This is great, useful information. Thanks.

Nothing better to do wrote:

I took the school grades for Orange county high schools and entered them into SPSS ver. 15.
The Pearson correlation coefficient for school grades and percent minority is -.667 (p=.003); this means that as the percent of minority students increases, high school grades decreases.
The Pearson correlation coefficient for school grades and percent poverty is -.650 (p=.005); this means that as the percent of poverty increases, high school grades decreases.
Next, I ran linear regression with high school grade as the dependent variable.
Percent minority accounts for 42.2 percent of the variation in high school grades (b=-3.67, t=-3.31, p=.005)
Percent poverty accounts for 44.4 percent of the variation in high school grades (b=-3.92, t=-4.62, p=.003)
These are the results, you may account for them as you wish.

These results are still incomplete. For your equation to tell us anything you would still need to compute the percentage of students who are BOTH minorities AND low income and then show the correlation of:
1. low income
2. minority
3. low income and minority
4. neither low income nor minority

Mr Higgenbottom wrote:

<quoted text>
What in the bluest of blue hells are you talking about?

The journalist couldn't even spell her name right. It should be Leslie, not Lelise.

Dear Mr./Mrs./Miss “mathematician” from Mount Dora, Flori-duh.

Your comment was WAY BEYOND the scope of what I was doing here...

First, the Orlando Sentinel’s link to FCAT school grades by county DID NOT give individual level data. To do what you are asking, you really need to use Hierarchal Linear Modeling.

Second, I only had a sample size of like 17.

But since you asked…the correlation between poverty and minority was approximately .950.

A multiple regression equation based on aggregate data, which is what this is, with both % poverty and % minority suffers from high multicolinearity - the kappas, the tolerances, and the VIF statistics were very high; thus, this indicates that both predictor variables are measuring the same concept.

So, I ran them both separately for my incomplete exercise – remember – with a sample size of 17ish.

Regardless of the sample size, it is illogical to assume that school grade “causes”% poverty and/or % minority, so the causal path MUST go the opposite direction.

Most likely, it would seem that logically it would be (IN LINEAR FORM):

% Minority----->% Poverty----->School Grade

However, BOTH predictor (exogenous and endogenous) variables fall out of the equation because they both seem to measure the same concept (or account for similar amount of variation in the dependent variable).

Duh, one should expect this outcome; especially after considering the high number of minorities that are considered to be in poverty.

But at the end of the day, the statistics (based on n=17)“seem” to be consistent with said hypothetical results that one WOULD expect in a “REAL” study.

I think that this reflects a robust finding – that increased % Minority and/or increased % Poverty leads to a decrease in school grades.

Moreover…

Even if you did a simple t-test on a reasonable sample of white and non-white students comparing average FCAT scores, what the do you think that you would find?

Even if you did a simple One-way ANOVA on a reasonable sample of low, middle, and upper class students comparing average FCAT scores, what the do you think that you would find?

That’s my point exactly.

Ely High School is the best school, period.

Bobby wrote:

"The 1,933 schools that earned A's or improved a letter grade this year will win bonus money at a rate of $85 per student."
My school went from a "C" to a "B", when can I expect this money?

I teach as well and we went from a D to a B. How much is that per student?

Freedom Parent wrote:

Freedom High School received a D for the second year.
The first few years this school was open, it ran itself because the first principal had health problems and was constantly absent. During those years, Freedom High received a C.
Since Mark Brown took over, the grade has dropped down to a D. So, the school actually performed better without a principal than with him.
I wish they would get rid of him.

The year Mr. Brown took over was also the year that Freedom got a lot of kids from F schools. He TRIED to get a reading program started. The Children did not participate under their own terms.All that was ever focused on was FCAT. It's not his fault kids did not take it seriously. All that was heard in the halls were "Oakridge...Oakridge " If you love Oakridge so much GO BACK!!!!! Mr. Brown was a wonderful role model and was very by the book.