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State's School Benchmarks to Shift; Extra Dollars' Effect on Test Scores May Not Be Clear

Posted on: Friday, 28 October 2005, 09:00 CDT

By Chris Moon Capital-Journal

Steve Pegram's small district in northwest Shawnee County doesn't have too many worries when it comes to student achievement.

Silver Lake schools are some of the most successful in Kansas when it comes to the state assessment exams. But Pegram also has been among school superintendents who have lobbied state lawmakers to boost money for public education.

And under a directive by the Kansas Supreme Court earlier this year, the Legislature did that --- by 10 percent.

More money, many school administrators have said, will help reduce that burdensome achievement gap between white and minority students and between the middle-class and poor. But with the $290 million the Legislature sent to schools this year comes that natural pressure to perform, to prove they were correct.

"Around the state? Yes," said Pegram, who meets monthly with superintendents from northeast Kansas. "There's pressure to have good test scores, period."

But in an odd quirk, those wanting to see whether the state's increased investment in public schools is doing any good this school year won't get a decent answer.

The state --- under a mandate by the federal No Child Left Behind Act --- is drastically changing how it tests its students. So different will be the new exams students will take next spring that it will render year-to-year comparisons useless.

"That means we can do absolutely no comparisons. None whatsoever," said Alexa Posny, the state's deputy commissioner of education, who oversees the statewide exams.

New tests

Kansas' test scores generally have been improving since No Child Left Behind went into effect in 2001. The achievement gap has narrowed slowly.

In previous years, educators and lawmakers have been able to look at how students fared on the annual statewide exams and compare those results from year to year.

With new state funding for education, a continued improvement in student performance could mean the extra cash is working. Stagnant or lackluster performance could mean otherwise.

During the past decade, the state has tested fourth-, seventh- and 10th-graders in math and fifth-, eighth- and 11th-graders in English. No Child Left Behind mandates that all students must be considered proficient in those subjects by 2014.

But under the new system --- which must be in place by spring 2006 --- Kansas must test all students in grades three through eight in math and reading. And most high school students must be tested in those subjects by the end of their junior year.

Moreover, the elementary-level tests will focus more on what students should learn at each grade level rather than a range of levels. And high school students have the flexibility to take the tests after they have received instruction in the areas being tested.

This year, for instance, high schoolers will be tested over algebra I, algebra II and geometry. Under the old system, many students would take the exam before they had finished their geometry course and before they even enrolled in algebra II.

In addition, the benchmark for what is considered "proficient" performance on those tests also will change.

The changes aren't bad, Posny said. They just come at a bad time.

"For the Legislature, it doesn't give them anything to hang their hats on," she said, saying she hasn't received any complaints about the change but expected the "hue and cry to come very soon."

Pegram applauded the new exams, which will allow teachers to follow groups of students and their scores from year to year. If 80 percent of a class scores proficient in math in third grade and then just 60 percent does when that class moves to fourth grade, "red flag at fourth grade," Pegram said.

Other indicators

The question now for educators and lawmakers is how to make comparisons between 2005 and 2006 --- to see if the $290 million in public education funding brought results.

"There's all kinds of other data to use," Pegram said.

The state each year participates in testing as part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Posny said that will help gauge how Kansas is doing as a state, but she said it wasn't a solid indicator because only a sample of Kansas students take it.

Some schools take other assessments, such as the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, that could give them year-to-year comparisons. And the state could examine ACT results that many juniors and seniors take.

"It's real frustrating, especially at this important time," said Sen. Jean Schodorf, R-Wichita, chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee. "It's frustrating to change in midstream when we are at a point of investing millions more on public education."

House Education Chairwoman Kathe Decker, R-Clay Center, noted the plaintiffs in a lawsuit that has driven the recent increases in school funding continually argue money brings better student performance. Decker said money spent on teacher education and smaller class sizes could help students learn, but it will be impossible to tell this year because of the new state assessments.

"That's too bad because that's the big issue, that's the big argument," she said.

She, too, expected an outcry over the changes.

"People who don't deal with education issues will continue to look at that and ask why we can't compare the results, why did we do this, how did this happen," she said.

Source: Topeka Capital Journal

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