tailieunhanh - Assessing the Performance of Public Schools in Pittsburgh

Recognizing that financial considerations are not the only ones that are relevant in the decisions that must be made to close schools, Superintendent Mark Roosevelt appointed a committee to consider how to realign schools in a way that would not only save resources, but also better serve the academic needs of students across Pittsburgh. Closing schools can have substantial impacts on students, families, and neighborhoods. | WORKING P A P E R Assessing the Performance of Public Schools in Pittsburgh BRIAN GILL JOHN ENGBERG AND KEVIN BOOKER WR-315-1-EDU December 2005 Prepared for the Pittsburgh Public Schools This product is part of the RAND Education working paper series. RAND working papers are intended to share researchers latest findings and to solicit additional peer review. This paper has been peer reviewed but not edited. Unless otherwise indicated working papers can be quoted and cited without permission of the author provided the source is clearly referred to as a working paper. RAND s publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors. RAND is a registered trademark. RAND EDUCATION Assessing the Performance of Public Schools in Pittsburgh Brian Gill John Engberg and Kevin Booker The RAND Corporation 2 December 20051 Summary To assist the Pittsburgh Public Schools PPS in decisionmaking about the realignment and closure of schools RAND addressed three key issues by analyzing student-level achievement data in the district. First we examined achievement gains in the middle grades 6-8 finding that students in Pittsburgh s K-8 schools and magnet middle schools generally outgain students in Pittsburgh s comprehensive feeder middle schools. K-8 schools in Pittsburgh appear to be especially beneficial for the achievement of African-American students at least in grades 6 and 7. Second we created an index of Average Student Achievement ASA in each school in the district combining results across tests subjects and grades and anchoring the index to proficiency results on the Pennsylvania System of Student Assessment PSSA . The ASA index provides a simple but robust composite snapshot of current levels of student achievement in each school. Third RAND developed a School Performance Index that uses statistical regression techniques and longitudinal analyses of the achievement of individual students over time to estimate each school s contribution to the