From todays Sentinel: Website ranks Douglas schools 85th in - TopicsExpress



          

From todays Sentinel: Website ranks Douglas schools 85th in state Pritz: Data used not credible By Daniel Lumpkin, Staff Writer Niche ranked the Douglas County School System 85th best in the state out of 180 districts in Georgia on its recently released “Best K-12 Schools” list for 2015. Niche grades Douglas County Schools and others districts on specific categories based on surveys taken by students, former students and parents. The school system and individual schools in Douglas County are also ranked by Niche users who have an account. Some of the categories that Douglas County Schools were ranked on were educational outcomes, teachers, health and safety, and student diversity. Douglas County got an “A” on “Student Culture and Diversity” for having an ethnically diverse student body. The site gave the district a “B” for “Teachers,” noting the district has 1,636 teachers or 15 students per teacher. The site points out the average teacher salary in Douglas County is $53,985. Douglas County scored a “B-minus” on “Educational Outcomes,” which the site said comes from students in the district scoring an average of 1530 on the SAT and 22 on the ACT and the fact that “reviews written about the education outcomes of this district ... have been mixed.” On the flip side, the site gave Douglas County as “C-plus” for “Academics” because 86 percent of the students in the district are considered proficient in math and/or reading. The district’s worst grade was a “D” for “Health and Safety,” which appears to be based on one to five star reviews provided by students and recent alums. Douglas County Superintendent Gordon Pritz was quick to point out that Niche seems to have a problem with basic math. “... (T)hey have wrong information that is very evident,” Pritz said. “This undermines their credibility immediately with me. For example, they say we have 37 schools; we have 33.” Pritz also pointed out that Niche was way off on the budget numbers. Niche points out Douglas County Schools has an annual budget of $269 million and spends an average of $10,935 per student. “They are way off on our budget,” Pritz said. “(I am) not sure that we ever had an annual budget that high. Their per pupil expenditure is totally off. So you see, if they can’t get some of the basics right, how is there credibility in any of their other data?” Pritz said the current budget for Douglas County Schools is about $200 million. “We are right at $200 million this year, up a little for the last couple of years,” Pritz said. “The highest we have been in over 10 to 12 years was about $220 million in 2009, and that would easily be our highest ever since it is based on student population. As far as our per-pupil expenditure, we are at about $7,700, which is pretty consistent year to year, maybe the highest up in the $8,000 range six to seven years ago. ” Pritz discussed how sites that use this type of rating system should be called into question before people trust their judgment. He cited their methods for getting their information, questioning how many of the 900 surveys have a connection to Douglas County Schools. Pritz also questioned sites that rate schools that do not spend time at those schools. “How can you give a credible, accurate ranking of a school when you have never walked in the door of that school?” Pritz said. “I am not aware that these people have ever visited a single one of our schools ... There is so much more to rating and ranking a school than just asking a few people who may or may not have any connection and using some data that may not even be accurate.” -- ON THE WEB To see the complete Niche review of the Douglas County School System, go to: k12.niche/d/douglas-county-schools-ga/rankings/?highlight=publicschool-istricts/bestoverall#state for more information
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 11:04:12 +0000

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