More than 5,400 African-American children who live in St. Louis City hop on a bus to go to a St. Louis County school every day as part of the desegregation program.
On average, the trip takes about an hour. These students are hoping to get a better education than the St. Louis Public Schools can give them, but are they receiving it?
A recent study of MAP data showed that SLPS’s 7,558 magnet students are faring better academically than city residents who make the trek to 13 county schools as part of the Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Corp. program (VICC).
After years of local school leaders requesting the information, in November the state provided the VICC office with MAP test scores specifically for African-American students participating in the desegregation program.
In eight of 10 categories, African-American SLPS magnet students fared better on the test than black VICC students, according to an analysis conducted by SLPS. The report compared communication arts and math test scores for 3rd grade up to high school.
Building confidence
The data arrive at a timely moment. Last month, Missouri’s board of education voted to revoke the charters of all Imagine schools, leaving about 3,800 students looking for another school this summer.
Then on May 1, the St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge David Lee Vincent III ruled that unaccredited public school districts do not have to pay for their students to attend accredited schools in the Turner vs. Clayton School District case. The Missouri Supreme Court upheld a 1993 state law that says students from unaccredited schools could transfer to accredited schools for free, but Vincent ruled that it was an unfunded mandate.
So at this very moment, the city has thousands of charter students and their families frantically looking for a new school.
Alisha Franklin, a parent who had two children enrolled in Imagine schools, attended the May 3 SLPS school board meeting where SLPS Superintendent Kelvin Adams presented the data.
“I’m very glad to that Dr. Adams had the presentation on how African-American students were performing in the VICC schools and their magnet schools,” Franklin said. “I didn’t need a graph to tell me that.”
Franklin is working with Imagine parents and Adams to keep their schools intact by transferring students and teachers into a SLPS school building. Several school sites are available to reopen if parents can come together and get enough students to fill them, Adams said.
As students come into the district, staff will be assessing and identifying their strengths and areas of need.
“We are looking to create individual academic plans for all of those students who will be attending the district,” Adams said.
Adams has also been talking with principals from Imagine schools about possible job placement. The district will hold a job fair for Imagine staff on June 2. Adams said over 200 positions are available.
Franklin also said she was glad to see that the magnet schools have slots available. Currently among magnet schools, there are 318 elementary seats, 279 middle school seats, and 1,936 high school seats available.
The district has received over 8,000 applications for magnet schools, representing about 6,000 individual students.
To get into an elementary magnet school, students must complete an application and provide proof of residence. For high school magnet schools, the application also includes an interview and/or essay, copies of attendance and discipline records, and a 2.5 GPA. For Metro and McKinley, the GPA requirement is higher.
‘Integration of schools’
While African-American magnet students are performing better than black VICC students, it’s not true for black SLPS students overall. VICC released a report that shows black students who attend suburban schools through their program perform better on standardized tests than all black SLPS students combined.
“The VICC program wasn’t created to address difference in student achievement,” said David Glaser, chief executive of VICC. “It was created relative to the integration of schools. The fact that students and parents feel they are getting a better education is a fringe benefit.”
