S.D. data flawed in report on schools
Faulty figures distort rank for low poverty in public education
A new report saying South Dakota has the nation's third-highest percentage of students attending wealthy public schools relies on wildly inaccurate data from the Sioux Falls School District and probably at least three others.
According to the Fordham Institute, 16 percent of South Dakota public school students - four times the national average - attend schools where fewer than 5 percent of the students are poor enough to qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.
But the report, "America's Private Public Schools," uses faulty figures South Dakota officials reported to the federal government. An Argus Leader analysis indicates the true number is less than one-tenth what the report says.
Sioux Falls public schools had 6,277 students on the school meal subsidy program in 2006-07, according the the National Center for Education Statistics.
The same source has the number dropping to 168 the following school year, which is the data set the Fordham Institute used for its report.
That meant even schools like Hawthorne Elementary, where four out of five students come from poor families, were counted in the report as schools for the elite.
"The numbers obviously do not match our numbers," school district spokeswoman DeeAnn Konrad said.
The apparent cause of the bad data is the school district's conversion in early 2008 to a new student information system, Infinite Campus, which is used by most of the schools in the state.
Mary Stadick-Smith, spokeswoman for the Department of Education, said state officials thought when they retrieved the Sioux Falls data that it had been fully converted. It had not, so what the state reported to the NCES was inaccurate.
"Basically, the information they gave us was incorrect," NCES statistician Patrick Keaton said.
Stadick-Smith said the mistake should not cost the school district any federal money because National School Lunch Program money is based on a different reporting system and other grants are determined by census data and actual enrollment. She said state officials are working with the school district and NCES to correct the inaccurate data.
The Argus Leader notified the Fordham Institute of the data problem on Thursday. Co-author Janie Scull acknowledged the data was illogical but no corrections have been made.
Keaton didn't know if any other schools' data was misreported, and Stadick-Smith said she thought the mistake was isolated to the Sioux Falls district.
But the newspaper on Sunday found questionable figures for three additional school districts: The NCES reported lunch program eligibility in the Newell School District fell from 164 in 2006-07 to just four in 2007-08 and in the Wall School District from 69 to one. The Edmunds Central School District's numbers fell from 58 in 2005-06 to zero and two in the subsequent years.
If the remainder of the data is correct, only seven South Dakota schools — including All City Elementary in Sioux Falls — would qualify as what the Fordham Institute calls "private public schools." Just 1,664 students attended those schools in 2007-08, or 1.4 percent of all the public school students in the state.
Reach Josh Verges at 331-2335.
Link: http://www.argusleader.com/article/20100222/NEWS/2220302/1001/news
