School’s out, but the test results for the state’s new Smarter Balanced Assessment for students in the third through eighth grades and high school juniors are coming in.
Supporters and detractors of the new testing regimen will likely argue over what the numbers mean, but generally the results appear to back the direction the state is taking with testing and should ease anxieties that the tests would overwhelm students.
Final results won’t be available until August, and that also means district-by-district comparisons aren’t available. But about 90 percent of the tests statewide have been scored and school districts are receiving some preliminary numbers, as Herald Writer Chris Winters reported in Friday’s Herald.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn called the preliminary results for what will be the test’s baseline year encouraging: “It’s a great beginning for the state of Washington.”
In general, the scores are lower than numbers for different tests used in previous years, but, with one exception, they’re higher than the results for the Smarter Balance exams administered in a field test in select districts in 2014. Comparisons against the older tests may not be of much value. Rather than multiple choice, the new tests for most districts are administered online and adapt to the student, meaning that depending on how well the student is answering questions, the test asks easier or harder questions to provide a better indication of each student’s strengths and weaknesses. The tests also should do a better job of showing where each student needs improvement.
Tests for English language arts and math showed significantly better numbers for this year than in the “test of the test” in 2014. In the English tests, 53 percent of third-graders this year showed proficiency this year, compared to 38 percent in 2014. The comparisons between this year and last were similar for students in the fourth through eighth grades and high school, showing an improvement of 17 to 20 percentage points. The improvement was similar for the math test, except for high school juniors, with the percentage who tested as proficient dropping to 29 percent from 33 percent.
One other comparison adds to the evidence that the tests are on the right track: The Everett School District, matching its past performance, was among those districts that showed a higher percentage of students meeting the proficiency standard as compared to the state figures. A different result there might have indicated a problem.
Obviously, there’s work ahead for everyone, particularly if less than a third of high school juniors are meeting the proficiency standard for math. Some calibration of the tests to the standards will be necessary. But those scores should rise each year as students gain greater familiarity and comfort with the Smarter Balanced tests.
Once the final test results are available next month, school administrators, teachers, parents and students can begin to use them to move forward with each child’s education. And everyone can move on with a little less test anxiety.
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