Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for November 10, 2005 SCHOOL SCORES STAGNATE

Much ado about Illinois test scores...

My favorite line from the long article below is:

• Becky McCabe, who oversees state testing at the state board, said it might take time to see improvements.

  In 1997, Illinois adopted new learning standards, which outline what schools should teach and what children should know to pass state tests. But some schools may still be working to match curriculum to those standards, McCabe said.

Tough federal reforms fail to budge reading results

By Diane Rado and Darnell Little
Tribune staff reporters

Illinois elementary students on average scored no better on state reading tests this year than five years ago--even as the state and nation pushed to improve youngsters' literacy skills.

While most of the state's minority groups posted very slight gains in reading, white students, who make up the bulk of the testing pool, showed minimal progress. That flat performance of white students depressed overall state progress, a Tribune analysis of average test scores being released Wednesday shows.

Even in math, where all grade-school students have made big gains since 2000, white children showed the least improvement compared with Asians, Hispanics and blacks.

This year, Asian students continued to be the top performers, followed by white students.

Some experts attribute the gains of low-income and minority students to extraordinary pressures brought by the federal No Child Left Behind reforms of 2002, which punishes low-performing, high-poverty schools that do not make progress. But there's no such pressure on more affluent schools, which do not face federal sanctions if their students fail to improve.

"If the law is to be judged a success, overall achievement has to go up, and all [racial] groups have to do better. If neither one of those things are true, we have to ask ourselves whether the law is a success," said Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy, which monitors the reforms.

The Illinois State Board of Education released the cumulative test results earlier this year, but this is the first look at individual school data, which allows analysis of trends.

Annual school report cards show mixed results from 2005 testing of reading and math skills between 2004 and 2005.

To get a broader picture, the Tribune analyzed scores on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test given to 3rd, 5th and 8th graders, compiling test averages for each grade at more than 2,000 schools between 2000 and 2005.

The scores, not provided in report cards for grade schools, reveal patterns not apparent in the passing rates that parents see on the report cards.

Becky McCabe, who oversees state testing at the state board, said it might take time to see improvements.

In 1997, Illinois adopted new learning standards, which outline what schools should teach and what children should know to pass state tests. But some schools may still be working to match curriculum to those standards, McCabe said.

And under No Child Left Behind, schools are now required to test at least 95 percent of students--an increase from the past that could be holding down average scores, said Rense Lange, a testing expert at the state board.

Struggling students more than likely were skipping tests in the past, he said. Adding their scores to the mix could be bringing down overall averages.

Educators in predominantly white school districts offered a variety of explanations for their scores, from state cuts in gifted programs that largely benefited white pupils, to resistance to test drilling that occurs in schools where pressure is high to help low performers pass. Also, because whites make up the majority of students in the state and their test results are already relatively high, it is harder to move their scores upward than it is to move the scores of smaller populations of lower-scoring minority students.

"We do not have test prep. Our students are given information about the format of the test, but we don't go through a lot of practice," said Warren C. Shillingburg, an assistant superintendent in School District 181 in DuPage, one of the state's wealthiest grade-school districts.

"We already have students scoring very well. We don't want that to be our focus, the standardized test, because that's looking at low-level skills," he said.

Serving Hinsdale and other affluent communities, District 181 is one of the state's top scorers, with 90 percent or more students passing state reading tests this year. But since 2000, passing rates as well as average scores on the reading test have dropped in 3rd, 5th or 8th grades in six district schools.

Likewise, three schools in predominantly white Wilmette District 39 in Cook County, have seen declines in reading scores and passing rates, though district performance remain high.

Glenn "Max" McGee, the former state school superintendent who is now superintendent in Wilmette, said his schools don't do test drilling, either. Noticing the reading declines, he increased teacher training this year and changed hiring requirements. Now, all new 1st-, 2nd- and 3rd-grade teachers must demonstrate an expertise in reading instruction, McGee said.

Declines in test performance are significant, even at high-performing schools, because schools and all students are supposed to be improving under No Child Left Behind, with every student required to pass state tests by 2014.

In Illinois, grade-school reading and math tests are scored on a scale of 120 and 200, and the minimum passing score ranges from 152 to 162, depending on the grade and test. The highest achievement level requires a minimum passing score of 171 to 191, also depending on the grade and test.

State education officials say federal pressure to pass tests has caused schools to focus on minimum passing scores, rather than already high achievers or overall school averages.

"What matters for accountability is whether the child meets [standards] or not," said Lange, the state board's testing expert. "That takes the emphasis away from averages."

In fact, the state stopped publishing average test scores in grade-school report cards several years ago out of concern that school districts would tout differences as small as one-tenth of a percent, Lange said.

But the passing rates published in the report cards don't tell the whole story.

For example, this year, 66.6 percent of 3rd graders passed the reading test, up from 62.2 percent in 2000. However, scores on that test have barely budged, from an average of 160.84 in 2000 to 161.52 this year. A 156 is required to pass.

The averages aren't moving, in part, because while low-performers are improving enough to pass the test, the percent of children scoring at the highest achievement level in reading has been stagnant to declining. That is significant because high-scoring students help drive up average test scores.

This year, for example, 19.4 percent of 5th graders scored in the highest achievement level in reading, down from 25 percent in 2004.

Average scores also are driven by the majority of students, who are white, and their reading scores have declined slightly since 2000 for 5th and 8th graders, while staying about the same for 3rd graders.

Overall, about 49 percent of schools testing 3rd graders have seen declines in average reading scores since 2000; 57 percent of schools testing 5th graders have seen drops, and 65 percent of schools testing 8th graders have seen drops.

White students in the six-county area continue to score higher than white children Downstate, the Tribune found.

Since 2000, white students Downstate had slightly larger declines in average scores for 3rd- and 5th-grade reading, as well as less impressive gains in math than Chicago-area white children.

Assistant Supt. David Hixenbaugh, of the predominantly white Taylorville District 3 Downstate, has seen declines in reading scores and passing rates at four of his schools since 2000.

He attributed the situation in part to a soft economy and an increase in low-income students, who usually score lower than students from affluent families.

With money tight, the district also has cut back on gifted programs, summer school and after-school programs, he said.

The idea that children of all races and incomes will be passing state tests by 2014 is unrealistic, Hixenbaugh said.

"When they start saying 100 percent of kids are going to meet these standards, there's not a teacher who doesn't raise her eyebrows and say, you've got to be kidding me," he said.

But some already high-performing schools are seeing improvements.

At the predominantly white Braeside Elementary in Highland Park, the average 3rd-grade reading score was 175.7 this year--up from 164.7 in 2000.

As part of a district literacy initiative, the school is charting student progress in reading three times a year and giving extra instruction to children struggling to meet standards, said Principal Kathleen Ellis.

"Everybody can improve," she said. "We're just not satisfied with the status quo."

Statewide, black students have seen gains in average reading scores in 3rd grade, compared with their scores in 2000, but they lost momentum in later grades. This year, black 5th and 8th graders scored slightly lower than they did five years ago.

Latino students have seen the largest gains in both math and reading over the last five years.

Latino gains have come in part because the state has allowed more Latino students to opt out of the Illinois Standards Achievement Test and take a less difficult test for English language learners. With struggling students taking the easier test, Hispanic passing rates on the ISAT have gone up.

This year, the state also relaxed rules on judging performance under No Child Left Behind, making it easier for schools to make "adequate yearly progress" and avoid a failing label or sanctions.

Schools make adequate progress if their students meet certain passing standards set by the state for reading and math tests, and other requirements.

This year, 72.9 percent of schools made adequate yearly progress, compared with 71.5 percent in 2004.

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Test scores almost flat

Average reading scores on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test have barely changed in the last five years.

GRADE 3

2000 2005 CHANGE
Asian 167.7 168.6 +0.9
Black 150.6 152.3 +1.7
Hispanic 154.9 157.0 +2.1
White 165.7 165.8 +0.1

GRADE 5

2000 2005 CHANGE
Asian 163.7 166.0 +2.3
Black 151.0 150.9 -0.1
Hispanic 153.5 155.7 +3.6
White 163.1 162.1 -1.0

GRADE 8

2000 2005 CHANGE
Asian 164.0 163.4 -0.6
Black 153.0 152.0 -1.0
Hispanic 153.5 153.6 +0.1
White 161.7 161.0 -0.7

Source: Illinois State Board of Education