Standardized Test Results Lack Significance

Lacey Township School District’s standardized test results seemed to improve significantly over the past year but Superintendent Richard Starodub doesn’t believe that says much.

“You can’t make wholesale judgments favorably or unfavorably looking at one year of transition… If the scores go up, that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re doing a better job. We like to think we’re very tuned into doing a better job and it’s one of our goals, it’s a part of our mission but you need to look at test scores over a period of time,” Starodub said.

The number of students at the high school level who were considered proficient and advanced proficient in language arts and math as a result of their increased considerably. But Starodub says the Lacey Township School District looks at Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) as a more important measurement of improvement.

For this year, the total and general populations, excluding special education students, in all grades that tested made AYP in language arts literacy, math, and science, Assistant Superintendent Vanessa Clark said.

“That’s big,” Starodub said.

AYP is a mandate of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) and is based on benchmarks implemented by the state, Clark said. The benchmarks mark the percentage of students in a grade expected to test proficient or advanced proficient. For grades three through five the benchmark is 59 percent while the benchmark for grades six through eight is 72 percent.

According to Clark, if a group does not make AYP but has improved ten percent, they make Safe Harbor, which also qualifies the grade as AYP.

Each school in Lacey met 39 out of 40 indicators. In all but one school, the special education population did not make AYP in a particular subject. The economically disadvantaged population in Mill Pond Elementary also did not make AYP, Clark said.

The reason the school district looks at AYP oppose to improvements from year-to-year is because both Starodub and Clark believe the system is flawed in several ways.

“Testing every grade like we’re doing right now is excessive. It’s excessive when you use an antiquated way of scoring and giving teacher’s and students feedback,” Starodub said. “If kids get tested, we don’t get analyses and results until next year, when they’re in the next grade.”

New Jersey is one of 11 states that have yet to use a model that allows for immediate feedback, Clark said.

“Analytically we need some help from the measurement devices to help the teachers work with the students more quickly and immediately when they’re on that particular topic where they’re being tested before they move to the next grade,” Starodub said.

Clark recently attended a workshop and said that the state is moving towards a model where a class, instead of an entire grade can take computerized standardized tests and the turn-around time is only two weeks.

Other states that use similar models are able to test students four times over the course of the year.

“I don’t mean to be critical of the system but if we’re going to be held accountable for test scores…you need feedback and information as the teacher about that student soon,” Starodub said. “You can rely on last year’s results but a lot happens in a year. There’s a lot of instruction and you can lose a whole year.”

According to Clark, the state has a timeline to move forward with more technologically advanced testing plans and is shooting for full implementation by the 2014-2015 school year.

Until then, the Lacey Township School District will continue to use services and staff to interpret test scores and results so teacher’s who have students who tested the previous year, can make educational decisions as far as what the student needs, Clark said.

“The problem with that is, for lack of a better saying, you’re comparing apples to oranges because the group of testing that you are now looking at are not those kids anymore, those kids are in the next grade,” Clark said.

The state is also considering a growth model that will look at students from third to fourth grade rather than individual grades to mark true improvement, Clark said. The Lacey Township School District currently uses their own growth model that is individualized by teacher and class.

Another problem Starodub and Clark noted was that under the NCLBA, by 2014 it is expected that 100 percent of students be considered proficient or advanced proficient. That number is unrealistic because there is a special education population that may not be able to perform at grade level, Clark said.

“No Child Left Behind is a very good concept and I think the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages. The one problem is that the expectation for students who have been diagnosed with that Individual Education Plan (IEP) is the same as someone without a disability…there’s a disadvantage and we have to meet that need in a different way than individual students,” Starodub said.

Starodub believes that an improvement in the testing process will ultimately help the teachers and students improve but even without those resources the school district is committed to helping the students.

Between a Professional Development Committee and Focus Groups throughout each of Lacey’s schools, teachers are committed to improvement.

“There’s a great attitude and commitment among our teachers to professionally develop, grow, and get better. It’s something that you can’t go out and measure,” Starodub said.