For the past 13 years, The Philadelphia Inquirer has published an exhaustive "Report Card on the Schools", examining in great detail how 166 districts in Southeastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey compare on spending, salaries, academics, and other factors. The most recent report, released on April 11, also focused on science instruction and performance.
You won't find the results on the QCSD everything's-peachy-here website. The administration won't be trumpeting it at school board meetings. Analysis shows that our long, sad history of academic failure now has another inglorious chapter...
The report included the basic information from the 2009 SAT's. In reading, QCHS was 11th out of 16 in Bucks County, ahead of only five economically-disadvantaged Lower Bucks high schools - Bensalem, Bristol Boro, Bristol Twp (Truman), William Tennent, and tiny Morrisville. Our average score of 491 placed us behind 14 of 16 schools in Chester County, and ahead of only two of 23 in Montgomery. The data was almost identical for math and writing.
Overall, of the 55 public high schools in those three counties, QCHS placed 46th. All nine of the lower-performing schools are in urban areas, and only three - Oxford, Truman, and Bensalem - have more than 54 percent white students (yes, that statistic is in the report). None come anywhere close to QCHS's 88 percent. And what is this bottom-of-the-barrel education costing our community? The Inky study doesn't contain average teacher salaries (the PA Dept of Ed lists QCSD as 9th highest in the state), but it does show the percentage of teachers receiving $80,000 a year or more. In QCSD, that is 52 percent! Fifty-two percent!!! Only one of the nine lower-performing districts - Bensalem - comes anywhere near that, with 49%. Five of the nine have 37 percent or less. Coatesville has 10%, Pottstown seven. Oxford has none. Apparently poor results needn't be expensive - except in QCSD.
And that data doesn't include the 49 private and diocesan high schools, all of which (except remedial Valley Forge Military Academy) scored significantly higher than QCHS, with teacher salaries at about half, to two-thirds, of what we pay.
In fact, in all of the Southeastern PA public school districts, QCSD ranks sixth (out of 66) in percent of teachers receiving $80,000 or more, behind Council Rock, Neshaminy, Pennsbury, Lower Merion, and Upper Merion. Our SAT's are well below all of those schools. And the Inquirer took the analysis one step further, creating a "Relative Tax Burden" index, which measures a school district's cost to taxpayers, calculated by dividing total school taxes by the market value of real estate in the district. The result is then compared with other districts in the five-county Philadelphia region. A district in the top 20 percent would be in the first quintile of all districts, indicating one of the heaviest tax burdens.
Council Rock is in the 5th quintile, one of the lowest tax burdens on the community. Same for Neshaminy, and Upper Merion. Lower Merion, despite being on the ritzy Main Line, is in the fourth. QCSD, along with Pennsbury, ranks in the worst 20 percent.
Our administration has often pooh-poohed SAT scores, claiming that they are skewed by factors such as culture (race), and special education needs. But the survey shows that our community has no such excuses. Twelve percent of QCSD students are identified as special ed. Of the 66 Southeastern PA districts, only two, Lower Moreland and Perkiomen Valley, have less, both 11 percent.
The survey also accounts for race. QCSD is 88 percent white, which is the 16th most out of 66. Only six percent of our students are black or latino. Many schools identified by the survey as being the highest-performing - Lower Merion (81% white, 11% black and latino), Tredyffrin-Easttown (81%, 6%), Radnor (79%, 7%), and Upper Dublin (77%, 10%) - have lower percentages of whites, and higher percentage of blacks and latinos.
The Inquirer data starkly confirms what we already knew - we are burdened with one of the highest taxes based on the community's ability to pay; we are carrying lots of very expensive teachers; our high school students are among the worst performers; and we can't blame collateral factors. But there are new, additional findings, all equally depressing....
The Inky survey reported on the educational offerings of high schools throughout the region, and how the schools prepare students for college. This would seem to be rather valuable information for families living in the districts, as well as those who take such things into consideration when deciding where to settle. Excluding Philadelphia, there are 70 public high schools in Southeastern PA. Of the 70, 62 answered all 11 survey questions regarding educational offerings - simple items like enrollment, and more revealing data, such as how many students receive four years of college-prep math or science prior to graduation, and how students have done in advanced placement courses.
With QCHS's rather poor academic record - and the district's well-documented history of super-secrecy - perhaps it comes as no surprise that the administration failed to answer four key questions, more than any other district. They chose not to reveal how many students took algebra before ninth grade; what percentage of the 2009 class graduated with three years of a world language; what percentage of the 2009 class took at least one Advanced Placement or honors course during high school; and what percentage of 2009 graduating seniors scored at least 3 out of 5 on at least one AP test (the College Board calls this its "equity and excellence" rating).
Based on the questions they did complete, the results are dismal. Only 78 percent of graduates took four years of college-prep math, placing us 37th out of 70. And only 16 of the 70 high schools offer fewer AP courses. We are one of only 22 districts that do not offer full-day kindergarten. Our average second grade size is 24 students. No one in all of Southeastern PA is higher, and 57 of the 66 districts are lower, including Philadelphia! Where is our money going? New band uniforms. Needless full-production kitchens. Teacher "bonuses" for doing nothing. A $2.5 million district office loaded with upgrades. Exorbitant salaries all around. Where are our priorities????
We give our 4th graders 125 minutes of science per week. Twenty-five minutes a day. Only 12 of the 66 districts report less, though our test results are a mixed bag. On the 2009 science PSSA's, Haycock, Pfaff, and Trumbauersville Elementary Schools finished in the top 20 percent statewide. Neidig and Tohickon Valley were in the second quintile, while Quakertown and Richland were in the third.
Parents of Haycock Elementary students will be particularly distressed by this data. The school board, whose bad decisions created our educational mess, now seems determined to close the school, and reassign the students to Quakertown and Richland, where the level of performance is much lower. Sixty-eight percent of Haycock 4th graders scored Advanced on the science PSSA's, and none failed. Quakertown had only 47 percent Advanced, and 11 percent failure. At Richland it was 62 and 12. But equally important, Haycock showed a 12 percent improvement from 2008 to 2009. Richland had a five percent drop, and Quakertown fell nine percent.
And the biggest disappointment of all is how our students' science performance falls off dramatically as they move through the QCSD system. The eighth grade science PSSA's showed that Milford Middle School had a 34 percent failure rate. Strayer was even worse, 39 percent. Quakertown High School had an eye-popping 56 percent of students below proficient.
Year after year, survey after survey, test after test, we continue to be among the worst districts in the region, with one of the highest pay scales. The entire community should be seeking answers as to why. But neither the school board, nor the administration, will even talk about the problems, let alone take responsibility.
Meanwhile, our students' futures are at stake.
The Inquirer Report Card on the Schools can be viewed at philly.com/reportcard
For complete information about each individual teacher in QCSD, go to this website: http://php.app.com/PAteachers09/results.php?county=Bucks&LEAname=Quakertown+Community+SD&school=%25&lname=&fname=&assignment=%25&Submit=Search