Standardized Test Results

I am not a big fan of standardized testing.  But as long as they remain a part of my job, I have to participate in the ritual.  This post is not to credit or discredit the practice of standardized testing, but rather to focus on the way the results are reported.

I think we can all agree that as parents, one hope is that our children show academic growth each school year.  Of course for that to happen, the child needs to be ready and willing to learn and to have the needed support from home, as well as the care and guidance of a good teacher.  As teachers, our goal is the same, to grow each child from where they were in August to somewhere higher when they leave us in June. 

Academic growth can be measured in many ways.  Everyone needs to remember that standardized tests are only one measure.  Sometimes the statistics of these tests are reported in a manner that does not accurately portray the growth of the students.

From year to year, the percentage of students who ‘pass’ or ‘meet goal’ is generally reported to parents and newspapers in percentages for the current school year. They are reported by grade level, stating what percentage of that grade met goal for the current year.  For example, here is a fictitious report for a group of 6^th grade students over 3 years:

REPORT 1

In 2010 - Grade 6 reading – 94% met goal (Graduating class of 2016)

In 2011 - Grade 6 reading – 92% met goal (Graduating class of 2017)

In 2012 - Grade 6 reading – 87 % met goal (Graduating class of 2018)

What this type of reporting does not show is how much a student grew from the previous year.    Isn’t that what we really want to measure?

Looking at this type of report, one would assume that the 6^th grade class is going down in their reading scores.  ‘I guess the teacher is not doing his job,’ one might assume.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The fact is, you don’t know anything about how well a teacher is doing his job from the information above.  It reports on 3 different sets of students’ scores as they passed through the 6^th grade. 

Let’s look at another way of reporting the same information that follows individual students’ growth.  Following is another fictitious report for the same graduating class of 2018, as highlighted above in red, but this time showing the history of that same graduating class of 2018 over 3 years:

            REPORT 2

Graduating class of 2018–In grade 4 reading–70 % met goal

            Graduating class of 2018–In grade 5 reading –78% met goal
                      (7% increase from previous year)

            Graduating class of 2018–In grade 6 reading–87% met goal 
                      (9% increase from previous year)

Look at the scores in red.  It still tells you that the 6^th grade class of 2018 had 87% of the students meet goal.  In Report 2, you have a different look at these same statistics reported in a much different and more accurate way to show student growth.  The second report shows you what percentage of students grew as they move from grade 4 to grade 6.  Suddenly you are saying kudos to those grade 6 teachers for bringing the class of 2018 from 78% to 87% meeting goal in one academic year. This is celebrated, not looked down upon as a decline in the number of students meeting goal, as one may inaccurately interpret in the first report.  Accurate student growth should not be reported the first way.  It does not follow the same group of students and it can be misleading either in a positive or negative way.

There are other factors that go into the reports too.

·      Every student score is reported, including severely disabled students, medically fragile students, and students suffering from emotional disturbances.

·      If a student is absent for the test (and subsequent make up test), he is reported as not meeting goal, even if he is a brilliant student.

·      If a student is present for the test, but refuses to write anything, he is reported as not meeting goal.

Again, this knowledge provides you with more information and facts when reading and reacting to the percentage of students meeting goal on standardized test scores.

Another reason why this reporting is so crucial to be understood correctly is because teachers in our district, and many other districts are now being evaluated partially by student performance.  All factors have to be understood if a district is going to do this.  For example, in addition to the circumstances mentioned in the three bullets above, at the time of testing:

·      a student’s parents may be going through a tumultuous divorce

·      a student’s parent may be hospitalized for a serious medical condition

·      a student may have just returned back to school after a long absence, due to treatment for a  serious medical condition

·      a student may have just gone through the death of a family member, close relative, or family pet

These are not examples I just creating in my head.  They are all real situations that I have experienced with my students.  There are so many factors that affect student performance from day to day.  The days that standardized testing are administered are no different.  As a matter of fact, they are even more stressful for students.  Judging a teacher’s performance partially based on standardized testing is a delicate issue.  Of course the district and parents want to be sure the teacher is doing his job and thankfully there are many ways to measure that besides looking at standardized test scores.  But teacher evaluation and performance is really another post for the future.  It just bears mentioning in this post due to the connectedness of the topic.

When browsing quickly at statistics in the newspaper, it is easy to misinterpret or misunderstand the information.  It is my hope that this post brings awareness to the difference between the two ways of reporting scores.  I must say, for this post, this is my three cents!  As always, I look forward to comments and anecdotes.  

Think Before You Speak

As adults, hopefully we have learned to be careful what we say.  If we threaten consequences, we need to follow through.  If we teach something, we need to be sure it is right.  If we promise something, we need to keep our promise.

Years ago, when one of our boys was in elementary school, he was not the strongest writer.  I was worried that he would enter middle school lacking in strong writing skills. So we came up with a plan.  He agreed I could tutor him three times a week the summer before 6^th grade if he could invite three friends to join him.  That translated to free tutoring all summer long for three lucky boys.  In addition, on Fridays, I would take them all somewhere fun, like bowling, swimming, or to mini golf.  If not, we would go to pizza or ice cream.  So not only was I not getting paid, but this was arrangement would cost me money.  But in the end, it sounded like a fun plan for all involved.

Our Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning arrangement was going along swimmingly.  I even set up a keyboarding station where one boy would learn keyboarding while I worked with the other three.  One day, after the other boys left, I complimented my son on how well he was progressing.  We talked about our state’s standardized tests and how they score the writing prompt portion.  The scores range from 2-12, with a score of 8 being the goal.  I told him I would be so happy if he reached goal.  The year before he received a grade of ‘Unscorable’.  Generally that means the scorer can’t read the student’s handwriting, or the student didn’t really answer the prompt question. 

So my son, always the finagler, asked me what I would give him if he reached goal and scored an 8.  I told him he could have a sleepover with 3 friends.  He raised his eyes in delight, and then asked what if he got a 9.  I chuckled, knowing he was pushing his luck, but said we would go out to pizza before the sleepover.  Well, now he was on a roll.  What about a 10?  Well, no way that was happening, so I said we would add mini-golf to the outing.  Now he was acting like he was on a sugar high.  Eleven?  A trip to Six Flags.  Twelve?  I paused, daydreaming about that non-existent possibility of going from ‘Unscorable’ to 12 in one year and said, “If you score a 12, we will go to Disney World!”  That sure got him to work hard all summer.

But, reality set back in, we finished our summer tutoring, and my son entered middle school.  October rolled around and the CMT tests were administered.  He said he thought he did ok, but scores don’t come back for months.  When the springtime came, our district language arts administrator came to see me.  The scores had just come in and she asked me what I did to prepare my son for the test.  I deflated, thinking she must think I am a terrible mother that I prepare my students but not my own son.  I started to answer but then she showed me his score.  Not only did he score a 12 on the writing prompt, but he also scored a perfect 400 (out of 400 points) on the total writing portion of the test.  I had never seen a perfect writing score before and only occasionally see them now from year to year.  I was absolutely flabbergasted.  My pride in his accomplishments was clouded by the fact that I was now going to have to plan a family vacation to Florida in the summer!

I fleetingly let the thought cross my mind that I wouldn’t tell him his true score, but that didn’t last more than one second.  He worked hard and earned it.  He needed to know that hard work pays off.  I needed to learn that promises made without thinking things through was requiring me to pay.  The moral of the story is to be careful what you promise… because the seemingly impossible can happen.  The other moral of the story is to never sell your children short…they are capable of great things.  I learned my lessons.  

Disclaimer:  This is not an actual picture of my son.  He does indeed have a nose.