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.