HISD received good news, but the Chronicle buried it (updated)
The Chronicle's headline at the top of today's City & State section is: Half of high schools miss U.S. goals, and the first paragraph of the story is:
Half of HISD's high schools failed to meet federal goals showing academic progress last year, though more schools than the year before met expectations in the U.S. Department of Education's second annual grading.
That sounds fairly alarming, but if you check HISD's press release, you'll come away with a different take: the feds released No Child Left Behind results for 2004 and HISD did very well -- 91% of HISD schools are meeting federal education standards.
To that end, HISD spokesman Terry Abbott forwarded a letter he wrote to the Chronicle editors protesting the paper's coverage of what should be a good news story:
We're so disappointed this morning by the Chronicle's incredibly biased coverage of HISD on the important story today about progress under the Federal No Child Left Behind law.
Yesterday, HISD announced that 91 percent of its schools -- 9 out of 10 -- made adequate yearly progress in 2004 under NCLB, and that HISD as district made AYP as well. Yesterday also, the Dallas Independent School
District announced that 88 percent of its schools made AYP.Here is the headline and lead of the Houston Chronicle this morning:
Feb. 25, 2005, 12:16AM
Half of HISD's high schools fail to meet U.S. goals
By MELANIE MARKLEY
Copyright 2005 Houston ChronicleHalf of HISD's high schools failed to meet federal goals showing academic progress last year, though more schools than the year before met expectations in the U.S. Department of Education's second annual
grading.Not only does the Chronicle story focus on the 9 percent of schools that failed to make AYP and not the 91 percent that made AYP, the story doesn't mention a single name of an HISD school that made AYP. The story doesn't even report that HISD as a district made AYP. The story also failed to compare HISD with other school districts around the country, when just yesterday, the Associated Press reported an average of one third of schools nationwide failed to make adequate yearly progress.
Now, keeping in mind that Dallas ISD did not do as well as HISD, here is the headline and lead in the Dallas Morning News this morning:
Most DISD schools making grade
Almost 9 of 10 have adequate progress under No Child law10:01 PM CST on Thursday, February 24, 2005
By TAWNELL D. HOBBS / The Dallas Morning NewsNearly nine out of ten Dallas schools made adequate progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, DISD officials said Thursday.
Why can't the Chronicle simply play the story straight like other media? 9 out of 10 schools making AYP -- and the district making it -- is a significant accomplishment for HISD -- for any urban school district.
Is there anything we can do to appeal for fair coverage from the Chronicle?
Sincerely,
Terry Abbott
I'll be the first to admit that I am often critical of HISD, but I try to base it on facts and reasoning. When there is good news, it should be reported -- fairly. HISD parents, students and employees deserve to know that their school district is meeting the tougher NCLB standards. And I can guarantee you that there are many school districts across this country that would love to have HISD's results.
Here's a story about California schools struggling with NCLB guidelines:
Hundreds of California school districts have been warned they may be placed on a watch list of failing districts.
Los Angeles, Santa Ana, Pomona and San Bernardino were among 310 districts notified by the state Department of Education this week that they could join 14 districts on California's list.
Federal law requires states to issue standardized English and mathematics tests. Under the "No Child Left Behind" program, the state must place districts on a watch list if, for two years in a row, they fail to meet targets for increasing the number of students who score well on the tests.
However, California allows districts to avoid being put on the list if students from low-income households reach a set score on a separate measure of achievement.
The U.S. Department of Education views that as a loophole and has warned that it could cut off federal funding to California unless changes are made.
Some educators grumble that the federal act's standards are unfair and unrealistic, particularly for new immigrants who may struggle with the English-written tests.
The majority of HISD's students are considered low-income and yet 91 percent of HISD's schools are meeting federal educational standards. That's pretty impressive!
By accentuating the negative, the Chronicle completely mischaracterizes what is REALLY good news. HISD has received plenty of bad press lately; some of it deserved and some of it not. Last week, the Chronicle took what should have been a positive proposal from Dr. Saavedra and turned it into a firestorm of controversy.
The NCLB grade is documented proof that the vast majority of HISD schools are succeeding in educating their students. That doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement, but I think Dr. Saavedra has acknowledged that and is working on it. The Chronicle did a disservice to HISD.
UPDATE: The Chronicle has changed its online headline. The first one was, "Half of HISD's high schools fail to meet US goals." Now it says, "HISD sees mixed results on U.S. report card: Half of high schools fail to meet U.S. goals, but 90% of city district's rated schools make progress."
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/25/05 11:22 AM | Print |
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