Some Students Question Comparisons

OCALA -- When SchoolMatch evaluates school districts, it does so under the basic assumption that if it can compare districts with similar student populations, then it can determine how effective those districts are at educating students.

The Ohio-based company praised Marion County for doing a wonderful job in preparing students for college, admonished it for having a 17.52 percent dropout rate, and pointed to a disturbing trend through which test scores indicate that the degree of mastery in some subjects goes down as students progress through the system.

The audit also addressed some areas that directly impact students, such as classroom size and the difficulty of course work selected.

Most of the students contacted for this story are members of the Superintendent's Student Cabinet, which is deliberately selected to represent a cross-section of the high school student population. Also included are some members of the Star-Banner Team 2000.

Many were concerned whether Marion County schools can be accurately compared to other schools.

SchoolMatch uses data from the 15,000 school districts in the country then compares Marion to the 1,500 most similar and finally the 10 school districts that are most like Marion County.

"You say it's OK to compare a rural school to a rural school? It's not, in my opinion," said Belleview High School freshman Katie Urban, a member of the student cabinet. "There's so many different variables; a family might not have all the money they need but they still might have both parents there, they still might have a healthy family compared to their neighbors next door which might only have one parent there and they never see each other."

Lake Weir High School junior Rosy Duran, also a student cabinet member, said she can see the merit in comparing her school with a similar school.

"I would really like to know what they're doing so we can get our scores up there," Rosy said.

Though the audit praised Marion County for the quality of its college-preparatory programs, it also said more students should be encouraged to enroll in advanced placement, or AP, classes and in some cases those classes should be taught more intensely to improve the passing rate.

Countywide, 6.54 percent of juniors and seniors take AP classes but only 47.31 percent get a 3, 4 or 5 -- the scores needed to get college credit for the courses.

The top 20 percent of schools similar to Marion County have 70 percent of the students taking the test get college credit, though only 3.7 percent of juniors and seniors are taking the courses.

Forest High School pumped up the county's numbers considerably, with 10.12 percent of juniors and seniors taking AP courses and 78.95 percent of them earning a 3 or better.

Diane Harrell, a senior at Forest, said it's tough for some seniors to get motivated.

"Forest has a lot of kids enrolled in AP classes," said Diane, a member of the student cabinet. "A lot of people get what you call "senioritis," and your school work isn't your first priority."

"People who don't have school as their first priority shouldn't take (AP courses)," she added. "They won't do well. It's a lot of self-study."

Diane, who takes AP biology, chemistry, calculus and English, said while the class sizes are smaller -- her biggest class is 13 students -- the magnitude of the AP test looms large.

"Everybody who's in the class knows everything is focused on the test at the end of the year," Diane said. "You take this class for an entire year. You get high school grades for it but it really rests on this one test."

Vanguard High School junior Rob Davis, a member of the Star-Banner Team 2000, said he was pleased with what the audit found.

"I'm glad to see that the community came together, businesses and people came together," Davis said. "Just that they came together is a good starting point for anything."

"Administrators, I think they get a bad rap," he added. "I can't say if that's founded or not, but I think this audit is very productive."

Student cabinet member Rosendo Leon, a Belleview High School senior, said while he was skeptical about the fairness of comparing schools from around the country to those in Marion County, he could see some value in comparisons.
"Personally, because I've been at Lake Weir and I've been at Belleview, I saw two different teaching styles," Rosendo said. "If you got an English IV teacher who's all up into it, like reciting the plays and stuff like that from another school and my English IV teacher doesn't do that, I would love to have that other English IV teacher and their ideas come in to help out."
Student cabinet member Calvis Jones, a North Marion High School senior, said schools with varying resources can't be compared.

"You get much more realistic data when you're comparing schools from the same background as opposed to a school that has billionaires supporting the school," she added.

Forest High School junior Erin Ellspermann, another Team 2000 member, said she was surprised to learn that one in six freshmen who enter high school drop out.

"I wasn't expecting it to be as high as it was," Erin said.

Erin said she was happy SchoolMatch auditors said class sizes should be smaller.

"The pupil-teacher ratio, it's something I noticed in my classes in terms of trying to get a teacher's attention," she added. "You feel like the teacher's not avoiding you but she can't get to you because the class is so big."

Student cabinet member Wayne Tutt, a Vanguard junior, added, "I learn much better in a class of 15 than a class of 40. My smallest class, I had six people in it."

Rob Davis agreed, saying the first thing he'd do to improve the school system is decrease class size.

He'd even settle for studying in portable classrooms -- if it meant a more intimate setting.

"I think I would do a smaller classroom in a portable," he added. "Portables are just as good as classrooms."