From the President
Hello from the BEA President, Andrew Rath.
The 2011-2012 school year is about to begin. I am always excited about the beginning of a new school year. There is a sense of wonder about the year to come. A sense of joy at meeting new people and helping them to reach their own goals. This year, however, I also feel a sense of whiplash after being pulled and pushed between the reality I know about the good work being done in my own district, and the falsehoods and misrepresentations that are being used to promote a political education agenda in Idaho.
On one hand, the academic success of the students of the Boise School District keeps improving despite the challenges that we face. Yet, on the other hand, we are surrounded by the over-generalized over-politicized talk about how poorly public schools are serving our children.
Here are some facts:
- Boise School District enrollment has declined nearly 2,000 students from its peak in 1998. In that same time, the percentage of students living in low socio-economic status in the District has risen from 36% to over 47% of students.
- Since 2000, the number of elementary schools where 50% or more of the students live in poverty has risen from 10 schools to 16. In 1990, there were only 2 elementary schools dealing with the same levels of poverty in the District.
- Of the 2087 Limited English Proficient students in the Boise Schools, about half of them come to Boise as refugees from around the world. Many have never even been to school before and are not even proficient in their native language. In the past decade, the number of LEP students in Boise Schools has doubled.
- At the same time the needs of the students in the District continues to increase, funding has been reduced. $21 millon has been cut from the District’s operating budget in just the past 3 years. Next year, the District will need to cut an additional $17 million from its general funds.
So, it would seem that the stage is set for the general decline in student achievement that plagues so many of the larger, urban school districts around the country right? Well, not so fast.
Here are some more facts:
- 93% of Boise School District students score at or above the proficient levels on the Idaho Standards Achievement Test for reading.
- If you factor out the Limited English students, the reading achievement rises to 96% scoring at proficient or better across the District.
- Once our LEP students have been given the time and opportunity to develop proficient use of the English language they are exited from LEP status. These LEPx students, most of whom knew little or no English just a few years before, score at a rate of 94% proficient or above on the same tests developed for native English speaking students.
The Boise School District staff and administration take pride in our efforts to prepare students for life beyond a K-12 education. Keeping in mind the dramatic changes in diversity, poverty rates, and multi-language needs over the past decade, students of the Boise School District excel in college preparation by taking and passing college advance placement classes.
Some facts, again:
- In 1990, about 400 Advanced Placement Exams were taken in the Boise School District. In 2011, 8 times that many exams (3,210) were taken by Boise students.
- About 1,000 more individual students took an Advanced Placement Exam in 2011 than did just 10 years earlier.
- 38% of all Boise School District juniors or seniors took at least one Advanced Placement Exam last year.
- 77% of AP exams taken by Boise School District students in 2010 were scored “3” or above. In Idaho, it was 69% (which included Boise scores as well). Nationally, it is 58%.
The Boise School District in-fact meets the needs of its students very well. However, maintaining that achievement is an on-going process that requires constant attention by the professionals that make up the District staff. Each person that goes to work to improve the Boise School District plays a critical role in the success of a child. As we begin again this year, I say thank you to the staff of the Boise Schools – and job well done.
-Andrew