Are Public Officials Explaining Test Scores Adequately?

 

            Q. What are we to make of situations in which the same set of students look pretty good on one standardized test, but pretty so-so on another? How can you tell which test is accurate?

 

            Officials can jimmy the "cut scores" and "pass rates" of statewide standardized tests to suit their purposes - create a "crisis" that "requires" more tax funding, for example -- or make themselves look better than they really are. The statistical gymnastics are endless, to the point where we need a Consumer Reports type evaluation of information dispensed by our own state officials, whose salaries are paid by . . . us!

 

According to Matthew Ladner, vice president of research at the Arizona-based Goldwater Institute, it's difficult for the public to sort through all the information about what test scores mean, especially when top state education officials don't understand what the scores mean, either, or perhaps fuzz up the meaning if it makes them look bad.

 

He wrote this message to supporters in April 2008:

 

"Recently I appeared on the Horizon public affairs program together with State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, to discuss the No Child Left Behind law and our state AIMS test.

During the discussion, Superintendent Horne said the main reason Arizona students perform poorly on the national NAEP test, also known as the Nation's Report Card, is due to a non-alignment of standards.

 

            "If, for example, Arizona does not teach the math concepts in fourth grade that appear on the fourth grade math NAEP, one could expect lower average grades.

 

"The explanation seems quite plausible, and doubtlessly there are some states that have better aligned their standards to NAEP than others. But how big a deal is this, in terms of Arizona's performance? As a study done by the American Institute of Research shows, not much.

 

"The study compared international science scores for eighth graders to eighth grade NAEP science scores. Singapore came in first, with 55 percent of students ranked as "proficient" or above. Massachusetts was the highest-performing U.S. state, with 41 percent proficient. Just 20 percent of Arizona eighth grades ranked proficient. 

 

"Alignment error ought to be much greater between nations than between American states. Furthermore, one would be hard pressed to buy into the notion that countries such as Singapore, Korea, Estonia, Hungary, and Slovakia simply have national standards more closely aligned to the American NAEP test than Arizona.

 

"When we get clobbered in science proficiency by countries like Estonia, we have problems that go much deeper than standards alignment.

 

 

Nation (or State) 8th Grade Science Scores	Percent Scoring "Proficient" or Above	Nation (or State) 8th Grade Science Scores	Percent Scoring "Proficient" or Above
Singapore	55	Lithuania	25
Taipei	52	Slovenia	24
South Korea	45	Russia	24
Hong Kong	44	Scotland	24
Japan	42	Belgium	22
Estonia	41	Latvia	21
Massachusetts	41	Malaysia	20
England	38	Arizona	20
Hungary	38	Israel	18
Netherlands	31	Bulgaria	17
Australia	30	Italy	17
Sweden	28	Norway	15
New Zealand	26	Romania	14
Slovakia	26	Serbia	12

 

 

Homework: For more good education coverage, see the archives of the Goldwater Institute.