Standards change frustrates educators
The state Education Department is raising the bar — and many north country students, like their counterparts statewide, are struggling to meet new standards.
"The change is going to take the kids who were on the lower end of meeting the standard to performing below the standard," said Sackets Harbor Central School Principal Jennifer L. Gaffney-Goodnough.
The state Education Department released the 2009-10 results from English Language Arts and mathematics assessments for grades 3 through 8 Wednesday, and fewer students are being classified as proficient because state education officials have increased the scores necessary to be deemed proficient.
The changes come from a statewide push to raise expectations for student achievement and to increase college readiness among students in the state.
Scores are classified in four different levels:
■ Level 1: Below the standard.
■ Level 2: Meets the basic standard.
■ Level 3: Meets proficiency standard.
■ Level 4: Exceeds proficiency standard.
And because fewer students are going to be classified as proficient, school officials are concerned about questions parents may have if their child received a score similar to the score they received last year, but are now classified as below the proficiency standard.
"This is a very abrupt change," Watertown city schools' Assistant Superintendent Marilyn H. Trainor said. "For students, what they were doing was OK and now we've changed the standard. This is one of the growing pains of raising the bar: our student population hasn't changed but what we define as success has."
One of the biggest changes the different scores will bring is that the number of students who are classified as needing academic intervention services will rise. Students who score in levels one or two on state assessments are mandated to have the additional services, said Sackets Harbor Superintendent Frederick E. Hall Jr.
State officials are allowing for a transitional time period so those students won't be required to use academic intervention services next school year, but it will be a requirement in the future.
One of the issues is with the timing of the change to assessments, because it came after the tests were administered to students. Mrs. Gaffney-Goodnough was "blindsided" when she received a memo about it three weeks ago, she said.
"When we start changing elements of the testing, it's difficult because it adds another nuance to the process," Mr. Hall said. "And had we known about the changes before the test, we would have been more proactive about informing parents about them."
Massena Central School Superintendent Roger B. Clough II said students and teachers would have been better served if the state Education Department had notified them sooner about the increased cut scores for the assessments.
"I think the decision could have been implemented better," Mr. Clough said. "I think it would have been fair to students and our district if the state Education Department would have made a decision before the start of the last school year."
According to a release from the state Education Department, 53 percent of students statewide met or exceeded the English proficiency standards this year, compared with 77 percent last year. In math, 61 percent of students met or exceeded the proficiency standards this year, compared with 86 percent in 2009.
Local school administrators were continuing to wade through the data Wednesday afternoon and hadn't done much comparison to assessments from previous years yet. But in general, they were seeing similar performance on tests among students — it's just the measurement that has changed.
When Lowville Academy and Central School District Superintendent Kenneth J. McAuliffe looked at the numbers today, he found that 18 students in grades 3 through 8 received a level-two score last year. That number increased to 110 students this year.
"We actually showed progress using the scale score from a year ago, but that's not a valid comparison anymore," Mr. McAuliffe said. "Now what would have been progress yesterday looks like a big step backward."
Mr. McAuliffe said he wished the results would have been out sooner so districts could have used the summer to provide some extra help for students who are now being measured against a higher standard.
"It would have been nice to have the information July 1 for elementary school summer schools," Mr. McAuliffe said. "Districts could have made budgetary plans for offering more services to students or at least talked to parents to explain what's coming."
And while administrators voiced concern about the abrupt change, they also plan to use this as an opportunity to reach the new state standards, they said.
"We're in agreement — we want to increase standards and we want to work with the state," Indian River Superintendent James Kettrick said. "Now we have the feedback and we'll see to it that we make curriculum changes so our students are reaching the higher expectations."
Johnson Newspapers staff writer Bob Beckstead contributed to this report.
