School superintendents criticize Don’t Fail Idaho commercial

POCATELLO — Superintendents of schools across Idaho have voiced concerns over the statistics and message presented in the “Don’t Fail Idaho” commercials, paid for by the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Family Foundation.

“From our perspective, it just seems divisive,” said Ron Bolinger, the superintendent of the American Falls School District. “It seems to work toward tearing schools down rather than building them up.”

The advertisement shows a school bus dropping four students off in the middle of nowhere as the fifth child waves at them from the bus. The scene is meant to illustrate the claim that 4 out of 5 Idaho students are not prepared for life after high school.

The claim is based on SAT scores from April of 2014, when the state had 16,700 high school juniors to take the test. Idaho students are required to take a college entrance exam before graduating high school. The SAT is the only one offered for free, but the Compass and ACT are also options.

The goal from the Board of Education was for 60 percent of students to score 500 or higher all three sections of the SAT: reading, writing and math. According to the Albertson Family Foundation, a score of 500 indicates that students are more likely to succeed in life after high school.

However, as it said in the ad, only 1 out of 5 students met this goal, and only one school exceeded the state’s goal of a 60 percent success rate.

“If students leave high school unprepared for post-secondary, they often choose not to go, or when they do, they require costly remediation to close the gap of learning that should have taken place in high school,” said a statement on the Idaho Education 2014 Education SAT Data. “This leaves a very large uphill battle to succeed in school and the workplace.”

The data was published by the Idaho Business for Education and the Albertson Family Foundation and can be found at dontfailidaho.org. It also stated that these low scores are an indication that Idaho will not have enough educated workers and that will contribute to low wages across the state.

However, superintendents across the state have complained, stating that the Albertson Family Foundation is drawing large conclusions based on a small set of data. The movement started with administrators in the Boise School District but struck a nerve in educators across the state.

“The data is tremendously narrow and does not reflect what is happening in our schools and with our students,” said a letter written by Marc Gee, superintendent of the Preston School District, and signed by 12 other superintendents from districts in Southeast Idaho.

“Basing it on SAT scores doesn’t take into account other educational opportunities that our students pursue,” said Bolinger. “So to take a score like the SAT, which isn’t an achievement thing, that’s just not fair.”

According to the 2015 statistics from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, Idaho’s eighth-graders ranked higher than 27 states in math and higher than 37 states in reading. In a 2009 study from the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, Idaho ranked in the top 20 for high school graduation rates, with almost 78 percent of students graduating.

Another NCHEMS study from 2010 shows that Idaho had the lowest go-on rate of any state, with only 45 percent of students attending college directly out of high school. Idaho also ranked 49th in education spending at only $6,791 per student, according to the Census Bureau’s “Public Education Finance: 2013.” That’s compared with the No. 1 state, New York, which spends $19,818 per student.

“Our concerns are over the message, whether it was intended or unintended,” said Gee. “It’s just divisive and put parents against their school district. No superintendent thinks we’re in a perfect system, but we’d rather have the Albertson Foundation working with us. It’s not like we have the funds for competing ads.”

This article was originally published in the Idaho State Journal. It is used here with permission.