7 poor schools on list for high marks

They’re beating odds, UA office notes

Some schools with greater proportions of students from low-income families perform as well or better than schools with more children from middle- and upper-income families, education researchers at the University of Arkansas have found.

“These are schools that show you can do an excellent job with high-poverty students,” said Sarah Burks, doctoral academy fellow for the Office of Education Policy at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. “It’s really important to highlight that it can be done. Once people believe that, that’s a big part in improving your schools.”

The Office of Education Policy at UA releases a series of reports each year on the performance of schools across the state based on results of state Benchmark and End-of-Course exams. The office reports on high-poverty elementary and middle schools that are “beating the odds,” as well as on the top schools overall statewide in math and literacy.

High-poverty schools are those where at least 66 percent of the student body qualifies for free- or reduced-priced lunches, a measure of poverty, Burks said. Researchers calculated a grade-point average based on student performance on the 2013 Benchmark exams

and then ranked the schools.

In this year’s analysis, seven elementary and middle schools ranked among the top 25 schools overall in math or literacy and among the top 25 high-poverty elementary and middle schools: Centerpoint Primary School in the Centerpoint School District; Eagle Heights Elementary School in the Harrison School District; St. Joe High School in the Ozark Mountain School District; Nashville Elementary School in the Nashville School District; Norfork Elementary School in the Norfork School District; Eastside Elementary School in the Rogers School District; and Umpire High School in the Cossatot River School District.

The study evaluates achievement on 2013 exams and not the factors behind that achievement, said Jennifer Ash, research associate for the Office of Education Policy. She hopes the office’s recognition will encourage educators to explore the strategies in place at high-achieving schools.

Eastside Elementary in Rogers ranked second in literacy among high-poverty elementary schools and was among five schools that tied for 21st in the ranking of the top 25 elementary schools in literacy achievement, according to the reports. Children from low-income families make up 75 percent of the student body of 565 students.

At Eastside, 94 percent of children were considered proficient or advanced on the exam in both literacy and math, according to the office.

“They want to learn just as much as every other child,” Principal Robin Wilkerson said.

Some children from low-income families have a more limited vocabulary because they have had fewer experiences, such as traveling outside Northwest Arkansas, Wilkerson said. With both parents in a family working, an adult sometimes is not home to help with homework.

MORNING HELP

Wilkerson opens the campus doors at 7 every morning, and children who arrive early have up to 45 minutes to finish their work before school starts at 7:45, she said. If families are struggling to meet basic needs, a social worker on campus can help them.

Children also benefit from the campus’s continuous learning calendar, Wilkerson said. The school year starts two weeks earlier in August and ends two weeks later than most other schools. The alternate calendar allows for two, two-week breaks in the fall and spring, in addition to typical school holidays. During the extra breaks, the campus offers a week-long program for children who need more time to learn new skills.

“I really think that that has helped us in moving all students to proficiency,” she said. “It’s a smaller group with only 15 students in a class. They develop so much confidence.”

The Rogers School District won seven Beating the Odds awards this year, the most of any school district, according to the Office of Education Policy.

In Benton and Washington counties, three schools have received Beating the Odds awards for three or more years in a row: Eastside and two Springdale schools, John Tyson Elementary School and Helen Tyson Middle School.

At John Tyson Elementary, the student body reflects the diversity in income, ethnicity and language that exists in Springdale, Principal Jacob Sherwood said. About 70 percent of the 575 children are from low-income families.

“I wouldn’t say one economic group is more difficult than another,” said Sherwood, who is in his first year as principal at John Tyson Elementary.

One of the first questions Sherwood asked his staff members was to identify the reasons that Tyson has achieved at high levels. The 2013 Benchmark results showed that 91 percent of students were proficient or advanced in both math and literacy.

John Tyson Elementary uses some of the same strategies that other schools in Springdale have in place, including working to build healthy relationships among children and staff members, Sherwood said. Staff members attributed the achievement to their efforts to maintain traditional, successful teaching strategies while dabbling with newer strategies.

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

When educators are committed to providing children from poor families with similar experiences and resources that are commonly available to children from middle- and upper-income families, poor children will thrive in school, said Prudence Carter, a professor of education in the Stanford University Graduate School of Education. She researches issues of race, class and gender inequality and academic achievement disparities. She is the author of two books and co-editor of the 2013 book Closing the Achievement Gap: What America Must Do to Give Every Child a Chance.

“Poor and low-income children begin school as curious as affluent children,” she said. “We know from research that what predicts their comparatively lower school success are the lack of sufficient ‘inputs’ into their educational lives.”

Children from poor and low-income families nationwide are more likely to attend schools with lower per-pupil spending, inexperienced teachers, large class sizes, limited technology and no arts or music programs, Carter said. They sometimes lack resources of middle-class children, including having books at home, quality after-school programs and tutors.

“It is not that a child is poor that determines her success, it’s whether she can be situated in an educational opportunity context that will allow her to thrive,” Carter said. “Low-income kids, like middle-class ones, want to learn and develop. They just need to be given similar educational opportunities.”

In Arkansas, children in the third through eighth grades take the Benchmark exam in literacy and math.

The Office of Education Policy this year identified 293 high-poverty elementary schools out of 503 elementary schools statewide and 167 high-poverty middle schools out of 369 middle schools statewide. Elementary schools included those with children in grades three through five, and middle schools were those with grades six through eight.

The grade-point averages calculated for the top 25 high-poverty elementary schools ranged from 3.44 to 3.79 in math and from 3.41 to 3.71 in literacy, above the state elementary averages of 3.2 in math and 3.24 in literacy, according to the office.

Among the top 25 high-poverty middle schools, the grade-point averages ranged from 3.01 to 3.41 in math and from 3.17 to 3.53 in literacy, above the state middle-school averages of 2.82 in math and 3.05 in literacy, according to the office.