PUBLIC POLICY FORUM REPORTUnified's performance is 'distressing'

After ten years of exhaustive diagnostics, poking and prodding, the patient -- Racine Unified School District -- still is quite sick.

The Public Policy Forum's just released 10th annual comparative analysis of RUSD (paid for by Education Racine, the not-for-profit foundation of RAMAC) -- comparing the district to nine peer* districts with similar enrollments -- is measured in many places, objectively reporting such things as student achievement, graduation rates, truancy and more.

But the bottom line, stated with ultimate tact -- "Our data do not fit with the customer satisfaction objective." -- gives clear warning of what's to come.

The report's major findings, released at a Wingspread briefing tonight, conclude:

Diversity: The minority population in RUSD, the state's fourth largest district with 21,696 students, continues to grow. Racine's classrooms now are 48.1% minority, up from 36.9% ten years ago, thanks to an influx of Asian and Hispanic students. African-American enrollment has increased "modestly" in recent years and white enrollment has "declined somewhat."

White students now make up 51.9% of RUSD's enrollment; African-Americans 26.7% and Hispanics 19.6%. Statewide, 22.1% of students are minority.

Operational Efficiency: State aid to RUSD has increased 40.2% in 10 years, yet we're now 8th out of 10. (State aid to Kenosha has risen 70.8% in the same period.) Property tax revenue is up 21.4%; Kenosha's has gone up 41.7%. RUSD falls to 9th in the growth of federal aid: up 87.5% in 10 years, while Kenosha has gone up 146.9% and Appleton 346.9%.

The district ranked 8th out of 10 in property taxes collected per pupil. Racine was third in instructional spending per pupil, sixth in operational spending. RUSD spent $10,169 per pupil, just $119 below the state average, but well below Madison's $12,163.

Student Engagement: For the fifth straight year, RUSD improved its truancy rate; in 2005-06 it was 8.7%, the lowest in 10 years and below the statewide average of 9.7%. But at the same time, the attendance rate declined year-over-year, and the dropout rate increased. "Compared to other peer districts, RUSD had the highest rates for both suspensions and expulsions." In 2005-06, 120 students were expelled, about 60% of the number expelled the previous year.

RUSD's attendance rate of 93.6% puts it 8th among the 10 districts, and below the statewide average of 94.4%. The dropout rate of 3.8% is less than half the 8.4% it was 10 years ago, but is still more than double the statewide average of 1.6% and higher than all its peer districts.

Student achievement: "Student performance measurements at RUSD yielded mixed findings." Tenth-graders scored lower in both reading and math than in the previous year. Reading scores in the 4th grade, and math scores in the 8th grade also declined. Third grade reading and 4th grade math scores increased from last year.

In 2006-07, 69.8% of RUSD 3rd graders were at or above proficient in reading on the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts (WKCE) exam, 4% higher than last year, but 9th among peer districts. Statewide, 81% of 3rd graders scored at or above proficient.

The figures are similar for 4th graders: 69% at proficient for RUSD, compared with 82% statewide; Kenosha was at 81%. Over the past five years, RUSD has shown "a steady decline" in the percentage of 4th graders testing well; this year the drop was 4%.

It gets worse: Among 8th graders, 70% were proficient in reading and 55% in math. Both figures are the worst, by far, of the peer districts, and well below state averages: 84% in reading and 75% in math.

It is in the student achievement section that the report is most devastating: seven tables compare RUSD students' reading and math scores to their peers in the nine other districts. In grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 10, in both reading and math, with just one exception, we score 10th. Dead last. The single exception: 3rd grade reading, where we come in 9th, ahead of Green Bay's 3rd graders.

"On the face of it," said Unified's interim Superintendent, Dr. Jack Parker, who took the job in September, "these are really distressing results; really distressing. And they are similar to previous years."

He added: "To turn around an urban school district is a major societal effort. The school district is a major player, but we're talking about social issues: poverty, lack of jobs, dysfunctional family systems and attitudes outside and within the minority population."

Taking the long view -- over the 10 years that data for Unified and the peer districts have been collected -- some clear trends have emerged:

-- Enrollment is stabilizing.
-- Minorities soon will be in the majority at RUSD.
-- Private and charter school enrollments are declining.
-- RUSD has less-experienced teachers, but is paying them more than ever.
-- Student "engagement" is up, as measured by declining truancy rates.
-- Student performance figures are both positive and negative.

The entire report will be available online soon, on both RUSD's website and on the Public Policy Forum's website.

The full report is 17 pages of comparative analysis, how RUSD stacks up -- or doesn't -- against the peer districts and the state, and 41 pages showing enrollment numbers and demographics, and -- more to the point for parents wondering how well their kids' school is doing -- RUSD school-by-school student scores on standardized tests and attendance figures, including truancy rates, suspensions and expulsions. The numbers can be quite sobering. For example, here are RUSD's four high schools, side by side:


And here are six of the district's 22 Elementary Schools compared:



Two of the more interesting statistics presented concerned RUSD's teaching staff. With an average of 11.2 years of experience within the district, and 12.9 years' total experience, RUSD's teachers ranked 8th among their peers. Teacher experience level here is dropping: down 16.6% in four years. Kenosha's teachers have fractionally less experience than RUSD's, but while our average went down, theirs rose 3.4%.

The report doesn't give a definitive reason for this, but one can be inferred from the compensation tables: While RUSD's average teacher salary is $48,534, only $2,136 below Kenosha's (RUSD is 7th among the peers, Kenosha 4th), when it comes to fringe benefits there is no comparison. RUSD's fringes are worth $23,726 per year, 3rd among the districts; Kenosha's are listed as a staggering $42,016, far and away the most generous: $13,795 above second-place Waukesha and $20,514 above last place Sheboygan.

BUT ... as he presented the report Wednesday night, researcher Jeffrey Schmidt of the Public Policy Forum declared that the value of Kenosha's fringe benefits appears to be an error. Although the printed report still carries that figure, he suggested we ignore it until it can be verified.