Above average: Good enough to forestall reforms?
In response to calls for the increased use of competition and choice in education, some people have said "We don't need this. Kansas schools are phenomenal." But are they so good that there's no room for reform? Let's look at the record. Schools ought to be judged by how well they educate students. Two quick metrics are graduation rates and standardized test scores.
Graduation rates: Many still not making it
While a high school diploma is no guarantee of a successful post-school life, students who fail to earn a diploma will face increased difficulties. On average, they earn only two dollars for every three earned by high school graduates. Society suffers as well — about $24 billion per year for increased spending on public welfare and crime, according to the federal government.
If we want to see how well Kansas does in comparison to other states, the keeper of the standards is the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES), a unit of the U.S. Department of Education.
According to the NCES, Kansas has an above-average higher graduation rate: 76.9 percent, compared to 73.9 percent nationally. That's an extra three students out of every 100. Good for Kansas.
On the other hand, Kansas does not take the top spot among its neighbors. Nebraska enjoys a higher rate, at 85.2 percent, as does Missouri, at 78.3 percent. Colorado and Oklahoma have lower rates. Comparisons aside, just over three out of every four students will graduate. That's hardly good enough for satisfaction.
The record is worse for minorities, a growing segment of our population. Dr. Jay Greene of the Manhattan Institute estimates that in Kansas, just over half (54 percent) of the African-American students who enter ninth grade will leave with a diploma. The rate of Hispanics is equally troubling, at 51 percent. If we want to be proud of our way of providing education, these numbers are not acceptable.
Whether we talk about the population as a whole, or break the numbers into subgroups, we find that Kansas is not seeing enough students through to a high school diploma.
Test results: Too many "basic" scores
States compare themselves to each other with the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The NAEP, for short, is sometimes called the Nation's Report Card. It has several different tests, but the math and reading tests given to fourth and eighth grade students are the most closely watched ones. The results released in late 2005 show that Kansas does significantly better than the nation on three of the four tests: grade 4 math, grade 8 math, and grade 8 reading. It is equal to (not better than) the nation on grade 4 reading. It always outpaces Oklahoma, but often the other neighboring states of Missouri, Nebraska, and Colorado do just as well.
In addition to giving a raw score for each state, the NAEP classifies a state's student scores into four achievement levels: below basic, basic, proficient, and advanced. Think of this as the "straight scale" way of grading. Below basic is undesirable, as the very term suggests, and "basic" means that the student has only partial mastery of the subject matter being tested. The levels that states want to see a lot of students in are proficient and advanced.
When we look at the test results this way, Kansans should find reasons to not be complacent. In math, every other student in fourth grade scored basic or worse; in eighth grade, the number is two out of every three.
Reading, is, if anything, worse. At both fourth and eighth grades, two of every three students were at the basic level, or worse.
In short, in none of the four most important tests did the percentage of students reaching the proficient or better exceed 50 percent. Is that satisfactory? Is it such a good record that we can say "Let's not try anything different, especially increased choice and competition?"
Time for a change
While Kansas parents, teachers, administrators, and political leaders may be doing what they can with the system at hand, the system is not fulfilling its promise. Pride at the state's relative success should not blind us to the shortfalls of the current approach. Over the years, we have added more money to the old way of doing things, while keeping the increased use of competition and choice at bay. Maybe it's time to start spending some of that money on charter schools, vouchers, and other means of reforms, so that all parties can be served well.
— John R. LaPlante
John R. LaPlante is an education policy fellow with the Kansas-based Flint Hills Center for Public Policy. The Flint Hills Center for Public Policy is an independent voice for sound public policy in Kansas. As a non-profit, nonpartisan think tank, the Center provides critical information about policy options to legislators and citizens.
