The Nation
US News just published its Best High Schools for Math And Science and no surprise, Cactus Shadows in Cave Creek Unified failed to make the list. The methodology used by US News is to consider participation and success in AP courses that the College Board considers STEM Math or STEM Science. We wanted to see how many of these STEM courses were offered at Cactus Shadows and we were stunned by the results.
We have heard of student complaints about the AP offerings but we had no idea that the math and science offerings are so anemic. Not even offering AP Chemistry is an outrage. No Calculus BC? It is just sad that math offerings end here. How can our leadership run around claiming 21st Century this and that, but offer no computer science classes?
Compare these offerings to Vail Unified, a school district about the same size as Cave Creek Unified, in a considerably less affluent area.
So Cienega High School in the Vail Unified School District has twice the STEM AP offerings as Cactus Shadows does.
Rest assured though if your Cactus Shadows Student wants to take dance, there is a 4 year, full credit offering. Is it any wonder that our cheerleaders do so well, yet AP participation is down and scores are below STATE averages (students only need ONE credit of fine arts for in-state university admission).
The solution is simple.
1) Stop offering IB. This is draining too many resources for too little students. In addition, more colleges offer credit for AP than they do for IB.
2) Put more effort and resources into teaching the top students, instead of trying to save students with e2020 and PASS. We realize that these student you save bring you more money, but it should not be about the money, it should be about student achievement.
3) Let parents use tax credit money to pay for the costs of AP exams or better yet, have the district pay for the cost of AP exams. Show a commitment to learning over extracurriculars.
The World
The just published Global Report Card shows the pathetic performance of our public district schools (not just CCUSD®) when compared to the achievement of 25 other countries with developed economies. Below is how Cave Creek Unified stacks up against the world.
Be sure to check out the accompanying article “When the Best is Mediocre” which highlights how districts in affluent areas like ours pat them sleeves on the back for outperforming urban districts and state averages, but when compared internationally, our students are falling short.
Aren't points #1 and #2 contradictory?
ReplyDeleteI can only count 4 Arizona High Schools making the US News and World Report list, mostly which accept merit based students only. None in the Phoenix area. This is not a CCUSD failing. This is a state of Arizona funding failure. If Arizona funded its schools properly, there would be more opportunity for students to have more engaging curriculum and the proper class sizes to teach them in.
ReplyDeleteI am also familiar with a number of high schools that did make the list. Of the east coast high schools that I am familiar with, they are well funded and student classroom populations are small and capped at these small numbers.
Numerous California schools show up, especially in Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley schools are often recipients of large endowments from the many high tech firms in the area especially in the areas of math and science. Once again, investment in students (in this case private not public) pays off.
Unfortunately, Arizona does not have the type of deep pocketed private sector (aka silicon valley) to depend on private investment alone to carry its public schools. Since they are public schools, how about investing in your community by pushing your legislators to better fund education (even if taxes have to rise) and voting for the overrides? Otherwise, stop complaining - if the schools cannot afford to give your children the type of education that they deserve, you have no one to blame but yourselves for being unwilling to fund those expectations. You are reaping what you sow. Unfortunately, those with the anti-tax agenda in CCUSD are forcing those parents who want their children to get a decent public education and who are willing to pay for it to either watch their kids go down with the ship or to go to other better pocketed schools.
The lack of solid math/science classes and no computer science classes whatsoever at Cactus Shadows is exactly why I removed my children from this district. All the money and time seems to be going to the elementary school flavor of the week programs of questionable merit. The demographics in this district are something most school officials would drool over. If the district officials ever stop cow-towing to the whining’s of the elementary school parents and put some effort into their high school course offerings they might have something to brag about.
ReplyDeleteThe district has been so worried about attracting younger students from outside the district with equestrian and world language programs when the only thing they need to do is put some time into helping the high school students achieve entrance into top notch national universities and the students and their younger siblings will come running. Implement a program to improve SAT and ACT scores. Train the AP teachers to help the kids achieve better results on the AP exams. Support the programs they do have by actually having enough textbooks and supplemental material. Make sure the teachers are teaching the content and not just playing movies and passing out packets of homework.
Almost all of the kids in this district come from middle to upper middle class families with parents who care and computers at home. Guiding them to achieve news-worthy academic hurdles shouldn't be all that difficult. How can Cave Creek Unified keep spoiling the perfect equation for success? It's not about the money; it's about where you choose to spend it. I place Cave Creek School Districts lack of success squarely on the shoulders of the administration especially those involved in making the choices for instructional content. Wake up and start focusing on what really matters and you can make a lot more with a lot less.