POTTSTOWN PA – How much bang do area taxpayers get for their educational buck?
By one yardstick – available from a politically liberal organization called the Center For American Progress (CAP) – the answer in the Pottsgrove School District appears to be a better than average amount; in the Spring-Ford district, slightly better still; and in the Pottstown district, below average.
A new Center For American Progress study indicates that the Pottsgrove School District provides a somewhat better than average return on taxpayers' investment in education.
The center, a Washington DC-based think tank that promotes itself as “dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through progressive ideas and action,” last week (Feb. 7, 2011) updated a study it claims is the “first-ever attempt to analyze the productivity of almost every major school district in the country.” The review includes its evaluations of Pottsgrove, Spring-Ford and Pottstown schools.
Titled “Return on Educational Investment,” the study “measures the academic achievement a school district produces relative to its educational spending,” while otherwise adjusting for factors outside each district’s control, such as the cost of living and students in poverty, according to a center press release.
Among districts in The Post coverage area, Spring-Ford provided the best ROI, CAP said.
On a scale of six levels of return on investment (ROI), with 1 being the lowest or worst and 6 being the highest or best, the CAP analysis of 2008-2009 school year data indicates that:
- Pottsgrove rated a 4, having spent $8,929 per student (after adjustments) on 3,164 students, of whom 22 percent were considered to be from low-income families, yielding what the study calls a “state achievement index” of 76;
- Spring-Ford also rated a 4, spending $9,582 per student (adjusted) on 7,372 students, 8 percent of whom were from low-income families, yielding an achievement index of 85; and
- Pottstown rated a 1, spending $8,518 per student (adjusted) on 3,140 students, 56 percent of whom were from low-income families, yielding an achievement index of 57.
The CAP report has been posted online in an interactive form that lets users view results in several ways. See it here.
Statewide, according to the CAP, the Duquesne City School District had both the lowest ROI rating, 1, and the lowest achievement index, 28. The Central Bucks School District had the highest ROI rating, 6, and the highest achievement index, 91.
The Pottstown district fared poorest in the CAP study.
CAP calculations are based on educational expenses only. For example, using the study numbers, Pottsgrove reportedly spent $28.2 million during the 2008-2009 school year to teach its students, but its final budget expenses for the same year were $49.9 million, according to district figures.
Depending how the members of public perceive the center’s political motivations, the study results may have great or moderate significance, or none at all.
However, its release dates – the study was unveiled Jan. 19 (2011), then revised 10 days ago for Florida and Georgia statistics and some maps – ironically coincide closely with the Tuesday night (Feb. 15) launch of the Pottsgrove Community Budget Task Force. The task force has been asked, in part, to judge the relative value – effectively, the return on investment – of many district expenses, to make recommendations on whether and how they should be reduced or eliminated, and to determine what impact they will have if modified.
The enormity of that job is emphasized by CAP itself. Its “individual district evaluations … should be interpreted with caution,” the center advised. “The connection between spending and achievement is a complex one, and our data does not capture everything that goes into creating an efficient school system,” it added.
Pottsgrove’s Board of School Directors repeated Tuesday that it will consider, but not be bound by, task force findings.
There have been a number of attempts over many years to both quantify and qualify a school district’s performance. It’s as much of vital interest to economic organizations, like chambers of commerce, as it is to families with children who are looking to buy their homes “where the schools are good.”
It was of interest Tuesday night, too. One task force volunteer asked Superintendent Dr. Bradley Landis “where does Pottsgrove rank?” among the state’s 501 school districts. Landis noted there were a variety of ranking systems, and declined to answer immediately. He offered instead to assemble information that will be delivered to task force subcommittees next week.
CAP contends its study represents one such, previously untried, ranking system. But since 1999 the performance standard upon which the state and school districts have relied is the Education Department’s “Pennsylvania System of School Assessment” and its determinations of “adequate yearly progress (AYP).”
AYP gauges how well, or poorly, districts teach their students in reading or language arts, and math. The goal is to have students deemed as “proficient” or better in those subjects by 2014. Districts can achieve AYP using attendance or graduation rates, academic performance, and test participation.
Across all students tested during the 2009-2010 school year, the latest period for which state statistics are available:
- Pottsgrove’s AYP results showed a combined 78.5 percent of students were considered proficient or advanced in math, and 73.3 percent were proficient or advanced in reading;
- Spring-Ford, 91.5 percent in math, and 86.7 percent in reading; and
- Pottstown, 71.3 percent in math, and 64.9 percent in reading.
By comparison, the state targets for the same year were 56 percent in math and 63 percent in reading. All three districts exceeded those targets.
Related (to the Pottsgrove School District 2011-2012 budget):
Related (to Pottsgrove PSSA results in 2009 and 2008):
NORRISTOWN PA – Petitions were allowed to begin circulating Tuesday (Feb. 15, 2011) for persons interested in running for public office in primary elections in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township and the Pottsgrove School District, according to the Montgomery County Board of Elections. Completed petitions for candidacy must be filed with the board by no later than March 8 (Tuesday).
HARRISBURG PA – John Rafferty, the state senator who represents Lower Pottsgrove and Limerck (PA) townships and the borough of Pottstown, says he plans to reintroduce a bill that would require government buildings to be constructed to meet green building standards, 
DELIGHTED WITH THE RESPONSE – School board members and administrators alike in the 
POTTSTOWN PA – 
