- By Dan Veaner
- News
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School Superintendent Mark Lewis presented Lansing's report card to the Board of Education (BOE) in its regular meeting last Monday. Last year Lansing spent $8,011 on each general education student, up from $7,865 last year. That is more than similar schools that spent $7,453 per student last year and $7,111 the previous year. However, Lansing spends less per special education student than similar schools. Last year similar schools spent $18,226 to Lansing's $14,224.What are we getting for this money? In a nutshell Lansing performs well as a whole, but there are some red flags. First the good news: Lansing has the highest percentage of students graduating in Tompkins County. Last year an impressive 92.8% of students graduated. That is up from the previous year, when 91.8% graduated. In addition, 92% of last year's graduating class passed the Regents exams with a score of 65 or above in English/Language Arts (ELA). 65% got 85 or above. These numbers are up from the previous year.
Math scores took a dip last year, but the numbers were still impressive. 91% of graduates scored 65 or higher, down from 95% the previous year. 43% scored 85 or higher, down from 57%. So the good news in the High School is that a very high percentage of students scored well, while the bad news is that math performance declined.
The Federal Government and State use the Academic Performance Index (API) to measure how kids are doing. Each has a minimum performance level that triggers monetary sanctions against a school district if it does not perform to the standard. This part of the report card relates to the tests 4th and 8th graders have been taking. According to the New York State Education Department (NYSED), "The Performance Index may most easily be understood as the sum of the percentage of students performing at or above Level 2 plus the percentage of students performing at or above Level 3." The State requires an API of 150 or higher on a scale of 200.
The Elementary School scores very well with rises in ELA (163, up from 159) and Math (194, up from 183). Two years ago Lansing scored about the same as similar schools in ELA, but last year was below the 172 API similar schools scored. In math Lansing did better than similar schools by 8 points two years ago, but only outscored similar schools by one point last year. This tells us Lansing still does very well, but that other schools are making better progress. Science also took a dip last year, going from 191 to 181. Science testing is newer than ELA and Math, and with the goal to meet or surpass 150 last year's score is impressive. Lewis said "Nice job" to Elementary science teacher Sue Henne who was attending the meeting.
Middle School scores were not as rosy, though they do meet the stand of 150 or better. Both ELA and Math scores declined last year with ELA just making the standard with an API of 150 (down from 158) and math at 164 (down from 170 the previous year). Similar schools show a rise in both math (158 up from 145) and ELA (152 up from 139). Lansing Students With Disabilities (SWD) are well below the 150 mark, with 84 in ELA and 100 in math. While both of these scores show a decline from the previous year, you can't reliably trend because there are so few SWDs in the Lansing school system.
Report card data is posted on the State Education Department Web site. All New York schools' scores are posted there.
All in all Lansing scores well, but the declines in 2005 from 2004 should be raising alarms, especially in the Middle School. With projected declining enrollment the District should have more resources per student to correct the trend. The district has a lot to be proud of, but the scores clearly show that this is not a time for the schools to rest on their laurels.
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