It often seems that Progressives and Conservatives are able to find little on which they agree.  However, both presidential candidates in the 2012 elections do agree on one thing:  parents should have more access to education options.

Barack Obama and his Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, have promoted school choice over the past four years by pushing states to increase charter schools through the Race to the Top program.

Mitt Romney announced his education platform in late May.  One piece of the plan that got considerable attention was his push for states to adopt an open enrollment system, allowing students to attend any school, regardless of where they live. 

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Last week, former Gotham Gazette editor-in-chief and Insideschools contributor, Gail Robinson, published an article raising a familiar question: Are high-achieving charter schools pushing out underperformers to keep their test scores up?  Ms. Robinson´s article focused specifically on Harlem Success Academy 1, the first school opened in Eva Moskowitz´s popular charter network.

Ms. Robinson cited state report card data indicating that the 2011 5th grade´s class size fell 36% in the five years students attended the school.  She went on to say that this “attrition” increased in higher grades, raising questions about whether the school “counseled out” underachievers as statewide testing began in 3rd grade. 

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As a Midtown resident, I was happy to see that Inman Middle School ranked sixth out of 199 Metro Atlanta middle schools in my 2011 middle school rankings.  I always knew that Inman was considered a high-quality school, but I didn`t know just how impressive it`s performance was until I started digging into the data released by the Governor´s Office of Student Achievement.  Inman excels every way you look at it.

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As parents make decisions about the schools their children attend, having access to useful performance data is informative.  As a resident of Atlanta and someone interested in public education, I have been surprised at the lack of accessible information.  So, I set out to compile a ranking of academic performance in Metro Atlanta´s public schools.

I have ranked each of Metro Atlanta´s public middle schools considering both the school´s overall performance (40%) and it´s performance relative to peer schools (60%).  Peer schools are schools whose students have a similar level of needs.  In my analysis, economic disadvantage, English language learners, ethnicity, and special education are each considered in determining a school´s level of needs.  A more technical explanation is provided in the linked methodology.   

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(Source: 2011 Metro Atlanta Middle School Ratings)

Early this year, the New York Times posted an interesting piece on economic mobility in America.  The world knows America as “the land of opportunity,” and throughout our history immigrants have come to the country and risen up the ranks.  

However, the Times piece noted that, in recent years, U.S. economic mobility for some groups has lagged other developed countries.  For example, 43% of Americans raised in the bottom fifth of incomes will stay there.  Only 25% of Danes  raised in the bottom fifth will stay there. 

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Eva Moskowitz glared at the linoleum tile on the Try and Try stairwell, brow furrowed at a micromanager´s nightmare: a gray stain, six inches long. ´This drives me crazy,´ she says.

So begins New York Magazine´s profile of Success Academies founder and Gotham lightning rod, Eva Moskowitz: The Patron Saint (and Scourage) of Lost Schools.

The mere mention of Eva´s name is enough to set some people´s blood racing.  Commenters on local school news sites call her derogatory names ranging all the way from ”hussy” to “vampire.”  

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Last year, the state of Georgia reported that 81% of its 4th graders were meeting Math grade level expectations (CRCT).  However, when the state´s 4th graders took the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), only 37% were found to meet national expectations.  A drastic difference—44% of students went from meeting state expecations to not meeting national expectations.  Is this isolated to 4th graders´math tests or it a more common occurance?  If so, is there any cause for concern?

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Discussions of school quality often center around school systems as a whole.  ”X County has good schools.”  ”X County has bad schools.”  But with each system comprising so many individual schools, can conclusions really be drawn at a system-wide level?

Based on Metro Atlanta 2011 Elementary School Rankings, it appears the answer to that question is “sometimes.”  Take a look at the table below which shows the percent of schools receiving grades A through F from each school system.

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(Source: whats in a system)

Metro Atlanta Elementary School Rankings showed that student academic achievement varied significantly among the Metro Atlanta area’s elementary schools.  While there are certainly a variety of factors that impact student performance, one important factor may be the school’s diversity.

Take a look at the graph below.  You can clearly see that schools with higher diversity also have higher academic achivement.  As always, we have to remember that correlation does not necessarily reflect a cause & effect relationship.  However, the findings certainly give Metro Atlanta’s parents cause to at least consider diversity when enrolling their children.

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As parents make decisions about the schools their children attend, having access to useful performance data is informative.  As a resident of Atlanta and someone interested in public education, I have been surprised at the lack of accessible information.  So, I set out to compile a ranking of academic performance in Metro Atlanta´s public schools.

I have ranked each of Metro Atlanta´s public elementaryschools considering both the school´s overall performance (40%) and it´s performance relative to peer schools (60%).  Peer schools are schools whose students have a similar level of needs.  In my analysis, economic disadvantage, English language learners, ethnicity, and special education are each considered in determining a school´s level of needs.  A more technical explanation is provided in the linked methodology.   

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