High schools tensely await tests' results

[kber@EARTHLINK.NET]

From: K Bernstein

read the story  -  then realize that the results that will be reported will do no one any good

1) the students who took the tests are at least 1/2 school year removed from those classes (unless they flunked and are repeating)

2)  the results were not timely enough to aid teachers in adjusting insturction based on results - after all, you are now either 1/3 or 2/3 [for semesterized courses} through teaching another broup fo students, even assuming there was any useful information in the results

3) which there is not, becaue there is no analysis of how sutdents did in different subdomains of the testable content

BTW  there is NO test in history - the social studies test is in Local, State and National Government.   The other tests are Biology, 9th grade English, Algebra and Geometry.

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High schools tensely await tests' results
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First Md. assessment exam scores expected this week; Low effort by students feared; Percentiles won't show weak areas, critics say

By Liz Bowie
Sun Staff

December 1, 2002





State education officials are expected to release the results of Maryland's rigorous new high school tests this week, giving parents their first chance to compare the performances of all public high schools.

The new exams, which could become a graduation requirement, were given mostly to ninth-graders last winter and spring in five subjects.

As the state ushers in the new batch of tests for high school students, it will also release the scores of the final round of Maryland School Performance Assessment Program exams, which have been given to all children in third, fifth and eighth grades for the past decade.

The long-awaited high school assessments are expected to change the structure and teaching in high school by placing more emphasis, for instance, on higher-level skills such as algebra. The exams replace the Maryland Functional Tests, which called on students to demonstrate they had mastered sixth-grade level skills.

Principals are approaching the release of the assessment results with trepidation.

They fear that students have not taken the tests seriously enough, and that schools haven't yet adjusted what they teach to the material covered on the questions.

"They would have worked a lot harder, studied a lot harder," if they knew the tests were going to determine whether they would graduate, said Nathaniel J. Gibson, principal of Arundel High School. "These first scores are going to be kind of questionable, in my mind."

But Gibson says the results will be valuable for principals and teachers, because it will give them a first chance to see what they need to do to make sure students are able to earn passing scores in the future.

In a year or two, once the assessments are given regularly, he thinks that students will begin to take them as seriously as they approach college entrance exams, such as the SAT, and other high-stakes tests.

Because state officials have yet to set passing scores for the tests, the results will be reported in percentile rankings. Passing scores are likely to be set in the next year or two.

So the number of right answers on a test will be the basis for a percentile score that ranks each Maryland student in relation to one another.

For instance, if a student's score is in the 75th percentile, that means he or she did better than 74 percent of the others who took the same test that year.

Schools will be given a median percentile ranking for each of the five tests, based on the median score of all the students taking the test. Students are expected to get their individual scores on the tests in English, Algebra I, government, biology and geometry before the winter break.

Principal Joseph Wilson of City College, considered one of Baltimore's best high schools, says principals across the state are worried about their schools' results.

"I am not looking forward to the report on the schools because I don't believe that any of the schools have had a reasonable chance to prepare for the examinations and the results will probably be poor. I would be shocked if any schools, including the high-performing schools with the best reputations, do very well on the tests," Wilson said.

The results schools receive, Wilson says, won't give them good information about what areas students knew and where they fell short. For instance, history teachers will get a raw score, but won't know how their students did on questions related to the Constitution and federalism, he said.

Ronald Peiffer, assistant state superintendent, said there is so much material covered on the tests that it would be difficult to segregate the results and report specific areas of high or low achievement. But he said the past year's exams will be available to the public, and could be used by teachers to understand what the test emphasizes.



Factor for colleges?

A big question facing principals and students is whether the assessment results will be used by college admissions officers in considering applications.

While some principals said they expect them to play some role, Peiffer downplayed the tests' potential impact, saying that the scores would be from a student's ninth-grade year and less significant than more recent grades and SAT exams. In some cases, students who take Algebra I in middle school would have taken that test at the end of seventh or eighth grade.

"We don't know very much about the test. We are going to have to see it and give it some time before we understand what information it will convey to us," said Shannon Gundy, associate director of undergraduate admissions at the University of Maryland, College Park.

If the state decides to make the test a requirement for graduation and to put students' scores on their transcripts -- rather than just giving them a pass or fail -- the information could have a greater impact on admissions decisions, she said.

For years, New York has had tests known as the Regents Examinations, which provided similar information. "It really does help us assess variations in high schools with a standard measure," Gundy said. "That could be useful."

The Maryland tests have begun to have an impact, with school officials rethinking everything from how classes are scheduled to the material teachers cover.

David A. Bruzga, principal of Long Reach High in Columbia, said his school is considering changing its schedule from four periods a day to seven in order to give students more time on the core subjects in which they will take exams.

"The assessments are really having a significant impact on life in the high school," Bruzga said. "They are driving our curriculum. They are driving our structure. They are driving our instructional strategy."

Baltimore County also is attempting to beef up its math requirements to ensure that students are prepared for the assessments. A majority of high schools in the county now have a course that gives students a double dose of algebra each day, and some middle schools have offered additional math periods three times a week.



Next: Replacing MSPAP

Along with the high school test scores, state officials plan to release the results of the last round of MSPAP exams. Those tests drove instruction in elementary and middle schools throughout the 1990s, but were phased out last spring.

Tests for elementary and middle school pupils are being developed by state officials to ensure that Maryland complies with new federal requirements, including that all children in third through eighth grades receive annual evaluations in reading and math.

Statewide and school results are expected to be available Thursday on the state Department of Education Web site: www.msde.state.md.us.





Copyright (c) 2002, The Baltimore Sun

Link to the article: http://www.sunspot.net/bal-md.high01dec01.story

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