STAR Test Fever
With tomorrow’s release of the Academic Performance Index (API) Base numbers and the beginning of the spring testing cycle coming up quickly, articles about high-stakes testing, NCLB vs. California accountability and “the whole child” are certain to abound in the next couple days. This one from the San Jose Mercury News seems to hit on several of these issues in a single article. The paper is doing a series on Lakewood Elementary in Sunnyvale as it “strives to boost student achievement under the pressure of increasingly rigorous goals based on standardized testing.”
My biggest problem with this story is that it seems to be taking a “David and Goliath” sort of approach, casting the STAR test, NCLB and to a lesser degree CDE in the role of Goliath in contrast to Lakewood Elementary’s role as David. While Lakewood might be filled with a great staff who really care about their students, the school isn’t completely without problems.
Lakewood’s Academic Performance Index (based on its STAR scores) ranks it just below the 773 median of Santa Clara County schools, but well above the statewide median of 709. The county’s median is boosted by high-scoring districts such as Los Altos and Cupertino. But those districts don’t face the poverty, multiple languages and turnover that Lakewood does.
Despite the obstacles, Lakewood’s API has risen from 732 in 1999 to 765 last year. And this year, the school has set its goal higher than the five-point gain it expects the state will demand.
Grasty said the school will strive for “777 in 2007,” 12 points higher than last year.
To look at just one number, however, is misleading. Lakewood’s API has inched up despite the gradual change in its student body over the past decade – from 45 percent living in poverty to 54 percent, and from 42 percent non-English speakers to 50 percent.
Lakewood also has a significant turnover rate, which tends to drag down test scores. A teacher may work for months with a student, who then leaves before testing – only to be replaced by another student needing intense help.
In CDE’s view, Lakewood Elementary is a pretty good school. They’re only 35 points away from the state’s goal of 800. So, as long as they can eke out 5 points of growth each year, they’re not going to have to worry about CDE.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t reflect the reality of the school. As with many California schools, there is a huge achievement gap between groups of students. In Lakewood’s case, their Hispanic, Socioeconomic disadvantaged (poor) and English Learners are more than 20 percentage points lower than the Asian, Filipino or White students in Language Arts. Check out the chart below from Just for the Kids – California.
The achievement gaps in mathematics are even larger:
With more than half of their population made up of Hispanic students, it is disconcerting to find out that about 60% of those students aren’t at grade-level in either English/Language Arts or mathematics. There’s obviously a lot more work needed at Lakewood Elementary to get these Hispanic students caught up with their peers of other ethnic backgrounds.
Lakewood is a great example of how the API hides these achievement gaps. According to the API, Lakewood is doing well and it’s almost reaching their goal of 800 points. At the same time, looking at the percentage of students who are actually at grade-level, it is clear they still have a long ways to go.
If I were a parent of a Hispanic student attending Lakewood, I wouldn’t be really worried about how the school fares on the API or under NCLB. I’d be very concerned that my child might be part of that 60% who are below grade level. I’d want to know what the schools is doing to help those students.
In my mind, articles like this one which focus on these peripheral issues while ignoring huge achievement gaps and a majority of students scoring below grade level are doing the school community a disservice. Parents who read this article will come away with a false sense of security that their students are being well served by their school and it is the fault of these outside influences like NCLB, high-stakes testing and others that are causing problems for their school. As I’ve said before, these Hispanic parents should be standing in front of the school with torches and pitchforks demanding to know what the school is going to do about their failing students.
Oh My Gosh! I Actually Agree With Ted Kennedy! Superintendents Just Can’t Win
Comments are currently closed.