greatschools.net

There have been some complaints about my posting of the comparisons of schools of what they spend per pupil. Some feel it's "unfair" or doesn't represent the "true" picture.

HOW SCHOOLS ARE RATED per greaterschools.net

As an overall rating (based on TEST SCORES) from greaterschools.net: *10 being the highest rating*

• Westmoreland-5
• Marcy Elementary (Whitesboro)-7
• Clinton-9
• New Hartford (Bradley)-9
• NY Mills-8
• Oriskany-7

Remember, as per the website, the overall school grade/rating is based on test scores.

To be fair, Mitch Lemaire (school board president at Westmoreland) felt I should have a break down of test scores in subjects. He did a compilation and sent it to me via email. I will include that information below:

Mrs. Ritter,

Why don't you tell the rest of the story that's being told at thegreatschool.net page you are quoting.

• English Language Arts Grade 3 scores - % meeting or exceeding standards,Westmoreland 71%, State average 70%.
• Math Grade 3 scores - % meeting or exceeding standards, Westmoreland92%, State average 90%.
• Math Grade 4 scores - % meeting or exceeding standards, Westmoreland89%, State average 84%.
• English Language Arts Grade 5 scores - % meeting or exceeding standards,Westmoreland 85%, State average 78%.
• Math Grade 5 scores - % meeting or exceeding standards, Westmoreland85%, State average 83%.

This trend continues up through the Middle and High School. I could on and put the rest of the scores here but I think that you get the point, statistics can be made to look good or bad but you need to have the whole picture, yes while we might spend less percentage wise on the academic area than the state average, we are significantly above the state average on test scores, which I believe is the more important issue here. All the above info is from the same web page that you are getting your information from.

Mitch LemaireWestmoreland School Board

Thank you Mitch for helping compile this information and presenting it to me! It certainly is a testament to the wonderful teachers Westmoreland has, which has never been disputed. The problem at Westmoreland lies in the administration, school board and other decision makers....Not our teachers!

nnn Just also need to point out that we have exemplary teachers. Obviously they have to be good-they get good test scores from the students on LESS INSTRUCTIONAL funding than other local comparable schools!nnn