West Hartford School Rankings

 

More spending doesn’t equate to better schools.  There are studies that prove that.

 

The Report Card on American Education makes a state-by-state analysis grading each state using over a hundred measures of educational resources and achievement. Historical data are presented when available and appropriate for three benchmark school years: 1985-86, 1995-96, and 2005-06. In addition, for several of the key measures of educational inputs, historical data for 2000-01 have been provided in order to examine more recent trends in educational spending. The report makes a sobering statement:       

 

         “The 2007 Report Card once again illustrates that simply increasing spending on education is not enough to improve student performance. The information, analysis, and measurements in this report confirm there is no evident correlation between pupil-to-teacher ratios, spending per pupil, and teacher salaries on the one hand, and educational achievement as measured by various standardized test scores, on the other. In other words, lawmakers need to consider the fact that they cannot spend their way to improved student achievement and must look beyond these conventional measures of educational investment to find the keys to educational excellence.” (page 3)

 

Interestingly, a report by a British think tank, Standards and Spending Dispelling the Spending Orthodoxy, also concludes: "Not only is there no pos­itive correlation between spending and results, but there are quite a few nega­tive correlations. It's true that pupils from England and America score high on self-esteem, but the two countries can't compete with other developed nations when it comes to standardized tests."46

 

 

Our school budget is proposed $125.5 million. In West Hartford more than 57% of the town budget goes to education, and of the school budget 83% goes to salaries and benefits.  Our per pupil cost is reported as $11,030.

 

Here are some interesting statistics and rankings from School Digger.com which compares schools from around the state based on test scores.


Here are CT school rankings === http://www.schooldigger.com/go/CT/schoolrank.aspx?pagetype=top10

Out of 489 + elementary schools in CT  - West Hartford's not on the top 10 based on 2006 CMT test data

In fact the first West Hartford elementary school showing up in the rankings is

Bugbee coming in 25th the next is

Norfeldt coming in at 78th,

Morley at 82nd ,

Aiken at 118th,

Whiting Lane and Wolcott at 137th (tie),

Duffy at 160th,

Smith at 285 and

Charter Oak is 344th,

Braeburn wasn't ranked

of CT middle schools (based on CMT scores)
Out of 135+ schools - 

King Philip and Sedgewick both ranked 42nd,

Bristow is ranked 59th

of CT high schools (based on CAPT scores)
Out of 167+- 

Hall is ranked 26th

Conard is ranked 57th
=============================================================
 District Profile: School digger shows this:
http://www.schooldigger.com/go/CT/district/04920/search.aspx
            Grades offered: PK-12

             28 South Main Street
             West Hartford, CT  06107-2447
             (860) 523-3500

           Students: 9988
            Elementary Schools: 10
            Middle Schools: 3
            High Schools: 2
                  Schooldigger Connecticut District Ranking for West Hartford:   69th (of 182 districts)

            see district rank -
http://www.schooldigger.com/go/CT/districtrank.aspx
========================================================


http://www.schooldigger.com/go/CT/districtrank.aspx
Here are the top 10 school districts in the state according to School Digger which uses test scores and other factors
1  Simsbury School District
2  Regional School District 09
3  New Canaan School District
4  Wilton School District
5  Westport School District
6  Avon School District
7  Weston School District
8  Farmington School District
9  Granby School District
10 Darien School District

 

 

According to CT State DOE per pupil expenditures report Nov 2007, the top ten school districts spend this amount per pupil in 2006-07      West Hartford is reported as spending $11,030  but in this DOE report shows $11,476.12

 

1  Simsbury School District   -    $11,222.03
2  Regional School District 09 -   $16,028.31
3  New Canaan School District -   $14,837.13
4  Wilton School District  -    $13,395.51
5  Westport School District  - $14,720.11
6  Avon School District  -    $10,301.10
7  Weston School District  -   $15,286.16
8  Farmington School District  - $11,338.04
9  Granby School District  -  $10,445.91
10 Darien School District  - $12,909.29

 

School districts spending the most money per pupil are:

 

 

DISTRICT NO. 11 

18,148.04

Ranked 135

 

CANAAN          

17,357.06

Ranked   47

 

CORNWALL        

16,984.24

Ranked   26

 

GREENWICH       

16,776.61

Ranked   36

 

DISTRICT NO. 1  

16,504.93

Ranked   92

 

SHARON          

16,488.67

Ranked 100

 

CHAPLIN         

16,258.48

Ranked 158

 

DISTRICT NO. 12 

16,229.34

Ranked   49

 

DISTRICT NO. 9  

16,028.38

Ranked     2

 

SALISBURY       

15,920.16

Ranked   28

 

HAMPTON         

15,814.42

Ranked   72

 

HARTFORD        

15,448.13

Ranked 179

 

WESTON          

15,286.16

Ranked     7

 

DISTRICT NO. 18 

15,175.50

Not Ranked

 

NEW HAVEN       

15,044.18

Ranked 171

 

So clearly – spending more money does not necessarily translate into better scores or schools (their rankings are in the third column above out of 182 schools).  

 

It would seem that an efficiently run school district is one where per pupil expenditure is keep lower and scores and rankings are higher as evident in Avon, Granby and Farmington (among the top 10 school districts in the state).  With West Hartford ranking 69th and spending $11,030 per pupil, clearly we can do better. What are our surrounding towns doing better that we should examine?