Superintendent: Mostly Bright Spots in State Education Report Card

Students in the School District of the Chathams scored well on tests, according to district "report cards" released by the state Department of Education earlier in the week that discuss how well schools performed during the 2008-09 school year. Chatham students scored highly on math assessments, and generally, schools' scores rated high above state averages.

But Superintendent Jim O'Neill said that while the numbers are important, he likes to keep them in perspective.

"Our society has a tendency to turn education into a baseball game," O'Neill said.

O'Neill said he likes to analyze numbers in a different fashion than the state might. For example, he likes to look at the number of students taking a particular test. Some school districts score high on tests because they are small, and because there are not a whole lot of people taking such tests. He also said districts that have dramatic test score gains get good publicity because of their improvement.

Chatham, he said, has done a good job of keeping its scores consistent throughout the years—on average, its scores have been in the 1750-1770 range. 

"That's a good sign," O'Neill said.

On the other hand, O'Neill said, it's important to look at how much the district spends per pupil. Each student, on average, cost $13,902—well below the $15,168 state average.

The district's high performance, compared with the amount the district spends on its students, is something O'Neill is very proud of.

"That's really an amazing dynamic," he said.

Chatham, however, has large class sizes compared to those throughout the state. Classes at Chatham High School, for example, contain an average of 21.4 students, while the state average is 18.4.  Lafayette Elementary School averages 22.7 students per class, while Washington Avenue Elementary averages 22.3, Southern Boulevard averages 20.4 and Chatham Middle School averages 18.9. 

Only Milton Avenue Elementary School's class sizes—which average 17.1 students per class—are lower than the state average.

O'Neill said those numbers have climbed over time, and said they are worrisome.

"I am concerned that there is a tipping point on class size," O'Neill said. "I'm concerned that teachers won't have enough individual time with kids and they won't get some of the feedback they need to continue to improve."

O'Neill acknowledged that the district's students do have some advantages—because Chatham is in a relatively affluent area, he said, many parents have graduated from college and are generally supportive of their children's education.

Still, Chatham's test scores trump those of many other school districts, though O'Neill said that the district's high scores should in no way disparage those of another district that might be doing an equally good job teaching its students.

He also said he knows lots of people judge a school by how well its students perform on the SATs. But O'Neill, once again, reiterated that such scores are not the district's top priority.

"I know that our community, like every community, looks at a metric like SAT scores, [so] I'm always gratified our kids do well by that measure," O'Neill said. "But quite frankly, in school, one of the last things we worry about is SAT scores."