Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 26 December 2003 — Page 4

PAGE A4

THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2003

African-American ISTEP scores improve again, especially in maHi

By AMOS BROWN III Recorder Correspondent ISTKl* scores lor AfricanAmerican students improved for the second straight year Mat c\\ idc and the city and suburbs of Indianapolis, according to an Indianapolis Recorder analy sis. Statewide, 44 percent of African Americans passed the IS TKl* language arts section, while 4.4 percent passed the mathematics section. That's an increase of 1 percentage point in languagcarts and a strong f» percentage point jump in math from last year's IS TKl’ results. For all students statewide, (if) percent passed the language arts and 7<' percent passed the math sections,an increaseof 1 percentage point in language arts and 4 percentage points in math from ‘iOO'J. Kor the past twoyears, ISTKl*. (Indiana Statewide Testing for Kdueation Progress) tested Hoosiers in the third, sixth, eighth and loth grades based on Indiana's new, tougher academic

standards. ISTKl* tests are one measurement to document student academic performance under the federal government's No Child I .eft Rehind law. The Recorder analy zed ISTKl’ results for African-American students statewide and in Indianapolis city/county and suburban school districts with an AfricanAmerican enrollment of at least 4<)(). The Rcc< irders analysis c( unbilled the total number of third, sixth, eight hand 10th graders who took and passed the test and reported the percentage that passed. Overall and in most school districts examined, African-Ameri-can students improved markedly in mathematics. The strongest gains in math were made in the Pike Township Schools which saw a 10 percentage point increase in the number of African Americans passingthe ISTEP math sections. Other school districts saw similar gains. The percentage of Black students w ho passed math jumped 6 percentage points in the India-

napolis Public Schools, Warren Township, Wayne Tow nshipand Hamilton Southeastern school districts. 'Two school districts saw big gains among African Americans in language arts. The percentage of Blacks passing language arts increased seven points in I lamilton Southeastern and five points in Pike Township. Several districts saw declines in the percentage of Black students passing ISTEP. Surprisingly. t he biggest declines occurring in the Carmel-Clay school district where 6f> percent of Black students passed ISTKP math and language arts, compared with 75 percent a year ago. Other districts where the percentage of Blacks who passed declined in math were Decatur Township and Speedway schools (down two points); and Franklin Township (down one point). In language arts, Decatur Township’s Black ISTEP scores fell 5 percentage points, in Speedway the decline was 4 points and a 1 point drop in Perry

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Township. percent passing math, up 6 points. Overall, in Pike Township, (il African-American students in percent ofBlacks passed language the Hamilton Southeastern disartsand 58 percent passed math, trict in the Fishers area of Washington Tow nship had the Hamilton County scored the best highest performance of the town- with 75 percent passing language ship schools w ith b'2 percent of arts and 72 percent passing math, their Black students passing lan- The poorest performance by guage arts and 58 percent passing African-American students in an math. Indianapolis area school district African-American students in occurred in Anderson where a the Indianapolis Public Schools third (33 percent) of Blacks continued to improve their ISTKP passed language arts and 2.9 perscores as 41 percent passed lan- cent passed math. Anderson’s guage arts, up 3 points and 40 Black students’ISTEP scores are

far lower than I PS’ and for Blacks statewide. The accompanyingchart shows the ISTEP passing rates for language arts and math for African Americans in statewide and the 13 Indianapolis area school corporations surveyed by The Recorder. Detailed data on ISTEP scores, including scores for individual schools, is available at the Indiana Department of Education’s Web site: http://doe.state.in.us/ istep/2003/welcome.html.

DISTRICT

% PASSING 2003-04

%PASSING *002-03

LANG

MATH

LANG

MATH

Statewide

IPS

Decatur Twp.

Franklin Twp.

Lawrence Twp.

Perry Twp.

Pike Twp.

Warren Twp.

Washington Twp.

Wayne Twp.

Speedway

Carmel

Hamilton SE

Anderson Comm

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1,551 Blacks attend area private schools; down 6.1 percent in year

By AMOS BROWN III Recorder Correspondent African-American enrollment in private and parochial schools in the Indianapolis and surrounding suburbs is declining, according to an analysts of enrollment data by The Indianapolis Recorder. This school year, 1,551 African Americans are enrolled in private and parochial schools in Indianapolis and the surrounding suburbs, a decline of 101 students or 6.1 percent in one school year. For wars, private schools weren’t required to submit their enrollment data by race. But accreditation requirements by the Indiana Department of Education and accountability provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind law now requires private and religions schools to provide the data. Sixty-five private and parochial schools in Indianapolis/Marion County and the seven surrounding suburban counties provided racial enrollment data to the state. Those schools hiid a total enrollment of 21,3l6vvith African Americans comprising 1,551 or 7-3 percent and Hlspanics comprising 3(>0 or 1.7 percent.

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(There are a number of private and religious schools that don’t submit enrollment data by race, so this Isn’t the definitive picture of racial enrollment in the area’s private schools.) Nearly seven-in-10 Blacks (68.4 percent) attending area private/parochial schoolsareenrolled in Catholic schools. Black Catholic school enrollment is l,06l or 7-9 percent of the total Catholic school enrollment of 13,477. Black enrollment in Indianapolis area Catholic schools fell 133 or 11.1 percent in the past year. Since the 1999/2000 school year, AfricanAmerican enrollment in area Catholic schools has declined a stunning 41.8 percent or 761 students. Some observers expected that Indianapolis’ growing Hispanic population would be reflected in rising enrollments in private/parochial schools, but The Recorder’s analysis found differently. For the third straight year, Hispanicenrollment has dropped in area private and parochial schools. In the 2001/02 school year, 453 Hispanics attended area private schools. That number tell to 394 last school year and to 360 this year. Over the past three years, in a period of Hispanic population growth, Hispanic private school enrollment dropped 20.5 percent. Of the 65 private schools in Indianapolis providing racial enrollment data,sixare majority African-Ameri-cai i schtxrLs. The Black enrollment of those schools encompass 47.8 percent of all African Americans private school enrollment The sch<x)ls ;md their percent of African-American enrollment are: • Mt. Carmel Christum Academy, 98.6 percent Black. • St. Andrew/St Rita Catholic Schixrl, 98 percent Black. • Holy Angels Catholic School, 96.2 percent Black. • Jewel Christian Academy, 95.9 percent Black. • IJ*P & Arlington Elementary Sch<x)l One, 79.6 percent Black. • St. .lo;ui of Arc Catholic School, 70.7 percent Black. Seven schvxrls have enrollments that ;irc at least 10 percent AfricanAmerican. 'They ;ire: • North l*:u k Academy, 35.3 percent. •St. Michael the ArchangelCatholie ScIuxjI, 28.2 percent. • All Saints Catholic Schcx)l, 26.2 (XTcent. • 1.1*1’ & Arlington Elementary ScIkx)I Two, 26.7 percent. • St. Gabriel Catholic School, 14 IxTcent. • St. Livvrence Catholic School, 12.8 |x*rcent. •St. Monica Catholic Sch<x>l, 10.9 percent. * The private schcxils with the largest highest percentage of I llspanic students enrolled are: St. Philip Neri Catholic Sch<x>l 39.7 (XTcent and All Saints Catholic School 22.1 percent.