Fuzzy figures

How many students participated in the School District of Philadelphia’s summer school program? Depends on who you ask and when you ask them.

 

A report from the Philadelphia Public School Notebook cites varying and uncertain statistics from the District’s 2010 summer classes.

A presentation yesterday from District Chief Academic Officer David Weiner reported more than 58,000 students (about a third of the District’s overall enrollment) participated in the summer session. That number, however, does not include students who didn’t show up. Meaning students who enrolled by did not participate were dropped from the statistic, instead of being counted as absent or non-participatory.

The Notebook’s request for the number of students who showed up five or more days (the number required to be included in the headcount), has not yet been met by the District. Similar inaccuracies were reported in math and reading improvement scores.

Sounds like Weiner and Co.’s math skills could benefit from summer school.