Grading New Orleans on School Choice

By: Laura Mogg | December 19, 2011

In November 2011, the Brookings Institution introduced an interactive web application called the Education Choice and Competition Index (ECCI), which rated the top 25 largest school districts on policies and practices related to school choice.  The purpose of the ECCI is “to create public awareness of the differences among districts in their support of school choice, provide a framework for efforts to improve choice and competition, and recognize leaders among school districts in the design and implementation of choice and competition systems.” The criteria districts were judged on included the availability of school choice options, the availability and quality of information about school performance, and policies related to school assignments, transportation, and funding.  The highest scoring district was New York City, which received a grade of “B.”

Despite New Orleans’ position in the forefront of the school choice movement, the ECCI did not include the city due to its relatively small size.  I decided to use the scoring guide to the ECCI to calculate my own grade for New Orleans.  According to my calculations, the system of schools in New Orleans would receive a grade of “B,” putting it ahead of all others in the rankings, with a numeric score higher than New York City.  New Orleans scored well in categories that measured the availability of choice and the admissions process, but lost points when it came to the availability of relevant information.

Calculating a grade for New Orleans was not a straightforward process, especially given our unique governance situation, and in many cases one could argue that fewer (or more) points were deserved in some categories.  I’ve summarized below the categories in the rubric, the points I awarded New Orleans in each category, and why.  If you feel like New Orleans deserves a different grade, check out the ECCI scoring guide for guidance on calculating your own score and let us know what you come up with in the comments.

Category 1 – Alternatively Available Schools

Number of students enrolled in Alternative schools [Charter + Magnet + Private (including vouchers, affordable private, tax credit scholarship participants)]/Number of students enrolled in traditional Public + Alternative schools

New Orleans easily scored the maximum 3 points in this category since more than 45% of students attend a school of choice in the city.  Currently, 100% of students must choose their school and approximately 80% of public school students attend charter schools.

Category 2 – Virtual Schools

A) Publicly available policies allowing students to enroll in a variety of virtual courses that count towards graduation or matriculation

B) At least 2% of the total student population is enrolled in at least one virtual course

C) No substantial costs borne by student or family

Louisiana recently approved virtual charter schools that students can attend at no cost to them.  However, there is not yet a significant portion of the New Orleans student population enrolled in these schools.  New Orleans scored 2 out of 3 points in this category.

Category 3 – Popularity of Schools Reflected in Funding

A) Clear definition of weighted student funding/fair funding

B) At least 40% of a districts operating budget is allocated through the weighted student funding formula

C) At least 25% of a district’s operating budget is allocated through the weighted student funding formula

This was a difficult category given New Orleans’ unique governance situation.  The majority of public schools in the city are Type 5 charter schools and receive weighted funds from the state through the MFP formula and weighted federal funds based on the student populations they serve.  Given this situation, I think it is fair to say that at least 40% of funds are allocated on a weighted basis at the school operator level, therefore I decided to award 3 out of 3 points in this category.

Category 4 – Restructure or Close Undersubscribed Schools

A) Published policy citing low or declining enrollment due to parental choice as a reason for closing or restructuring schools

B) A history of schools being closed or restructured due to low or declining enrollment due to parental choice

This was another tough call.  While declining enrollment has been mentioned in the closing of some schools by the RSD, there is no written policy that I know of that establishes a process for closing schools due to low or declining enrollment.  Additionally, while a number of schools with low enrollment have been closed in the past, the primary reason for their closing was poor academic performance.  I awarded 0 points, out of a maximum of 3, in this category.

Category 5 – Assignment Mechanism

A) Students are assigned to schools through an application process in which parents express their preferences (rather than through geographical attendance zones)

B) Students receive a default school assignment based on a geographical attendance zone but parents can easily express their preferences for other schools

C) Assignment to schools that engage in preferential admissions, e.g., magnets, maximizes the match between school preferences for students and parent preferences for schools (The presence of schools that carry out preferential admissions is necessary for C to be relevant.)

D) Assignment to oversubscribed schools that do not engage in preferential admissions maximizes parental preference

E) Assignment to oversubscribed schools that do not engage in preferential admission is by lottery (This condition applies to regular public schools, not to charter schools for which a lottery is required by federal regulations.)

F) Assignment to oversubscribed schools that engage in preferential admission is through a competitive process that does not take parental preferences into account

G) Assignment to schools out of the students’ geographical attendance zone is difficult, unclear or substantially disadvantages parents

I awarded New Orleans the maximum 4 points in this category because in part, students, in the new RSD enrollment system, will be assigned to schools via an application on which parents state their preferences.  Additionally, the system of schools meets the criteria in C and D.

Category 6 – Application

A) A common application for all regular public schools within a district’s boundaries

B) A common application for all public schools within a district’s boundaries, including charter schools*

C) No default of a neighborhood or district assigned school

D) Different applications for different schools

This category was difficult because, in a way, New Orleans meets the criteria for both B and D given its unique governance situation and the presence of two districts.  However, since both RSD schools and OPSB schools have created common applications for their own admissions processes that include charter schools, I awarded the maximum 3 points.

Category 7 – Comparable Standards and Assessments

A) Private schools supported with public funding through student vouchers or tax credit scholarships are subject to an assessment system with public reporting requirements

B) Public and publicly supported private schools can be directly compared in terms of their performance because they either participate in the same assessment regimen or different assessment regimens that are normed and standardized and thus directly comparable in terms of percentiles

C) Private schools supported with public funding engage in voluntary and idiosyncratic public reporting of student progress

In this category, I awarded only 2 out of 3 possible points.  While private schools that receive vouchers do have to participate in the LEAP and their scores are reported, only students receiving the vouchers are required to take the test, not all students enrolled in the school.  This makes it difficult to directly compare the private schools’ performance with public schools in the city.

Category 8 – Gain Scores Calculated

A) Student achievement gains are presented based on longitudinal data on academic growth of individual students, or

B) Student achievement gains are presented based on longitudinal changes in school level means

C) School performance is described based only on disaggregated cross-sectional achievement status for a given year

While the state collects an impressive amount of data on students, its reporting lacks the detail necessary to score highly in this category.  Performance is reported publicly only at the school level and is published by year, making longitudinal comparison difficult.  I awarded only 1 point out of a possible 3.

Category 9 – Accessible On-Line Information

A) Information about choice and school performance data is present on the school district website

B) School choice and school performance information is clearly accessible and presented in an uncluttered and relevant manner. “Clearly” defined as organized “at each level of the Web site so that it shows a clear and logical structure to typical users” such as a parent page, enrollment, or schools page

C) On-line resources provide a step by step choice process that includes contextual variables and definitions that allow parents to weigh important information

D) Information to support school choice by parents is complete (parents with previous experience with the school choice process or parents with more access to informal networks of knowledgeable parents do not possess information unavailable to other parents that substantially advantages them in the choice process) and includes performance data from the previous year during the time period in which parents exercise school choice

Unfortunately, I had to award 0 points, out of a possible 3, in this category.  Currently, the RSD and the OPSB websites offer very little information on the performance of individual schools to aid in the school choice process. The information available from the Louisiana Department of Education website, while more complete, does not include guidance for parents to assist them in weighing various factors in the choice process.  There are also alternative sources of information available to parents, such as the New Orleans Parents’ Guide and the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools’ LA School Finder.  However, online availability of data from district sources remains limited.

Category 10 – Relevant Performance Data

Information elements required under federal law are augmented with additional performance information from categories including:

1) Student characteristics (absentee rates for students; rates of detention and disciplinary actions; gain scores on district-wide assessments; availability of accelerated and advanced courses and levels of student participation and performance in advanced courses; and for high schools, graduation rates and college enrollment and persistence rates)

2) Teacher characteristics (e.g., percentage of inexperienced teachers; absentee rates for teachers)

3) Principal characteristics (e.g., tenure of principal; past performance of schools in which that principal served)

4) School popularity (e.g., popularity as measured through open enrollment; parental satisfaction surveys; transfer-out rate for students)

5) Course offerings and resources (curriculum focus in key subjects; availability of extra curricular and afterschool programs; and annual operating budget of the school expressed as per pupil expenditure)

6) Additional performance information includes charter schools

While information on student characteristics and charter schools is publicly available, it is primarily through the LDOE’s website, which can be difficult to navigate for the lay person.  New Orleans scored only 1 point out of 3 in this category.

Category 11 – Understandable Performance Data

A) Provides text explanations providing parents enough information to interpret performance data.

B) Allows for side-by-side comparison of schools.

C) Provides performance information in graphical or tabular form with minimal or confusing text explanations

New Orleans met none of these criteria and received 0 points out of a maximum of 3 available points in this category.

Category 12 – Transportation

A) Students are provided transportation to any school of their choice within district borders on the same terms as for a district assigned school.

B) District subsidizes the cost of transportation to a school of choice but parents bear substantial costs

C) District provides transportation or subsidizes transportation to schools of choice but excludes charter schools

For RSD charter and direct-run schools and some OPSB schools, transportation is provided at no cost to students, earning New Orleans the maximum 3 points.

Category 13 – District School Quality

District school quality is a measure of the performance of the average public school within a district on state assessments. A score for each school in the district is calculated by averaging that school’s performance for all grade/subject combinations for which state assessment results are available. That score represents the school’s percentile ranking in the state distribution of schools in terms of the percentage of students scoring proficient on the state assessments. District ratings are calculated by averaging the rating for each school in the district, weighted by the number of students enrolled at the school.

Compared to the state averages, New Orleans schools, on average, generally fall at the bottom of the rankings in terms of performance on state standardized tests.  I awarded 1 point, out of a possible 3, in this category.

Calculation

I calculated the proportion of points New Orleans scored in each category (doubling the number for Alternatively Available Schools, Assignment Mechanism, and Application as required by the ECCI to reflect their importance) and came up with a score of 10.33.  I then divided this by the 16 available points, to get a total proportion of .6456, giving New Orleans a “B” grade.  (Based on the ECCI scale, Brookings awarded New York a .644, which also corresponds to a “B” grade.)