The Emporia school district received high marks in a Standard and Poor’s study released this week for 257 of the state’s 296 school districts.
The financial service firm’s study correlated school district spending with student learning to produce ratings for each of the districts.
The Emporia district received a 98.67 relative efficiency score, placing the district in the top 29 of all districts studied. Twenty-one districts received 100 percent ratings. The state average was 85 percent.
“I was very happy with the results,” said Susan Hernandez, associate superintendent of business for the district. “... (T)hat reflects how we spend money in relationship to our achievement with students. So it’s how our finances support the achievement levels of our students.”
Hernandez said that the S&P study gave different weightings to the districts, depending on the numbers of at-risk, special education, language students and others in special subgroups.
“We’re excited about being so close to being 100 and that our students are achieving at high standards that way,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez said that one of the byproducts of receiving a high S&P rating could come in the area of grants.
“Then you can point to this study, which is a national study, and show them what kind of progress you’re making,” she said.
The S&P study was supported by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who said the review would identify districts making full use of educational resources while simultaneously identifying less-efficient districts and showing areas where they could improve performance.
“We cannot spend our way to excellent,” Sebelius said in an Associated Press story, “but we can achieve excellence through strategic investments in the right areas. This study is a road map of what works and what doesn’t. ... This report helps us get the best return on our investment.”
Other districts
Scores from other school districts in this area were:
• Osage City, 94.7
• Southern Lyon County, 87.31
• Burlington, 84.02
• Morris County, 83.13
• Madison-Virgil, 82.09
• North Lyon County, 79.58
• Chase County, 76.46
• Lyndon, 76.21
• Lebo-Waverly, 74.25
• LeRoy-Gridley, 72.48
zoahjoe (anonymous) says...
Ok, how about a real article about the Emporia Public School District.What is the graduation rate for EHS, what is the ranking in the state. How many students that enter EHS as 9th graders go on to graduate? How many of these graduates go on to further their education?
What are the scores for each school, with regard to the NCLB testing. What is the cost spent per student? How does that dollar figure average across the state, against districts the same size as Emporia?
Do other states use this S&P rating system?
I am sorry but this article is completely lacking any real information.
Come on, lets have an article with some real substance!
June 21, 2007 at 3:53 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
daveedailey (anonymous) says...
I coul not have asked better questions. Who are they trying to fool? You know that many people can work figures so that things may look good. I think this is what has happened here. It all just depends on who is doing the surveys and how they work numbers.
June 21, 2007 at 4:05 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
rdgrey (anonymous) says...
All the school district worries about is reading. My son needs help in math and would not help with summer school but insisted he needs help in reading which he is doing fine in. This is what they are mostly scored on for the national test for their federal gov. money. We were floored when the school REFUSED to send him for a math class when we asked.
June 21, 2007 at 11:30 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
theNewKid (anonymous) says...
I agree, this article doesn't contain much useful information.
I found this website very helpful though.
http://online.ksde.org/rcard/district...
It's not the easiet thing to use but it has more useful info than this article.
June 22, 2007 at 1:01 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )