ED573History of High-Stakes

Standardized AssessmentMany Educators do not like high-

stakes standardized test, but do many of teachers and administrators know

how they came into existence?

Standard 6

A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by understand, responding to, and influencing the larger political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context.

ISSLC

It started in 1964 with the Economic Opportunity Act (EOA).

The EOA was part of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty and the development of a Great Society*.

*Elimination of poverty and racial injusticeIncrease spending on: Education, Medical

Care, Urban Problems, and Transportation

Why do we have PSSAs?

The EOA brought about the Head Start Program, which was followed by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965.

The ESEA created the Title I and Follow Through programs.

EOA

Unfortunately not.

As the 1970s were drawing to a close and the 1980s began…

The United States found itself in an economy that had integrated multinational corporations.

The products of these corporations could be designed in one country and produced in another, and then sold in a third.

Did it work?Did they close the achievement gap?

Low-skill workers in the US were in deep and permanent trouble

The change in the economy required rapid change in schools, specifically in increasing student performance.

Is it all about the Economy?

1986 Carnegie Report, A Nation Prepared: Teachers for the 21st Century, which called for a restructuring of America’s schools based on standards

In 1989, first President Bush called for an education summit to which the governors responded.

A movement toward standards-based education began shortly after the educational summit in the 1990s.

Who is in charge?

The standards movement, also has origins in national education initiatives, such as America 2000 (of 1991) and its predecessor, Goals 2000.

Both are attributed to research on: how children learn the effects of minimum competency testing on

instruction the public’s demand to hold schools

accountable for student achievement

Supported by…

The Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994 amended the ESEA by extending requirements to all students.

The 1994 legislation required all states to have standards of academic achievement; to assess student at three stages (grades 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12) to determine if they were meeting the standards.

ESEA Amended

By 2000, 49 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico had content standards in at least three subject areas, according to the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO)

All states except Nebraska and Iowa had mandated testing in place

Things move quickly

The federal education legislation was passed in the early days of 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)

This was the beginning of the “Era of Accountability”

Then….

Are they Really Ready to Work, surveyed four hundred top employers in the

United States revealed over 40% of employers of employers respondents rated the level of preparedness of the high school graduates for entry-level jobs as deficient

(Conference Board, 2006)

A National Report in (2006)

The Governor’s Commission on College and Career Success (2006), noted “the academic distinction which was once held between students going to post-secondary education and those entering directly into the workforce are no longer useful” (p. 5)

The same year…

A 2009 PISA report, which was produced through research conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows the United States is significantly below the OECD average in mathematics

(NCES, 2011)

A few years later…

To measure the implementation of the common core standards USDOE has set aside $350 million to develop and implement the tests aligned to the voluntary national standards.

Once again, policymakers, educators, and the general public are looking to student assessment as a catalyst for educational reform, based on its ability to leverage instructional improvement and to hold schools accountable for their results

Common Core is what we need

The PSSA, according to the report, Relationship Among Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) Scores, University Proficiency Exams, and College Course Graduation in English and Mathematics, completed for the PDE indicates the PSSA is a valid predictor of a student’s readiness to succeed in current college-level work or entry-level jobs

Sinclair and Thacker (2005)

But we already have the PSSA

According to the Governor’s Commission on College and Career Success (2006), students performing at proficient or above on the 11th grade PSSA, have a 90% chance of placing directly into college-level courses with no need for remediation

Remediation?

According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (2000), approximately 28% of all students entering college need some type of remediation.

In addition, only 37% make it to their sophomore year in college and less than one-third graduate on time and according to

Rising to the Challenge (2005) approximately 30-40% of our high school graduates are not ready for their next step in life.

But…

Unfortunately, according to the American Diploma Network (2011), more than half of the high school students are not demonstrating proficiency in mathematics and 2 in 5 are below the standard in Reading.

But students are graduating without demonstrating proficiency

Graduation Competency Assessment (GCA). The action plan for the GCA was developed by the American Diploma Project (ADP) between 2005 and 2008.

So now what will we do…?

According to Achieve (2010), the ADP is a network of “Governors, state superintendents of education, business executives and college leaders are working to bring value to the high school diploma.

The ADP network includes 35 states and together account for 85 percent of the students in public schools.

They want GCAs…

Who is involved in the ADP?

This discrepancy initiated a study of Pennsylvania school districts’ graduation assessments from 418 school districts which was conducted in 2009 at Penn State’s College of Education.

ADP says we need GCAs, but how do they prove it?

The Penn State study measured whether the assessments, provided by educators in public schools, measure 11th grade reading and math skills. The study also measured the integrity of the high school assessments by analyzing how securely the tests are conducted.

The results of the study reported 99 out of the 500 school districts adequately measured the 11th grade skills for Reading and only 19 schools administer the assessment in a secure manner.

The mathematics results reported 314 school districts provided adequate measures of 11th grade skills, and only 31 of the 314 districts are using the assessment appropriately to make decisions on the awarding of a diploma.

The two-step review process concluded 18 districts have appropriate assessments in Reading and math and use the assessments consistently in awarding high school diplomas.

(PSBA, 2009)

The proposed GCAs were opposed by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA). The GCA was also subject to a moratorium by the General Assembly under Act 61 of 2008.

During that time the GCA proposal was replaced by the Keystone Exams.

Keystone Exams are an end-of-course examination.

What could be the motivation to move from a grade-level assessment (PSSA) to an end-of-course exam?

Article #2 The move-on-when-ready system

When are Keystones administered?

Is it possible we could have students meet the criteria for graduation (demonstrate that they are college and career ready) in their sophomore or junior year?

If so, what would our high schools look like in the future?

Is it possible?

What if we taught less honors courses and stopped teaching AP and IB courses to focus on getting only the students who need the extra assistance to become college and career ready?

Article #3 Allentown School District

What if…

Is the way we do it now getting students ready for college and career?

over 40% of employers of employers respondents rated the level of preparedness of the high school graduates for entry-level jobs as deficient.

according to the National Center for Educational Statistics (2000), approximately 28% of all students entering college need some type of remediation. In addition, only 37% make it to their sophomore year in college and less than one-third graduate on time.

Achieve 2011, Achieve Profile. Retrieved from http://achieve.org

Achieve 2011, American Diploma Network. Retrieved from http://achieve.org/adp-network

Conference Board (2006). Are they really ready to work? Employers perspectives on the basic knowledge and applied skills of new entrants to the 21st century US workforce. Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/documents/FINAL_REPORT_PDF09-29-06.pdf

Governors’ Commission on College and Career Success Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. (2006, December). Final report. Pennsylvania.

References

National Center on Education and the Economy 2011, America’s choice: High Skills or low wages. Retrieved from, http://www.skillscommission.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/High_SkillsLow_Wages.pdf

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2011, 2009 PISA Results. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/54/12/46643496.pdf

Tucker, M. S. (2010). An assessment system for the United States: why not build on the best? Center for K-12 Assessment & Performance Management. Retrieved from http://www.k12center.org/rsc/pdf/TuckerSystemModel.pdf

 

References