February 24, 1999
Dr. John Murphy

Desegregation Monitoring Committee

Eighth Floor

1211 McGee Street

Kansas City, MO  64106




Dear Dr. Murphy:




	On behalf of the plaintiff schoolchildren, we have prepared a straightforward analysis of
the MAP test results from the KCMSD's spring, 1998 testing.  This analysis is a simple ranking
or, in some cases, a reverse ranking, of schools by the MAP scores of African-American students
who took the test.  The MAP results are of critical importance.  These are the tests that the State
of Missouri primarily looks to in its evaluation of educational performance in KCMSD schools
and it will be these tests, from spring 1999, that will largely determine the accreditation of the
school district.  It is unfortunate that the 1998 test data disaggregated by school and race were
not made available before last week.  Nonetheless, these rankings clearly illuminate the major
challenges the KCMSD faces in the next few weeks as it prepares for the next round of testing.

	In this report we have included for each subject and for each grade tested, the narrative
description of what the State of Missouri looks for in assigning students, by their scores, to the
five levels.  From these narratives, schools communities, including principals, teachers, parents,
and others can see just what KCMSD's students are learning and, more importantly, just what
they are not learning.

	As you can see, KCMSD's black students are not being well served by the schools they
attend, with only a few exceptions.  No school in the KCMSD had a third grade student who can
read and write at the Advanced level; only two black students in the entire district can read and
write at the Advanced level in seventh grade and only two at the eleventh grade.  On the other
hand, hundreds of students at the end of third grade, after four years of school, when they should
be accomplished readers, can barely read simple sentences, follow only "brief" instructions,
"attempt to write simple sentences" and demonstrate only a "minimal knowledge of standard
English".  In fact, what is astounding, is the vast number of elementary schools where the
combined percentages of students at the two lowest levels exceeds eighty percent of their students
(such as Ladd 90.4% in the two lowest categories and Pinkerton at 87.1%).

	As to math, note that only eight students (seven in grade four, one in grade eight and
none, not even one at Lincoln, in grade ten) attained the Advanced level, while many students did
extremely poorly on the math test (five elementary schools had over a quarter of their students at
the lowest level and eleven elementary schools had between fifty and sixty-five percent of their
students in the second lowest category).  Askew had 92.7% of its students in the two lowest
categories and Ladd had 80.5%.  These low scores are especially troubling when read against
what DESE found these students to be able to accomplish, such as "order whole numbers less that
100" which most Kindergarten and first grade students should be able to do.

	Science scores were also troubling.  Not one student in either grade seven or ten attained
the Advanced level but huge numbers of students scored at the very bottom.  At Southeast high
School, 93.8% of the students scored at the lowest level (10th graders who only "demonstrate
introductory knowledge of science facts or read simple tables and diagrams") while 6.3% of
students at SE are at the next lowest level ("begin to have skills needed to design simple
experiments; provide partially developed answers and explanations").  Thus, fully 100% of the
SE students scored in the bottom two categories.  Other schools did only marginally better. 
Central had over 99% at the bottom two levels; Westport had 97.7%; Northeast, 95.6%; Van
Horn had 95.4%; Paseo had 94.3% and even Lincoln College Prep had 60% of its students at the
two lowest levels.

	Southeast High School is obviously a deeply failing school.  In math and in science, 100%
of its students scored in the two lowest categories with not a single student scoring even in the
middle level.  In reading and writing, 84.4% of its students were in the two bottom categories,
with the remaining few students (only seven in number) in the middle category, while none
reached the Proficient or Advanced levels.  As you know, the qualitative evaluations of SE High
conducted by the DMC and the parties late last year found little genuine education occurring at
that school. These scores demonstrate the accuracy of those observations.  With no changes of
substance having taken place at SE since last year, I question whether the school district is serving
well the many students enrolled there, or at most of KCMSD's other high schools were the MAP
results are only marginally better than SE's deplorable results.




								Yours very truly,







								Arthur Benson  

/AB




cc:	The Honorable Dean Whipple, Judge

Mr. Scott Raisher

	Mr. Charles Brown

	Mr. Michael Delaney

	Ms. Kathy Walter-Mack  (all with encls.)



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