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The School District Community and Meaningful Assessments Many school districts are coterminous with a county or incorporated city boundary. In these instances it is relatively easy to understand the dynamics of the "community." However, many school districts are not in this situation. Many school districts are comprised of parts of many incorporated cities and are located in more than one county. In these instances, it is more difficult to get a "sense of the community" when the community is viewed as the school district. In school districts that do not align with the boundaries of counties or incorporated cities, many stakeholders do not even know the approximate total resident population to the school district -- let alone more detailed demographic characteristics. This matters for many reasons. One important reason it matters is that the "success" of a school district needs to be assessed in the context of the "community" that the school district serves. School District A might have a lower "composite report card index" that School District B even when the educational opportunities available to students of District A are superior to those of District B. The mere fact that the students of District B score higher than the students of District A does not necessarily lead to the conclusion that District B offers superior education to the average student. In this example, District A and B might have very different "starting places." The school district community from which students are drawn might be dramatically different between the districts. Meaningful district assessments and report cards need to take the school district community demographics into consideration in order to provide relevant insights. Learning About the School District Community. School districts tend to report data about their students. This is a result of state and Federal regulations. In addition, to collect data on a larger population would often be very difficult and beyond financial reach. The Census 2000 School District Special Tabulation (SDST) provides data that describe the "school district community" in great detail. Using the SDST data, it is possible to examine characteristics of the total population of the school district -- as well as the population defined as "grade relevant children enrolled in public school." This latter category, a SDST tabulation universe parallels the student population for which the school district reported as enrolled in the 1999-2000 school year. You can compare characteristics of the "school district community" population and housing with those of the "grade relevant children enrolled in public school" using the Proximity Web-based School District Demographics Online (SDD) via http://proximityone.com/sdd.htm. An Example. The Clear Creek ISD, Texas (CCISD) school district is used in this example. Try this process yourself -- first with CCISD and then a district of interest to you. Like many school districts, CCISD (see http://proximityone.com/sdpa/ccisd.htm) includes parts of many incorporated places and is located partly in Harris County, TX and partly in Galveston County, TX. Open the SDD Web page. We will look at the most basic "school district community" demographics. Choose table P6 for the total population. By viewing the resulting table display, it is determined that the school district total population is (Census 2000) 165,950 of which 133,890 are White (of those who specified that they were of one race). Now, compare this to the "grade relevant children enrolled in public school." Choose table P6 for the Children's Own tables. By viewing the resulting table display, it is determined that the school district relevant children enrolled in public school is (Census 2000) 30,140 of which 23,250 are White (of those who specified that they were of one race). These data most closely parallel the characteristics of children enrolled in CCISD during the 1999-2000 school year. We could extend this comparison by looking at much more detailed demographics. We would find that some districts have a population that is much better educated and has higher incomes than other districts. For school districts that transcend incorporated city and county boundaries, these insights can only be determined using the SDST. Further Insights. There are two other important components of the "school district community" that are normally not revealed by data developed by the school district. These components are the "grade relevant children enrolled in private school" and "grade relevant children not enrolled in school." Knowledge about these components of the "school district community" are essential to understanding the state of education in any particular school district. Again, these characteristics bear importantly on the "starting point" to assess how one district compares to another district. In larger central city-oriented school districts, we expect to find a larger proportion of the relevant children enrolled in school to be enrolled in private school -- relative to suburban school districts. Often, this segment of the population that attends the private schools will be able to score better on proficiency tests. This tends to diminish the magnitude of the median/average student score on proficiency tests in the public schools relative to what it would be for the "school district community." Look for yourself using the SDD. You can do this by again choosing table P6 for the Children's Own tables. Now, instead of using the checkbox "RCEP" (relevant children enrolled in public school) check the "RCER" (uncheck RCEP) checkbox (relevant children enrolled in public school). Display the table and see that there are 5,620 RCER in CCISD. Similarly, look at "RCNE" (relevant children not enrolled in school). Display the table and see that there are 2,590 RCNE in CCISD. Recap. What we have seen is the "tip of the iceberg" with regard to an enabling capability to understand the "school district community" using the Census 2000 SDST using SDD. There are thousands of additional items that can be examined. See examples of more detailed "school district community" profiles for CCISD with links at http://proximityone.com/sdpa/ccisd04.htm (bottom of Web page). |
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