By:JOHN BORRELLI
Testing is good, but do it the right way, they say
The State of New York has issued its report card for scores on eighth grade assessment tests. Now the superintendents of the Malverne and East Rockaway school districts have looked at the scores and made some assessments of their own. Their final grade: by no means an A.
Assessment tests given in eighth grade are designed to give educators an idea of how students will fare on regents exams. Students in the Lynbrook School District exceeded the state's standards for the 1999-2000 school year. Such is not the case at East Rockaway Junior-Senior High School and Malverne's Howard T. Herber Middle School. Though scores in these schools are below the state's standards, all schools exceeded "target scores" established by New York State for schools that, though they are improving, do not meet the state's score of 140.
The 140 score represents percentages of students' scores in the four levels used to grade the tests. Students who score in Level Three or Four would most likely pass the regents, while those who score in Level One or Level Two must receive Academic Intervention Services (AIS), as required by the state. These services usually consist of one or two extra-help classes per week, held before or after regular classes.
"We all support higher standards," said Dr. Robert D. Pinckney, Malverne's interim superintendent of schools. Jim Powers, East Rockaway's school superintendent, said, "No one has a problem with raising the bar. We all believe in higher standards." The two also agree that the problem does not lie in the tests themselves, but in the way they have been put into use.
"The problem is implementation and the way data is being used," Pinckney said. Powers said, "Testing to assess is acceptable and necessary. But how it's done is important. "The eighth grade system is an example of how to do it wrong."
Powers said that the speed at which the state of New York put the tests in place was just way too fast. "This all happened very quickly. The state imposed the program in an abbreviated time line."
"The first year of the tests," Powers said, "students knew about them only one year in advance." That's not much time when one considers that the curriculum for every grade from first through eighth had to be adjusted so that material on the tests was covered in class.
Pinckney agreed. "You're going to see a rippling effect. Kids now in first, second and third grades will see improved scores because the curriculum has been adjusted and they'll be the first ones to have had the full program."
Another problem with the tests is that they don't track individual student's progress The scores compare groups of eighth graders, a group that changes every year.
"The data should be longitudinal," Powers said, suggesting that tests follow students as they progress through school rather than compare one potentially very different eighth grade class to another. "Changes occur from year to year in students, ranging from ethnic background to financial background. You're not comparing apples to apples."
Test scores take "six to nine months to be received," Pinckney said. " By that time, the student is in the ninth grade." If a student scores in Level One or Two, the information is sent on to the high school and AIS begins." Sometimes students have to drop elective classes they began at the beginning of the year because they need to take AIS classes.
The public's perception is also an issue. When the state releases figures, people tend to see them as a competition for the highest scores. Some charts even list percentages of students who pass or fail the tests.
"The terms 'pass' or 'fail' should not be used," Powers sais. "There is no passing or failing on these tests. These tests are supposed to assess progress."
On the subject of progress, Powers said, "I'm retiring feeling very comfortable."
"In 1992," he said, 22 percent of East Rockaway students graduated with a regents diploma. Last year, 54 percent received the regents diploma, which is very significant growth."
Powers adds In math, eighth grade results statewide are well below the standard set by the state for individual districts. Using the state's formula, New York scores a 120 for 1999-2000 in math. "It's ludicrous that the state has set a standard that the state as a whole can't meet." East Rockaway's score of 134, said Powers, "is well above the state average, and an improvement over last year."
Pinckney and Powers both expressed concern that the state is running the show. "The state has absolute control over everything in the curriculum," said Pinckney.
Powers said, "Assessment tests are now driving the curriculum. It's not supposed to be that way."
Powers offers some solutions that might make the assessment testing run better. "The tests should not be bunched together," he said. "Some should be given in seventh grade."
The state has agreed this year to let students in accelerated math and science classes, who will take regents in those subjects in eighth grade, to be allowed to take assessment tests in seventh grade.
Both superintendents are very concerned about how assessment tests affect the students negatively. Pinckney said, "When kids start talking about being a 'Level One,' you know it's affecting them.
Powers, who taught eighth grade math for many years, thinks the state should consider that students at this particular age are going through serious, stressful changes.
"Eighth grade is the toughest year for a student. It is probably the most tumultuous time in an adolescent's life. Their bodies and minds are changing so fast. The state should have kept this in mind."
Pinckney believes state assessment tests are just the beginning, and predicts, "in three to five years there will be a national program in place, setting standards for the entire country."
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Are you a student taking assessment tests? Do you have a child in school who's taking them? Tell the school superintendents what you think about the tests. Send e-mail to villeditor@liherald.com. All messages will be forwarded to the appropriate superintendent..
