SBAc: Part 3 – Battle Ground SD vs. Washington State

This article is 9 pages. Rather than trying to format it to be readable in the blog it’s easier if we provide the document for you in .pdf format. Download it by clicking on the link. It will take a few minutes to read.

Here are the highlights:

1. Looking at the test scores by following students as they move up in grades makes most of the results look better
2. 40% to nearly 60% of the students taking the test are listed as failing. All prior tests showed a different picture. Why? Are the students suddenly dumber? Is the SBAc flawed? Were the prior tests too easy and not indicative of true performance?
3. Battle Ground sometimes beats the State and other times falls short. Battle Ground does carry ~30% more personnel than paid for by the State (local levy pays the bills)…unfortunately there is no evidence that extra people makes any difference. The district confirms there is no evidence…but they keep adding more people and spending more money.
4. The last three (3) years has seen the Battle Ground SD budget increase by 18.9%…that’s right…almost 20% higher in 3 school years but the test scores show no correlation

Reference for inflation rate 2014-15-16 was:  Inflation (http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/current-inflation-rates/) for 2014 = 1.6%; 2015 = 0.1% and 2016 = 1.3%. If we add those up we see a 3 year inflation rate of 3%.

There are a number of tables and links to the OSPI website are included so you can do your own comparisons. This project took a lot of time. Doing it for your own district could be enlightening. If you want to duplicate the analysis for your district email us and we’ll share the Word document so you don’t have to re-create it. You’ll just need to gather the numbers.

We really hope you find this useful. Money alone isn’t the answer. Extra people isn’t the complete answer. It takes committed parents, engaged students, high standards, caring teachers and a supportive system.

Here’s the link to the full document in pdf format: BGSD vs WA State SBAC performance 14-15 to 16-17

If you would like to look up your district’s budget history you can go to: http://www.k12.wa.us/SAFS/reports.asp    On the upper right side click the drop down box and choose your school district. From there you can choose the year,

If you want to look up the details on your school district (enrollment numbers; test scores; ethnic mix; etc.) you can click this link: http://reportcard.ospi.k12.wa.us/summary.aspx?groupLevel=District&schoolId=1&reportLevel=State&yrs=2016-17&year=2016-17    Upper left you can click the drop down box and choose any district in the state (it’s set for Washington State as whole in the link). Then, on the right side of the screen choose the school year you want the information for (in the link it’s set for the 2016/17 school year).

With those numbers you can calculate almost anything you want to know about spend per child, absences, etc. Good hunting! If you find anything of interest share it with us and we’ll share it with our readers.