Submitted by John Arbeeny.
Clover Park School District (CPSD) cites academic disparities between White and minority students as the basis for equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI). The myth is that without “woke” support minority students are just not able to compete with Whites academically and require “cultural competency” to rectify these disparities. Nothing but a myth. Another myth is that the 33.2% of “military-connected” students within the District somehow creates a detriment to the District’s academic achievement.
These myths and others are perpetuated in the November 2022 issue of Inside Schools.
I’ve just completed a mini-analysis of the disparity in academic performance between Black, Hispanic, 2+race/ethnicity and White students from schools in and outside Joint Base Lewis McChord (JBLM).
While the figure of 33.2% (4,228 students) of students being military-connected may be accurate, it is also deceptive since the vast majority of those military-connected students (66% or 2,805 students) attend school on JBLM, isolated from the CPSD general student population. The remaining 1,423 (34%) military-connected students are scattered between the District’s off-base elementary, middle and high schools. These JBLM elementary schools do not present an academic detriment: far from it. They greatly exceed the academic performance of off-base schools in every subject area and across all racial/ethnic categories. Without them, the District’s academic performance would be significantly lower than it already is.
I did an analysis of JBLM’s Beachwood, Carter Lake, Meriwether and Rainier elementary schools’ scores in ELA and math and the CPSD as a whole for Black, Hispanic, 2+race/ethnicity and White students. These schools are the top four elementary schools in the District and represent the few schools that score over 50%, meeting Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) standards in ELA and math.
The following figures are the percentage of students who meet OSPI standards, which can be obtained from the OSPI Report Card website:
| Top 4 JBLM Schools | ELA | Math |
|---|---|---|
| Black | 53.3 | 45.3 |
| Hispanic | 56.8 | 51.8 |
| 2+race/ethnicity | 65.8 | 61.5 |
| White | 61.5 | 55.8 |
| Average | 59.9 | 53.6 |
| CPSD average across all schools | ELA | Math |
|---|---|---|
| Black | 31.1 | 16.3 |
| Hispanic | 33.8 | 19.9 |
| 2+race/ethnicity | 40.8 | 24.0 |
| White | 47.0 | 34.0 |
| Average | 38.2 | 23.6 |
Note that the increase in academic performance in subject areas and race/ethnicity category is typically 20 to 30%+ higher in these four JBLM schools when compared to the District as a whole. That increase is incredibly significant, yet to my knowledge there has been little if any interest by the School Board or administration in investigating this phenomenon.
Want to raise the performance of minority students? Then raise the performance of the individual school! If equity has any purpose, it is at those schools that need it most, regardless of race/ethnicity or any other group identification. Minorities, and everyone else for that matter, do best in the best schools.
Want examples of academic success? Go seek the four JBLM elementary schools to see what they do and bring it to the District as a whole. It may have something to do with military discipline, accountability, rigor, two-parent families, close-knit communities, the value placed on education, active Parent Teacher Associations, pre-Kindergarten learning programs and perhaps even isolation from the reach of District, School Board and administration, with the freedom to try out what works.
The District could learn much from its own success.
Lakewoodcares.org – website
info@lakewoodcares.org – email
John, thanks for your voluntary work on this analysis.
Why in the world do you suppose that those who are paid to do this type of work, insist on going down a completely different path, leading to inferior results?
John, thanks for your voluntary work on this analysis.
Why in the world do you suppose that those who are paid to do this kind of work, insist on going down a completely different path, leading to inferior results?
Well yes, Mr Arbeeny, it appears you nailed it with this comment: “It may have something to do with military discipline, accountability, rigor, two-parent families, close-knit communities, the value placed on education, active Parent Teacher Associations, pre-Kindergarten learning programs …” Now how about providing a plan which will allow the District – or any district not on a military facility – to replicate those factors?
I think many of these components to success are relatable to other schools and districts: PTAs for instance. Parents need representation at the organizational level, not just as individuals vis a vis the teacher. Yet, there are only 5 active PTAs out of 22 schools recognized by CPSD and 3 of the 5 are on JBLM. CPSD generally does not track PTAs as evidenced by a response to my FOIA 22-61 request:
“Because it is a separate organization, the District does not maintain its communications, including newsletters, and does not have the PTA’s internally produced records. Furthermore, it is not the District’s practice to maintain lists of PTA members.”
Yet you’d think that PTAs would be an important part of the District’s “community engagement” program. It appears rather that what the District has instead is a “individual engagement” policy which keeps parental political power at arms length.
Accountability is another which starts with the Board and Superintendent being accountable for the academic performance of the District. They collectively have avoided this and replaced it with a host of word salad social, political, racial, cultural nonsense for which there is no accountability, on the promise that somehow focusing on nothing to do with academics will improve academics. Facts prove otherwise. Water flows downhill and so it is with positions taken by the higher ups that flow down to subordinates and ultimately students and parents.
Pre-kindergarten is another one that is being tried by a very few schools and successfully so. Yet at a recent Board meeting the need for District wide pre-kindergarten was brushed off because these potential students weren’t yet enrolled in the District. Yet the District bemoans the face that many/most kindergarteners are unprepared when they do enter the District.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of what the District could do but isn’t with the exception of a few schools that do and succeed.
Lakewoodcares.org
info@lakewoodcare.org
Wow! Another Arbeeny news flash! Communities in a secured housing area with stable employment have children who do better on tests! Imagine that! He brings us news many already knew.
Perhaps Arbeeny, David Anderson and Paul Wagemann (the Lakewood Cares political gang) might want to revisit all of their past statements concerning equity.
They also should apologize for putting out intentionally misleading statements concerning test scores where they conveniently compared Clover Park to school districts with major demographic differences (apples to oranges). This was no oversight; it is all about winning elections and grabbing political control with these guys. Arbeeny just pulled back the curtain so we can take a closer look at everything they claim.
You’ve missed the point…..again. It’s not about demographics: it’s about learning from what works in other districts and within the District. “Intentionally misleading statements concerning test scores”? I suggest you take a look at the OSPI report card to confirm that these are OSPI figures.
https://washingtonstatereportcard.ospi.k12.wa.us/
It’s easy to make excuses about poor academic performance and the District has a bunch of them; only they’re really myths. JBLM schools have proved that.
CPSD PTAs? No
Pre-kindergarten learning? No
Academic accountability?No
That’s just the beginning. You don’t have to re-invent the wheel or look elsewhere for success: it’s in your own back yard.
I spoke with another business owner a couple weeks ago, who said he has stopped hiring college grads. He holds a degree in engineering.
Today he is simply looking for people with some sense and a work ethic – the rest he can teach.
We tax-payers contribute a lot of hard-earned cash to the public education system.
The least we should expect in return is a generation of young people who can self-sustain so we don’t have to keep propping them up, financially and emotionally, all throughout their lives.
Life ain’t fair.
Get over it and get to work.
That should be the first lesson taught.
We have no more capacity for nonessential bureaucrats who can’t even pay off their student loans.
That is the basis for inflation today, and the only thing we have left to cut, as the Biden administration bails out Silicon Valley.
This is the culmination of systemic failure to set and meet standards.
It starts with the kids or it ends with a population of whiney adults, reaching for excuses in this land of opportunity.
From John Arbeeny’s analysis, the elephant in the room is CPSD’s overall inability to replicate the JBLM elementary school environment throughout the rest of the district. CPSD is a basket case, as are most public school districts throughout Washington and the nation. The only thing sustaining public primary and secondary education in this country is tax dollars. There is little hope for improvement unless and until public education becomes competitive. That would necessitate giving students and their parents freedom of school choice; and that would undoubtedly release the stranglehold held by the NEA and AFT. As for CPSD’s overall substandard performance, perhaps our military community’s secondary level students, including middle school, would be better served by a DOD Education Activity such as in Europe and other regions.
Indeed “…the elephant in the room is CPSD’s overall inability to replicate the JBLM elementary school environment throughout the rest of the district.” Unfortunately that is due more to the lack of imagination rather than a lack of options. A barbed wire fence around JBLM isn’t the reason for academic success: itheir community spirit is.
Why is that so hard to fathom outside base in the many historic neighborhoods in Lakewood? At one time we had many active neighborhood and parent teacher associations that gave people an organized voice. The Tillicum Neighborhood Association most recently partnered with Tillicum Elementary School to determine how to improve both neighborhood and student achievement.
Doesn’t this seem to be a common theme requiring the involvement of both Clover Park School District and the City of Lakewood for their common good? What’s actually being done about this? Nothing to my knowledge. It’s much easier to say why something can’t be done than develop a menu of options from which to choose to get it done.
Again disinformation and half-truths Arbeeny and the Lakewood Cares forgot to mention PTA’s are 501c3’s which are non-profits governed by a host of rules, and thus, any involvement in creation or governance of any kind by the district is illegal and a huge conflict of interest. But you, Arbeeny, probably already knew that, and because nothing you say is ethical or accurate, it didn’t seem necessary for you to mention it anyway, I’m sure. By the way glad to see you finally have accepted that equity is essential. Welcome to the “woke” side. Now when are you going to tell everyone you were wrong?
LOL! Woke side? In your dreams! I think our definitions of “equity” are very different. Take a look at the District’s EDI policy’s emphasis on race/ethnicity and equal outcomes. CARES defines it as equality of opportunity for all individuals regardless of race/ethnicity. Big difference.
That PTA’s may be 501c3s does not prohibit their involvement with the District or vice versa. No one is suggesting that the District establish or govern PTAs but they can be a catalyst for their formation: it’s called “community involvement”. A periodic public forum for concerned parents at each school is one of many ways the District get the ball rolling for groups of parents to organize themselves. Bring them together and it will happen! When was the last time this occurred in CPSD? Not that I can remember.
Neighborhood associations are another opportunity for the District to interface with the community. This is occurring in Tillicum where Director David Anderson has brought this neighborhood association back to life after COVID and is working collaboratively with Tillicum Elementary school. This could require a collaboration with City Council but it can be done.
By the way, PTAs were only one of several factors that contributed to JBLM school success, all of which could in some form or other be incorporated into the District as a whole. It only takes the motivation and imagination to do so.