Fox Ranks 349 Out Of 447
Without having ALL of the information for the ACT data to back up Fox's ACT Composite Score, the information is biased. To me it is a very disappointing FACT that Fox's rank in the state for the Percentage of Graduates Tested is only 349 out of 447.
I am always hearing all of this talk about how Fox is ranked in the top 10 of the state and how Fox has had 12 years of District of Distinction. However, the numbers on this report really don't seem to be that impressive. Fox's ACT Composite Score has improved over the years. But, the Percentage of Graduates Taking the ACT has improved very little compared to other school districts like Parkway and Rockwood. When Fox is ranked below the City of St. Louis Public Schools for the Percentage of Graduates Taking the ACT, I think it's time for our school board members to start paying attention to the data that isn't being presented by the administrators at the school board meetings and start asking questions.
So, how does Parkway and Rockwood get so many of their students to take the ACT?
Parkway and Rockwood pay for each of their students to take the ACT test one time. The test for 2012 cost $35 per student to take the test. That seems like a very small amount of money for our school district to invest into each student to allow them to take the ACT and possibly qualify for scholarship monies. Some states such as Illinois require ALL students in the state to take the ACT.
ACT Composite Scores and other ACT data has been one of the 14 key areas considered in receiving Missouri's District of Distinction award which Fox has received for the past 12 years in a row. However, most parents in the community have no idea how low the Percentage of Graduates Tested on the ACT has been for the district. Learning about this data usually results in a reaction of surprise because they have always been told how great Fox is compared to other schools.
Did you know that Fox ranked so low in this area?
If you think Fox should be keeping up with the other districts, please contact your school board members and ask them if they were aware of how low Fox ranked in the state with regards to the Percentage of Graduates taking the ACT.
This is an area that our school district needs to improve. You can't compare apples to apples if you don't have all of the data. Our district's ACT Composite Score will most likely drop slightly as the Percentage of Graduates taking the ACT increases like it has in other school districts. Hopefully, that will encourage our school leaders to make improvements in this area rather than dismissing this information as conveying "negativity" towards the district. Ignoring issues that are in need of improvement only hurts the students and the district. It demonstrates poor leadership and lack of stewardship of our district.
Fox's ACT Composite Score was touted by our superintendent at the recent Safety Summit despite the fact that everyone was there ONLY to talk about Safety that evening. She also pointed out that Fox has been a District of Distinction for 12 years and is a National District of Character. Most parents I spoke with didn't know what those points had to do with safety but that our superintendent certainly wanted to point them out to the audience that night.
Fox's ACT Composite Score is above the state average. But, it needs to be put into perspective by comparing Fox with the state average for the Percentage of Students Taking the ACT. Fox is nearly 20% below the state average for the Percentage of Students Taking the ACT. That is a significantly lower than the state average. Fox is 40% below Parkway and Rockwood. Perhaps, that is why our school leaders don't publicize that fact!
How do we improve this?
By contacting your school board members and school administrators and asking them to follow the lead of Parkway and Rockwood and ask them to pay for every student to take the ACT test like those districts do. $35 per student out of the almost $9000 spent on each student each year is a small price to pay so Fox can start comparing apples to apples.
2012 ACT PERCENTAGE OF GRADUATES TESTED
District Name
| Percent of Graduates Tested | Rank out of 447 | % Rank in State |
PARKWAY
| 96.1 | 8 | 98% |
ROCKWOOD
| 95.9 | 9 | 98% |
CLAYTON
| 88.8 | 23 | 95% |
LINDBERGH
| 84.5 | 30 | 93% |
WEBSTER GROVES
| 79.2 | 62 | 86% |
LADUE
| 78.4 | 68 | 85% |
FT ZUMWALT
|
77.7 | 79 | 82% |
KIRKWOOD
| 76.9 | 90 | 80% |
FRANCIS HOWELL
| 76.6 | 92 | 79% |
MISSOURI (Average)
| 75.0 | ||
BRENTWOOD
| 74.6 | 112 | 75% |
CRYSTAL CITY
| 70.8 | 154 | 66% |
PATTONVILLE
| 70.5 | 157 | 65% |
WENTZVILLE
| 69.9 | 167 | 63% |
ST. LOUIS CITY
| 69.9 | 168 | 62% |
HAZELWOOD
| 68.3 | 191 | 57% |
WINDSOR
| 68.1 | 196 | 56% |
ST. CHARLES
| 68.0 | 197 | 56% |
MEHLVILLE
| 66.4 | 213 | 52% |
FESTUS
| 66.2 | 218 | 51% |
VALLEY PARK
| 63.8 | 251 | 44% |
DUNKLIN R-V
| 59.0 | 300 | 33% |
DESOTO
| 57.8 | 321 | 28% |
FOX
| 56.0 | 349 | 22% |
NORTHWEST
| 52.0 | 393 | 12% |
HILLSBORO
|
50.0 | 402 | 10% |
GRANDVIEW R-2
|
48.1 | 410 | 8% |
2012 ACT PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS SCORING ABOVE THE NATIONAL AVERAGE
District Name
| Percent of Graduates Tested | Rank out of 447 | % Rank in State |
CLAYTON
| 67.8 | 2 | 100% |
ROCKWOOD
| 65.1 | 3 | 99% |
LADUE
| 64.9 | 4 | 99% |
PARKWAY
| 61.4 | 5 | 99% |
LINDBERGH
| 55.3 | 9 | 98% |
WEBSTER GROVES
| 52.6 | 10 | 98% |
KIRKWOOD
|
52.5 | 11 | 98% |
FRANCIS HOWELL
| 48.0 | 20 | 96% |
FT ZUMWALT
| 46.0 | 24 | 95% |
BRENTWOOD
| 42.9 | 33 | 93% |
WENTZVILLE
| 41.2 | 43 | 90% |
ST. CHARLES
| 40.6 | 47 | 89% |
PATTONVILLE
| 40.4 | 49 | 89% |
MEHLVILLE
| 39.9 | 51 | 89% |
VALLEY PARK
| 36.2 | 83 | 81% |
FESTUS
| 35.5 | 88 | 80% |
CRYSTAL CITY
| 34.8 | 98 | 78% |
WINDSOR
| 33.8 | 104 | 77% |
FOX
| 32.1 | 127 | 72% |
NORTHWEST
| 27.4 | 184 | 59% |
DESOTO
| 26.5 | 204 | 54% |
DUNKLIN R-V
| 25.3 | 225 | 50% |
GRANDVIEW R-2
| 25.3 | 226 | 49% |
HILLSBORO
|
23.5 | 270 | 40% |
HAZELWOOD
| 16.2 | 371 | 17% |
ST. LOUIS CITY
|
8.2 | 431 | 4% |
DATA SOURCES FOR INFORMATION:
The Average Percentage of Graduates Tested on the ACT for the state of Missouri came from the Missouri DESE Top 10 by 20 Dashboard page located here:
http://dese.mo.gov/top10by20/comparison.html#act
The source of data for ALL of the school districts listed above came from the following Missouri DESE web page:
http://mcds.dese.mo.gov/quickfacts/Pages/Career-Education.aspx
The spreadsheet of data that was analyzed and sorted came from the following file: