Reporting Performance Results

After reviewing Table 7.5 of your textbook, locate your states current 2008 progress at the U.S. Department of Education website. Summarize your states status for your peers and reflect on any significant findings. Reflect on at least two of your peers postings. In the state of Florida the Department of Education website only displayed 2009-10 demographics. The total number of students Florida public school had at this time was 2,634,522. 53.5% of these students were low income students, and 13.2% of these students who attended public school were students with a disability. (Department of Education 2012). Florida had a total of 3,423 schools during 2009-10 school year. Of those 3,423 schools, 471 schools made adequate yearly progress, while 1,159 schools needed improvement, and 793 schools needed restructuring. (Department of Education, 2012). Another significant finding was the fact that Caucasian students represented almost half of the student population in Florida school at 44.3%, while Hispanics at 26.3% were almost equal with African American at 23.1%. Also in Florida record of reading and math achievement tests, Caucasian students scored the highest on both State proficiency and Basic NAEP, while African American students scored the lowest. These scores show the achievement gap that still exist between students, and how differentiating instructions is very important for teachers. At the same times, many teachers may have to plan lessons that are more engaging for students who cannot seem to relate to the regular lessons they have been doing. Hispanic and African American students may need lessons that relate to their cultural differences. I cant tell you how hard it is to find many reading books in schools with multicultural stories in it. References Department of Education, (2012). ED Data Express: Data about Elementary & Secondary Schools in the U.S. Retrieved Electronically on April 12, 2012 from http://www.eddataexpress.ed.gov/statereport.cfm?state=FL&submit.x=17&submit.y=8

Effective Reporting Indicators

On p. 49 of the article, Reporting Indicators: What Do They Indicate (2002), it was concluded that all too often [higher education institutions] adopt or accept performance measures without carefully considering critical issues such as their types, concerns, policy values, or models of excellence. What

can be done to ensure that performance indicators are selected appropriately for decision-making, policy-making and institutional improvement?

Please support your position with references from the reading and respond to at least two of your peers postings.

It seems that in todays society, policymakers are more interested in how many students they can show passed a test than the actual quality of the test. If the quality of a test is in question, then the outcome of the test and the quality of the test can prove invalid. By updating and improving knowledge and skills we automatically update performance measures. Many test validity can come into question is we do not test it in a multicultural environment. This is important because there simply is no black or white. There are many different cultures that have different beliefs, and believe it or not have a different way that they learn. If our performance indicators have not reflected these values then its results are bias in nature. Performance indicators should reflect all of the policy values of quality, efficiency, equity, and choice. Like the indicator types, they are complementary, not conicting (Burke, 2002, p.49).

Reference Burke, J.C., (2002). Reporting Indicators: What Do They Indicate? New Directions for Institutional Research, 2002(116), 33. Retrieve from Academic Search Premier database. (AN 9263753)