ORCSD By The Numbers

Oyster River resident, Mike McClurken, has published "The ORCSD by the Numbers" — an extensive and thorough report taking a data-driven look at Oyster River Cooperative School District performance. From the introduction:

I wrote this report because I was curious about our school district. All that I was reading about in the newspapers in the first half of 2011 was the storm of controversy that erupted after the school board election of March 2011. It was mostly personal attacks back and forth, with little that was based on facts or data.

I recently found the time to explore and analyze some of the vast amount of information that is available online about the ORCSD and other school districts in NH. I explored the web sites of the New Hampshire Department of Education, the ORCSD, the US Census Bureau, the College Board, and other sites. After I had gathered some data, I started making graphs and tables and writing up my thoughts. I used the FAQ format, or frequently asked questions, by posing a question, then giving an answer. In this report I often admit when I don’t understand things well enough to give a good answer, and ask for help from anyone who may have a better answer.

I think that the ORCSD spending is too high and could be reduced by 10 – 15 % without significantly reducing the level of student achievement. I’ve tried to write this report in a non-partisan way. I blame nobody and I only mention a personal name if that person was either a source of information or an election candidate. I hope that it helps some people make more informed decisions on election day in March 2012. I have shared earlier versions of this report with Interim Superintendent Leon Levesque, the school board, and the Advisory Budget Committee (ABC) and I hope this report is of some use to them as they work to put together the next budget.

I am sure some readers will find errors, omissions, typos, and a few observations I have made that they disagree with. You can contact me at mmcclurken@comcast.net and I will make every effort to make appropriate revisions. I will email a PDF of this report to anyone who emails me to request it, and I will not use any requesting person’s email address for any purpose other than to reply with a PDF of this report as an attachment. I will also mail a bound hard copy of this report to anyone living in the district who requests it, at no charge.

I have not included any biographical information about myself, since that is available online. I am on LinkedIn, but I am not on Facebook or Twitter.

Mike McClurken

You can view and download the original PDF via Google Docs. As mentioned in the introduction, Mike is willing to email electronic copies or post physical copies upon request.