Scores fall back on 2 math tests

Students improve in 2 areas

NWA MEDIA FLIP PUTTHOFF
Gina Kell, math coach at Elmwood Middle School, talks on Friday Aug. 23 2013 with sixth-grade students in a math class taught by Krista Stewart.

NWA MEDIA FLIP PUTTHOFF Gina Kell, math coach at Elmwood Middle School, talks on Friday Aug. 23 2013 with sixth-grade students in a math class taught by Krista Stewart.

Monday, August 26, 2013

The average achievement rates for Arkansas secondary-school students dipped on state algebra 1 and geometry tests last spring for the first time since 2007, but achievement rates rose on the biology and 11th-grade literacy tests.

The results of the state’s End-of-Course and literacy tests are used to determine whether individual students must participate in remediation programs. The results are also the basis for labeling the schools as “achieving” or “needs improvement” under the state’s 1-year-old accountability system.

In addition, the results also will be used to determine whether 48 historically low-performing “priority”schools and more than 100 “focus” schools met their achievement goals for the year with the help of outside school-improvement companies.

Focus schools are those schools with the largest achievement gaps between students who are at risk of failing in school - because of family poverty, language barriers and disabilities - and student groups who are not considered at risk.

Kimberly Friedman, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Education, said Friday that the school labels will be announced later this year.

“The information is in the preliminary phase and is currently being reviewed by schools, giving them the opportunity to submit corrections,” Friedman said.

The Arkansas Department of Education reported that 77 percent of algebra 1 test-takers scored at proficient or better on that state-required test in May, down from 79 percent the year before.

And 72 percent of End-of-Course geometry test-takers in the state’s junior-high and high schools scored at a proficient or better rate, down 3 percentage points from the previous year.

A score at the proficient level indicates satisfactory mastery of the course content.

While results on the two math tests fell, the percentage of students scoring proficient or better on the state’s 11th-grade literacy test increased 2 points to 70 percent this past spring.

And the test-takers scoring at satisfactory levels on the state biology test rose from 42 percent in 2012 to 44 percent in 2013.

The Office for Educational Policy at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville annually analyzes the results of the state tests.

“It seems to me that these changes are small enough that there is nothing to worry about,” Gary Ritter, a professor and director of the educational policy office, said Friday about differences in the 2012 and 2013 results.

Ritter expects there to be multiple reasons for the declines in the test results. Researchers in the educational policy office will explore those in the coming weeks, he said.

The mixed results on the state’s End-of-Course and 11th-grade literacy tests come after mixed results were reported earlier in the summer for the third through eighth grades in state Benchmark exams in math and literacy.

State education leaders in June began to warn of what they called an “implementation dip” in the state test scores - the result of teachers transitioning to new national “Common Core State Standards” as the basis for classroom instruction while continuing to use state tests based on old standards.

The new standards in English/language arts and mathematics, adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia, have been phased in - starting with kindergarten through second grade in 2011-12 and in third through eighth grades in the 2012-13 school year, affecting instruction in math, including algebra 1 in some cases.

The new standards are being used for the first time this school year in grades nine through 12, the grades when most students take geometry and biology courses, as well as the 11th grade literacy test.

“As an assessment changes, and as curricular frameworks change, we should expect scores to go down,” Ritter said. “It’s not necessarily a sign at all that kids are learning less stuff. It might be a sign of ratcheting up the standards or of moving to a curriculum that many think will be a positive change.” Ritter also suggested that the state test results may be close to topping out in some subjects.

Test scores improve over time as teachers and students become more familiar with the tests, he said. But after several years, the average scores may hit a “ceiling.” Average algebra 1 and geometry results in excess of 70 percent proficient or advanced may be just about as high as they can get, Ritter said, meaning students as a large group will find it difficult to make additional gains.

Another possible factor in the drop in test results is that the state’s algebra 1 test is no longer a “high-stakes test.” The new Act 1081 of 2013 removed the requirement that students had to pass the End-of-Course algebra 1 test. As it now stands, students who pass their algebra 1 course and participate in remediation can graduate even if they do not pass the End-of-Course exam. One of the reasons for ending the graduation requirement was that it would have applied only to the classes of 2013 and 2014. After this school year, Arkansas’ Benchmark and End-of-Course exams will be replaced with multistate tests. Arkansas is part of a consortium of states that is developing online tests aligned with the Common Core State Standards. The new tests will be administered for the first time in the 2014-15 school year. Small-scale field testing of some of the test items will be done this school year in Arkansas and nine other states by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers consortium, the name for the group that is developing the tests.

SCORES FALL EVENLY The Arkansas Education Department report on the End-of-Course tests showed that the math scores generally fell within each student subpopulation. Eighty-three percent of the white algebra test-takers scored at proficient or advanced levels in 2013 compared with 85 percent in 2012. Fifty-eight percent of black students scored at proficient or better in 2013 compared with 61 percent the year before. Seventy-two percent of Hispanic students scored at proficient or better in 2013 as compared with 75 percent in 2012.

Only 44 percent of black students scored at proficient or better levels in geometry in 2013, down from 51 percent in 2012. Eighty-two percent of white test-takers in geometry scored at proficient or better levels, down from 83 percent a year ago. Hispanic students held steady at 69 percent proficient or better both years.

On the literacy exam, 78 percent of white students scored at proficient or better, up from 77 percent a year ago, and 47 percent of black students scored at proficient or better, up from 43 percent a year ago. Fifty-nine percent of Hispanic students scored at satisfactory levels, up from 57 percent the year before.

The Arkansas Education Department posted detailed 2013 test results, including school, district and statewide results, on its website: http://www.arkansased.org/ divisions/learning-services/student-assessment/testscores/year?y=2013.

HAAS HALL ACADEMY The University of Arkansas’ Office for Education Policy calculates a “district overall GPA score” that produces one combined score based on the End-of-Course algebra, geometry and biology exams and the 11th grade literacy test.

The highest score was a 3.79 on a 4.0 scale that went to Haas Hall Academy, a Fayetteville charter school.

One hundred percent of the Haas test-takers scored at proficient or better on the literacy and biology test and 98 percent did so on the geometry test.

Other top performing schools based on the Office for Education Policy’s calculations were the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Science and the Arts in Hot Springs, which ranked second because 100 percent of students scored at proficient or better levels on the literacy test, and the eStem Middle Public Charter School in Little Rock, where 98 percent of test-takers scored proficient or better on the geometry test, and 89 percent did so on the of algebra 1 exam.

Not all End-of-Course tests were administered at those schools because of the age of students.

Other top-performing school districts according to the UA research office in descending order were Bentonville, Emerson-Taylor, Dardanelle, and Benton; the Benton County School of the Arts - a charter school in Rogers; Fayetteville School District, and Searcy County School District.

In Pulaski County, the Pulaski County Special School District had a score of 2.53.

The Little Rock district had a score of 2.48 on the 4.0 scale, and North Little Rock had a 2.44 score.

Spreadsheets that include test results by district and school, along with the Office for Educational Policy calculations, are linked to the organization’s website: http://www.officeforeducationpolicy.org.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 08/26/2013