Litigation Concerns Fueling Education Testing Standards in Oklahoma

By Jeff Packham

Oklahoma’s attempts to provide higher academic standards may be thwarted before reaching the classroom due to litigation concerns, according to testing officials speaking to members of the Achieving Classroom Excellence II Task Force.

Maridyth McBee of Pearson Educational Measurement told panel members that Oklahoma’s end-of-instruction testing standards were set up in a manner that allowed for a legal defense for students who were unable to gain a diploma.

“Whether it is right or wrong, that is something that people can use as a legal defense,” McBee said of the test that is required for a student to complete high school.

Scott Davies said defensibility was a significant factor when it came to the testing standards. He said the questions put on the EOI test were well-documented, were the result of good methodology, and were fair and consistent.

Task force member Phylllis Hudecki questioned whether the opposite scenario ever presented litigation concerns for education officials. She cited the example of a South Carolina student shown as being unable to read transferring to Oklahoma, where that student might fall under another category without actually learning more. Hudecki said in that example the parents should have a concern that their student was being represented as doing better than he or she actually was.

“We’re really giving kids a false impression about where they really are academically,” Hudecki said.

Davies said he wasn’t aware of any legal challenges on that basis but said that was something that states had to decide when it came to setting testing standards. He said a decision could be made to be lenient and allow all students to have an opportunity to reach the next level, or have the test more accurately reflect the makeup of the students.

State Sen. Kathleen Wilcoxson, R-Oklahoma City, questioned whether the standards had toughened in recent years. She said the tests needed to show that Oklahoma students were prepared for the next level, which she wasn’t sure was happening.

“We are spending three-and-a-half billion dollars in Oklahoma to see that it’s done,” Wilcoxson said of the state’s funding.

Another subject involving litigation came before the task force as officials with the Western Heights School District presented a series of recommendations designed to improve the data collected for the state testing program. The school district is currently involved in a lawsuit with the Oklahoma State Department of Education over a variety of issues that include data collection.

Lisa McLaughlin, associate superintendent for Western Heights, recommended an independent research entity be put together to gauge the necessary accountability factors as required by federal law by 2008.

Among other recommendations made by McLaughlin were for schools to be audited for No Child Left Behind compliance, implementation of the Exclusion-Adjusted Cohort Graduation Indicator, and for incentives to be provided to schools to conduct “best practice research” in conjunction with other credible research entities.

McLaughlin focused on issues involving the presentation of data that allowed some school districts to look better than they were actually performing. She pointed to areas such as dropout rates as being manipulated by certain school districts.

The Western Heights School District had changed around its grading to more truly reflect the testing standards. She said those tests were responsible for 40 percent of the final grade, while 30 percent was based on teacher-made tests and 30 percent on the student daily work.

Originally published by Jeff Packham.

(c) 2007 Journal Record – Oklahoma City. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.