\doc\web\98\10\wesley.txt Don Crawford, Ph.D. donc@wce.wwu.edu Date sent: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 09:03:44 +0000 To: "ClearingHouse" From: Jimmy Kilpatrick Subject: [education-consumers] Thaddeus Lott, DI and test scores Send reply to: Jimmy Kilpatrick ===================================================================== I have forwarded this to the ECC. ========================= Dear Jimmy, I have read the communication regarding Wesley Elementary School and your response to it. At this point, I simply do not have the time to write a thorough piece on the many issues that could be analyzed regarding Wesley Elementary School. However, one of the great disappointments I have experienced over the last several years is the fact that Wesley has failed to take certain actions regarding its overall program that would have helped perpetuate its future. As you are personally aware, it was my organization (TRA) along with the Houston Federation of Teachers (Gayle Fallon) that took dramatic action in 1991 to literally help save Mr. Lott and Wesley Elementary School from extinction by then superintendent Dr. Joan Raymond. Anyone familiar with the story would not challenge that assertion. The role of the Acres Homes Citizens Chamber of Commerce in those days was critical but never fully utilized to maximum potential. In many ways, Wesley Elementary remains a beacon of light. But in other ways, Wesley failed to take full advantage of the opportunities that national exposure gave it. The charter school arrangement that Wesley, Highland Heights, Osborne and M.C. Williams reached with Houston ISD (I was on the Board but subsequently resigned in disgust) has only been marginally successful in reaching its potential. Let me be clear about this. Wesley still stands heads and shoulders above many of Houston ISD elementaries. Its successes should be praised. What is difficult to accept after all these years are the missed opportunities to solidify and expand upon greatness. My realistic concern is that in five years (probably sooner), Wesley will be a "shell" of its former self. The reasons are many. Maybe one day I'll have a chance to write a book. If so, the triumphs and tragedies of Wesley will surely be worth a couple of chapters. George http://www.taxresearch.org > Houston ISD is doing a better job with it's minority students then the > "burb" districts. What is interesting is comparing Mr. Lott's Westly > Elementary (Distar) scores in 4th and 5th grade 25-35%. In first and > second the grades scores were 80-90% for the students. Somethings wrong > here. > Dear "JimmyK" Probably your information is wrong! Perhaps you can share your source of such data? Those scores are not consistent with the information I have received concerning Wesley (not Westly) Elementary that uses Direct Instruction. For example composite scores for the ITBS from 1974-1986 show 5th graders at Wesley scoring at about grade 6.4. This ought to be above the 50th percentile by most evaluations. ---Source is Field Report-On Track: Fifteen years of student improvement-Wesley Elementary School, Houston, Texas. (1992) Effective School Pracitce, 11(2) 1-3. Of course Wesley is not the only Direct Instruction implementation to acheive extraordinary results. There's Kreole Elementary in Moss Point, Mississippi whose student's average went from below the 25th percentile to 87th percentile on reading and 79th percentile in language follwing an effective Direct Instruction implementation. The schools fourth graders became the second hgiest performers in the state in reading and 6th in language. ----Source is Englemann, S. (1998) Theory of mastery and acceleration. In J. Lloyd, E. Kameenui, 7 D. Chard (Eds), Issues in educating students with disabilities. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Then there is the recent Direct Instruction implementation in Utah. Three Title I schools implemented 100% Direct Instruction, school-wide in 1994-95. These schools were among the lowest scoring in the state and had made zero progress on percentiles for several years. Considerable data is available in Adams, G. L. & Englemann, S. (1996) "Research on Direct Instruction: 25 Years Beyond DISTAR" Seattle: Educational Achievement Systems. However one anecdote might be illustrative. The students in the sixth grade who had completed through level F of Connecting Math Concepts took the middle school's algebra placement test for 8th grade algebra. ALL of the students passed the test with a score of 90% or better. Interestingly the school was acused of cheating because of the unprecendented scores on the Woodcock-Johnson test of the students who had had Direct Instruction for only two years- a fate they shared with Thaddeus Lott in the beginning. Please do not contribute erroneous data to support the unsupported notion that Direct Instruction is only useful in beginning basic skills in primary grades. ****************** Don Crawford, Ph.D. donc@wce.wwu.edu (360) 650-4992 Fax:650-7516 Western Washington Univ. Spec. Ed.-Mailstop 9090 Bellingham, WA 98225-9090 I am responsible for the content of this message, which does not in any way reflect the position or policy of Western Washington University. ****************** The essence of individualism derives not from accumulating idiosyncratic affectations, but from stripping those affectations away. ============================================= Material forwarded by: Jimmy Kilpatrick http://www.readbygrade3.com http://www.k-12science.org ============================================= For a free daily up-date of education news, research articles and commentaries published in major newspapers, magazines and journals, please forward email address to Jimmy Kilpatrick jimmyk5@swbell.net ===================================================================== EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE networking and information for parents and taxpayers on the internet Subscriptions & Archives: http://education-consumers.com or You are currently subscribed to education-consumers as: arthurhu@halcyon.com TO UNSUBSCRIBE: Send a blank email to leave-education-consumers-989462S@lists.dundee.net ===================================================================== For less mail, click on the following link and choose 1) a daily digest, 2) a daily list of subjects, or 3) no mail (read postings on Web) http://lists.dundee.net/scripts/lyris.pl?enter=education-consumers For more help & info: http://www.lyris.com/help or