Study Examines Effectiveness, Efficiency, Student Achievement In School Districts

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A new study by University at Buffalo education researchers casts a new light on the performance of 100 of Western New York's 102 school Districts (data was insufficient for two districts).

The report, "School District Effects and Efficiency," was produced by Austin D. Swanson, professor and chair of the Department of Educational Organization, Administration and Policy in the UB Graduate School of Education, and Frank Engert, a doctoral student in the department who will receive his doctoral degree in May.

The purpose of the report, said Swanson, is to offer a fresh perspective on how well and for what reasons various school districts achieve their goals.

"Most of the analyses that have been made of school district effectiveness have focused on student achievement alone," he says, an assessment method to which Swanson and most other educators take exception.

"The accurate measurement of school district effect is very complex and can't be captured by a single statistic," he insists. "In this study, in talking about school district effectiveness, we've broadened the focus to include not only student achievement, but the unique effect that a school district has on student achievement.

"We did this," said Swanson, "by controlling for socio-economic status of parents and individual communities and by including a measure of school-district efficiency, which is a ratio of school-district effectiveness to the resources used in the process."

The public may be most surprised by the results, whicih show that there are a number of school districts in the area that have historically ranked low in achievement test scores, but have a significant, measurable positive impact on the students who attend their schools. Such districts include the Buffalo Public Schools and those in several small, outlying rural towns.

Swanson points out that these districts, because they are usually "rated" publicly only by achievement-test scores, are not normally recognized for that impact. When looking only at achievement scores, he says, the greatest credit has tended to go to wealthy suburban districts because they are seen to be responsible for turning out students with high test scores.

Swanson points out, however, what educators have known for a very long time: Student academic achievement has less to do with the quality of a community's schools than is commonly thought. Academic achievement levels are profoundly influenced by household and community per-capita income levels, parents' education levels and primary language spoken at home.

When these factors are taken into account, the study points out, students entering school in districts like Williamsville and Orchard Park are, from the outset, at minute risk of academic failure (.1% and 0.0%, respectively). The Buffalo and Salamanca city schools, however, must contend with a high level of at-risk factors among their students (10.9% and 9.2%, respectively).

"Published reports -- especially those that make comparisons among school districts and schools -- tend to oversimplify this very complex subject," says Swanson, "and often leads to misleading conclusions about how well a particular district is doing its job.

"We hope this report, which offers what will be to the public a fresh analysis, will clarify the issues here and give credit where credit is due," he said.

The study underscores the fact that the unique positive contribution of the school to the overall academic achievement of the child is actually greater in these districts than in districts with a large middle- and upper-middle-class population.

Children likely to attend urban or some rural schools are much more dependent on the schools for their intellectual development than are children attending school in wealthy suburban districts. The study points out that the districts populated by people of relatively lower income and lower education levels confront a much more difficult task than upscale districts when it comes to educating children.

Nevertheless, when the study controlled for such influences, many of the smaller and poorer districts, including Buffalo, exhibited very high levels of effectiveness and efficiency in educating children.

"I don't wish to imply that the wealthy school districts aren't good," said Swanson. "They are very good schools and work hard to complement work of the families in educating the pupils in their schools.

"The point is, however, that for the wealthy districts, the effort is a complementary one, with parents and schools jointly providing incentives and an environment that enhances and encourages learning," he added.

"In poorer districts with low per-capita education levels, the schools alone have to carry much of the responsibility for intellectual development of students. It's a very difficult job, but many of them do it extraordinarily well."

These districts include Buffalo and many of the outlying outlying rural districts, which have characteristics similar to those of inner-city communities. In the successful rural districts, Swanson says the size of the district is small, the communities are very supportive and involved and the children are not lost in the educational process.

Policy implications of this analysis, says Swanson, include the suggestion of better use and coordination of resources already available for educational and social support services and the need for additional resources for districts that serve high proportions of students from lower socio-economic status families.