Teaching to the test?
“Even when we are the most proficient in the County, the scores show the need for a lot of work,” said McGill. Eighth graders in Saugerties scored at 23 percent meeting or exceeding proficiency in ELA standards and 9 percent in math. In New Paltz school district, 46 percent of eighth grade students in ELA and 25 percent of math students met or exceeded the proficiency level.
And, she pointed out, yet another problem to deal with. McGill said the State doesn’t allow the district to keep the tests, so it’s difficult to tell where the problem areas are, either in content or how the tests are administered. “It used to be you could access a form of the test online. Now they don’t want you to do that.” She also said the testing format will change every year and eventually go to a computer model. “Until they finally make a decision for 2015/16, I believe, we’re not going to have a steady assessment.”
Teaching to the test, the catchphrase often heard when it comes to State exams does not exist because no one knows what exactly will be on the test. “It’s going to be like comparing apples, to oranges, to pumpkins until they figure it out.” McGill described the State’s way of handling it as, “Flying the plane while building it.”
McGill does not know if districts will receive red marks after this year and the administration of Academic Intervention Services (AIS), given to students who fall below the standards of proficiency (where, at this point, a majority of students are) is yet to be figured out. The lower scores she said, “doesn’t mean all these students need intervention, it means the district needs to get up to speed with the new curriculum.”
McGill provided the previous two years test statistics to be used as a benchmark only, noting how far the district must climb in order to meet the standards. In the past and in the present, district results are higher than State averages.
“I don’t know if you can get into predictability,” said McGill. “This is the curriculum, this is what they feel is a valid measure. Do we know it’s a valid measure? No. If the State is saying it is and we have to give it, then that’s what we have to do.”
Other stats…
According to a press release by New York State Department of Education, overall 31.1 percent of students in grades three-through-eight met or exceeded ELA proficiency standards and 31 percent in math. The school districts known as The Big Five — Buffalo, Yonkers, New York City, Rochester and Syracuse — scored less compared to the average across the State. The highest of these schools went to New York City, where 26.4 percent of students met or exceeded ELA standards and 29.6 percent in math. Rochester performed the lowest, with only 5.4 percent students meeting or exceeding ELA standards and 5 percent in math.
Onteora school officials will have a public presentation in the near future for anyone interested but seeking to bypass the difficult to understand Excel spread sheet the State offers.
