Test Scores Fall Between Elementary, Middle Schools, Audit Finds

OCALA -- A comprehensive audit of Marion County public schools found that, when compared to their peers, children receive a better-than-average education despite an ineffective central management structure, high dropout rate and overcrowded classrooms.

SchoolMatch, a private company based in Westerville, Ohio, that analyzes how well school districts educate students, evaluated local schools at the request of local business and community leaders to assess the public school system. The audit cost about $70,000.

The audit team will present its report this morning at the Ocala/Marion County Chamber of Commerce Business/Education Forum.

"When you look at the district as a whole, they're well above average in preparing students for college and below average in retaining students," said SchoolMatch President William Bainbridge. "There's a good deal of reason for concern in the student retention rate and a great deal of pride in how these high schools are preparing these students for college."

The audit report portrays the Marion County public school system as one with high expectations for achievement and varying results.

The International Baccalaureate program at Vanguard High School gives some 350 college-bound students "outstanding academic opportunities."

Test scores for both the Scholastic Assessment Tests and American College Tests surpass the mean and effectiveness levels for school populations similar to Marion County.

And individual schools are staffed with dedicated, enthusiastic employees.

SchoolMatch does not compare school districts. It compares school populations using information in a database of roughly 15,000 school districts nationwide.

Marion County students are first compared to students in 150 districts and, ultimately, 10 districts from California to Connecticut with a socioeconomic background most similar to theirs.

SchoolMatch uses factors such as poverty level, income and education levels within the community to compare student populations.

Auditors combined raw data supplied by the school district with perception surveys given to a random sample of parents, teachers and administrators as well as their own personal observations during a December visit to Marion County to formulate recommendations.

Two key recommendations in the 138-page report are to develop a districtwide strategic plan, including the curriculum, and consider reorganizing the central office.

The auditors also advise that the district do a better job of informing the general public to improve both knowledge and trust. Specifically, the audit noted that the school district does not always effectively explain itself to parents.

Superintendent of Schools John Smith and School Board Chairwoman Cheryl Appelquist have already started formulating a long-term strategic plan. The School Board met last week with a select group of community leaders to seek additional input for the upcoming plan.

And the quest to meet statewide Sunshine State Standards is part of the impetus behind an eventual retooling and standardization of curriculum.

Both those items are a head start on recommendations made by the SchoolMatch team. Smith said that he's looking forward to Bainbridge's presentation. And while district officials hadn't fully digested the report when Smith was interviewed last week, he said, at first blush it appeared sound.

"My impression, and those on the staff that have looked at it, believe it to be a good report, both in the information it provides and as a good report about the Marion County public schools," Smith said. "It's well prepared, it gives us a perspective we don't have in terms of how we fit relative to similar school districts, based on the criterion they've selected.

"I think it would be a challenge to say 'this school system is exactly like another,' but based on the criterion they selected, it gives us that reference point," he added.

Smith said he would have liked to see more socioeconomic factors used for comparison.

"I would have liked to have seen information relative to ethnicity and diversity," Smith said. "We give attention to students that are speakers of other languages, both in terms of our delivery systems ... and preparing our teachers and staff."

"Also mobility, that change has an impact, that constant change," Smith said, referring to the frequency with which students change schools during the academic year. "We know that we have a very high mobility rate.

"That would have been of interest to me, to see how districts with similar mobility rates, how that impacts student performance."

Bainbridge said the mobility rate isn't a major concern if the school district has a properly aligned curriculum. "There are some districts in this country that are so well aligned with their curriculum ... that students can move from one building to another and not have a serious problem," Bainbridge said.

Auditors also cited poor communication both within the school system and from the school system to the general public.

A portion of the SchoolMatch audit included a survey of parent, teacher and school administrator perceptions of the school district in the areas of leadership, emphasis on learning, school climate, monitoring student progress and high expectations. Perceptions were graded on a scale of 1 to 4, with 1 being very strong, 2 strong, 3 weak and 4 very weak.

For the most part, parents and teachers shared the same perception: They usually awarded a grade above 2 indicating that the school district is not quite strong. Administrators consistently perceived the district as being somewhere between strong and very strong.

Throughout the report, the auditors found both good and bad. For example, Marion County juniors and seniors score well on the SAT and ACT tests, but not enough seniors take them.

Also, only 6.54 percent of all juniors and seniors take advanced placement courses, and not enough of those score a 3, 4 or 5 -- which allows them to get credit for entry-level college courses.

Teacher and student attendance in Marion County are both above the mean but below effective levels. Teachers missed an average of 5.66 days per teacher per year, compared with a mean of 7 and effective rate of 5.

Marion County students have a 92.4 percent attendance record -- better than the mean rate of 92 percent but below the 95 percent effective level.

But Marion County's dropout rate is a staggering 17.52 percent -- meaning one of every six students who enter the freshmen class do not finish high school. The mean for school districts with student populations similar to Marion's is 11.6 percent and the effectiveness level is 10.4 percent. Effectiveness levels, as defined by the audit, are achieved by the top 15 to 20 percent of the school districts surveyed.

Class size is too large, and the number of portables used to house classes (472) is too high, auditors say.

It should be noted that $94 million of the school district's $163 million, five-year capital outlay program is going toward building new classroom space. If state attendance projections hold true, there would be about 100 portables in use in 2003.

The audit also showed some disturbing trends. As a school district, scores on achievement tests decline between elementary and middle school. Specifically, scores on reading and math are highest in third and fourth grade and start to dip in most schools in fifth grade. The trend is most evident in reading scores.

According to the audit, that means the teaching styles used in third and fourth grade are more effective than those used in fifth grade.

Another unusual trend uncovered is that in elementary and middle schools students appear to achieve more in mathematics. But at most high schools, more 11th-grade students pass the communications portion of the High School Competency Test, hinting that the learning patterns are flopped.

The report concludes with 18 recommendations that SchoolMatch auditors believe will help improve the Marion County school system. James C. Manley, superintendent of the Northgate, Pa. school district and one of the speakers at Monday's audit presentation, will offer methods for incorporating SchoolMatch suggestions.

Attendees at the four-hour presentation will also participate in breakout sessions to rank the recommendations and rate the top five priorities for change.

The Marion 2020 Task Force, the group that commissioned the SchoolMatch study, will also continue with an eye towards helping the school district take action on the recommendations.