how frequently does the letter "n" appear in:
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ask about new york schools data
robert gebeloff, a computer-assisted journalist with an expertise in education, responded to readers.
following is the second set of responses from robert gebeloff, a computer-assisted journalist with an expertise in education who has been working on an extensive database of new york education statistics.
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who is overseeing the content of the tests? what protections do we have that the testing is not being adjusted or “dumbed down” to make the city or even particular subsets look good? who oversees that these are actually meaningful tests to begin with?
— posted by dennis
the state tests have generated considerable controversy in the last several years. when the state released the test scores last spring, merryl h. tisch, the chairwoman of the state’s board of regents, said she was skeptical about the results, pointing out as many others had that national tests did not show anywhere near the same level of improvement. the state hires ctb/mcgraw-hill to develop the tests and last year asked the company to revise them to encompass a broader range of the state curriculum. the state oversees the grading and scoring of the tests, and determines what score is needed to be considered passing at grade level. faced with the mounting criticism in even its own corners, last year the state agreed to allow daniel koretz, a testing expert at harvard, to carefully examine the tests.
the data for public school 175 on city island shows 385 students with 85 tested in the 3rd grade, 112 in the 4th, 113 in the 5th, 95 in the 6th, 114 in the 7th, etc. these counts don’t make sense, is there overlap here that’s not apparent?
— posted by ellen
for elementary and middle schools, we are providing a combined performance measure that answers the most simple question: how many students in this school are passing tests? you can then drill down to various test subjects.
the seemingly weird pattern you point out has to do with the grades in which various tests are offered. for third grade, the data covers english and math. but for fourth grade, there is also science, and fifth grade has social studies.
this is a great tool, but it would be even better if the data you have amassed is available in some bulk form. readers are limited to a rather narrow view of the data presented through these series of line graphs. for example, what if a parent would like to compare the results for five different schools? likewise, what if a reader would like to perform their own analysis or exam trends? this site does not facilitate such comparisons. making the data available in bulk machine-readable form would be a huge asset to the public and a boon for informed public discussion regarding education.
— posted by podv
thanks for your ideas. i’m hoping that what we have now is just small step to a feature with more data and better tools. learning what the audience wants in this regard is quite helpful.
do you keep data on charter schools?
— posted by tim howard magyar
yes. for now, the charters are integrated into the test score application by school district. in case you were wondering, exactly half of the k-8s we have in the database are sporting an overall performance index number of 100 or higher, and considering that most of these schools are located in poor communities, you could generally concluded that new york charters have performed well on tests, but we’ll be looking at this more closely in the months to come.
i know that the tests themselves have gotten easier and more preppable in recent years, and in addition the thresholds for scoring at grade level have dropped.
what about the threshold for scoring a 4 on ela/math? are the same proportion of children in nyc scoring 4 as, say, 10 years ago? have the number of points needed to score a 4 dropped, as they have to score a 2 or a 3? in other words, the tests no longer seem to measure anything meaningful as far as scoring at grade level is concerned. i’m wondering if a 4 on the ela or math exam is still meaningful.
— posted by ruth
there has been enough criticism of the test administration mechanics that the state has hired experts to review the entire system, and at one point i was involved in a story where we looked at how many correct questions were necessary to get a certain grade. but my focus is mostly on the bottom line: in an environment where scores are going up, for whatever reason, how can an end user make the most sense of the test data. this is why our app provides several measures of performance — not just the passing rate, but also the percentage scoring at the level below and level above. and, for each measure, we’re providing a comparative number, so you can see for yourself whether a school’s improving numbers are part of a state-wide trend or something unique.
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The given text has two hundred and forty-seven "n"s.
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