The newest set of West Virginia public school standardized test scores included a little good news and some bad, as well as information that will add fuel to the Common Core debate.
These results are the first from the new Smarter Balanced Assessment for English Language Arts/literacy proficiency and math, replacing the previously used Westest standardized test. Educators used results from national field tests (in 18 states including WV) by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium last year to provide a baseline for comparison.
The most positive news is that in ELA and literacy proficiency, West Virginia students in grades three through eight and grade eleven scored higher than the field test averages. (There were no field tests for grades nine and ten. The test is not administered K-2.)
However the math scores were grim. West Virginia students scored below the field test averages in grades four through eight and grade 11. Third graders were above the average. There were no field test results for grades nine and ten, but we don’t need a comparison to know West Virginia high school students are math-challenged.
The tests from earlier this year show just 25 percent of eighth graders, 18 percent of ninth graders, 15 percent of tenth graders and 20 percent of 11th graders were rated as “proficient.” That means three out of every four students in grades eight through eleven are not; they are described by the Smarter Balanced Assessment as “novice” or “developing.”
The results in science were measured differently. There is no Smarter Balanced test for science, so West Virginia used the old Westest to test grades four, six and ten. All three grades scored lower than the previous year. Sixth graders and tenth graders all scored better the four previous years.
The numbers look even worse when you consider that according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation’s international rankings for math and science, the United States comes in at 28th, tied with Italy (Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan are at the top).
It’s worth noting that West Virginia third graders scored better than their cohorts nationally in the Smarter Balanced testing. Forty-six percent of third graders were proficient in ELA and literacy compared with 38 percent from the other 17 states. Forty-four percent of the third graders scored proficient in math, compared with 39 percent from the field test.
State school Superintendent Dr. Michael Martirano says that’s significant because the Next Generation/Common Core standards have been in place for third grade students since kindergarten, longer than any other grade. “Their performance on this assessment demonstrates the effectiveness of our state education standards which resulted in higher proficiency scores.”
Martirano and a majority of state school board members want to stick with Next Generation/Common Core despite the objections. Senate President Bill Cole and House Speaker Tim Armstead have already said they plan to introduce a bill when the legislative session begins in January to repeal Common Core.
The third grade test results, while preliminary, could give Common Core supporters additional leverage for staying with the concept.
State leaders, teachers and parents may disagree on what the standards should be, and they’ll have to work that out, but these test results demonstrate that West Virginia schools students, while showing modest progress in some areas, still have a lot of homework to do.