Putting Parents Front and Center Understanding Standards-Based School Reform

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Putting Parents Front and CenterUnderstanding
Standards-Based School Reform

• PIRC 2006 National Conference
• Wyndham Hotel, Inner Harbor
• Baltimore, Maryland
• June 7-8, 2006
• Zattura Sims-El
• Community Liaison

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Why Are We Here?

• Introductions
• Purpose of the Workshop

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ICEBREAKER!!!!!

• Opinion Exercise

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Testing/Assessments

• Who designs the test my child takes in school?
• Why are students given tests?
• How are test used?
• Are test important?

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Norm-referenced Testing (NRT)

• Human beings make tests. They decide what topics
  to include on the test, what kinds of questions
  to ask, and what the correct answers are, as well
  as how to use test scores. Tests can be made to
  compare students to each other (norm-referenced
  tests) or to see whether students have mastered a
  body of knowledge (criterion or
  standards-referenced tests). This fact sheet
  explains what NRTs are, their limitations and
  flaws, and how they affect schools.
• Fair Test The National Center for Fair and Open
  Testing

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• Norm-referenced tests (NRTs) compare a person's
  score against the scores of a group of people who
  have already taken the same exam, called the
  "norming group." When you see scores in the paper
  which report a school's scores as a percentage --
  "the Lincoln school ranked at the 49th
  percentile" -- or when you see your child's score
  reported that way -- "Jamal scored at the 63rd
  percentile" -- the test is usually an NRT.
• Fair Test The National Center for Fair and Open
  Testing

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• Most achievement NRTs are multiple-choice tests.
  Some also include open-ended, short-answer
  questions. The questions on these tests mainly
  reflect the content of nationally-used textbooks,
  not the local curriculum. This means that
  students may be tested on things your local
  schools or state education department decided
  were not so important and therefore were not
  taught.
• Fair Test The National Center for Fair and Open
  Testing

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• Commercial, national, norm-referenced
  "achievement" tests include the California
  Achievement Test (CAT) Comprehensive Test of
  Basic Skills (CTBS), which includes the "Terra
  Nova" Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) and Tests
  of Academic Proficiency (TAP) Metropolitan
  Achievement Test (MAT) and Stanford Achievement
  Test (SAT, not to be confused with the college
  admissions SAT). "IQ," "cognitive ability,"
  "school readiness," and developmental screening
  tests are also NRTs.
• Fair Test The National Center for Fair and Open
  Testing

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• NRTs are designed to "rank-order" test takers --
  that is, to compare students' scores. A
  commercial norm-referenced test does not compare
  all the students who take the test in a given
  year. Instead, test-makers select a sample from
  the target student population (say, ninth
  graders). The test is "normed" on this sample,
  which is supposed to fairly represent the entire
  target population (all ninth graders in the
  nation). Students' scores are then reported in
  relation to the scores of this "norming" group.
• Fair Test The National Center for Fair and Open
  Testing

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• The dangers of using norm-referenced tests

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Creating the bell curve

• To make comparing easier, testmakers create exams
  in which the results end up looking at least
  somewhat like a bell-shaped curve (the "normal"
  curve, shown in the diagram). Testmakers make the
  test so that most students will score near the
  middle, and only a few will score low (the left
  side of the curve) or high (the right side of the
  curve).
• Fair Test The National Center for Fair and Open
  Testing

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THE EDUCATION TRUST
Norm Referenced System
Losers
Winners
Average
Standards Based System
Highly Proficient Proficient Novice Basic
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• In making an NRT, it is often more important to
  choose questions that sort people along the curve
  than it is to make sure that the content covered
  by the test is adequate. The tests sometimes
  emphasize small and meaningless differences among
  testtakers. Since the tests are made to sort
  students, most of the things everyone knows are
  not tested. Questions may be obscure or tricky,
  in order to help rank order the test-takers.
• Fair Test The National Center for Fair and Open
  Testing

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• Tests can be biased. Some questions may favor one
  kind of student or another for reasons that have
  nothing to do with the subject area being tested.
  Non-school knowledge that is more commonly
  learned by middle or upper class children is
  often included in tests. To help make the bell
  curve, testmakers usually eliminate questions
  that students with low overall scores might get
  right but those with high overall scores get
  wrong. Thus, most questions which favor minority
  groups are eliminated.
• Fair Test The National Center for Fair and Open
  Testing

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• To compare students, it is often easiest to use a
  norm-referenced test because they were created to
  rank test-takers. If there are limited places
  (such as in a "Gifted and Talented" program) and
  choices have to be made, it is tempting to use a
  test constructed to rank students, even if the
  ranking is not very meaningful and keeps out some
  qualified children.
• Fair Test The National Center for Fair and Open
  Testing

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• StandardsHow Important are They?

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PAIR SHARE EXERCISE STANDARDS IN
EVERYDAY LIFE Standards might have only been
emphasized in education for 10 or so years, but
they are common in our everyday life. We rely on
Standards all the time.
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STANDARDS IN EDUCATION TIMELINE
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ACHIEVEMENT GAP

• Currently there is a difference in school
  achievement among different groups of students,
  such as racial/ethnic groups, income levels,
  disability and/or language barriers.
• The No Child Left Behind Act seeks to eliminate
  the achievement gap nationwide by consistently
  closing it over a twelve year period.
• No Child Left Behind requires the collection of
  data to show where these gaps exist.

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HOW TO USE STANDARDS
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STANDARDS are roadmaps to an educational
destination
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• What are Academic Standards?

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Content Standards

• Statements of what students should know and be
  able to do in each subject area. Standards make
  clear what teachers should be teaching and the
  expectation for achievement is the same for all
  students.

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Performance Standards

• Describe the levels of performance on tasks that
  students must reach to demonstrate that they have
  met the content standards, or that they are on
  their way toward meeting them.
• Performance standards can be distinguished from
  content standards because performance standards
  have levels e.g., 1,2,3,4 or below basic,
  basic, novice, proficient, advanced

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Opportunity to Learn Standards

• Describe the learning conditions required to
  ensure that students have a fair chance to meet
  the content and performance standards such as
  adequate facilities, appropriate resources,
  conducive learning environment, etc.

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Four Factors that Contribute to the Achievement
Gap

• Low Standards
• Low-Level Curriculum
• Least Qualified Teachers
• Fewer Resources
• Whats behind these reasons? Low Expectations of
  and for our children.

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Cycle of Low Achievement
Low Expectations
Poor Test Results
Less Challenging Courses
Low Level Assignments/Instruction
Stephanie G. Robinson, Ph. D. Education Trust
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Students Who Start 3rd Grade at About the Same
Level of Math Achievement
Source Heather Jordan, Robert Mendro, and Dash
Weerasinghe, The Effects of Teachers on
Longitudinal Student Achievement, 1997.
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Finish 5th Grade at Dramatically Different
Levels Depending on the Quality of Their Teachers
Source Heather Jordan, Robert Mendro, and Dash
Weerasinghe, The Effects of Teachers on
Longitudinal Student Achievement, 1997.
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Students Who Start 3rd Grade at About the Same
Level of Reading Achievement
Source Heather Jordan, Robert Mendro, and Dash
Weerasinghe, The Effects of Teachers on
Longitudinal Student Achievement, 1997.
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Finish 5th Grade at Dramatically Different
Levels Depending on the Quality of Their Teachers
Source Heather Jordan, Robert Mendro, and Dash
Weerasinghe, The Effects of Teachers on
Longitudinal Student Achievement, 1997.
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Pueblo, ColoradoRaising Achievement, Closing
GapsGrade 3 Reading
Source Data provided by the Pueblo School
District.
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El Paso TAAS Pass Rates Reading Grades 3, 8 and 10
Source Texas Education Agency - Academic
Excellence Indicator System Report 1994 through
1999
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El Paso TAAS Pass Rates Math Grades 3, 8 and 10
Source Texas Education Agency - Academic
Excellence Indicator System Report 1994 through
1999
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Student Work

• Have participants look at student work and decide
  which work they would want for their child.

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What Role Do Counselors Play?

• Families of high school students
• Regular meetings with teachers and counselors to
  plan their childrens academic program
• Information about program options, graduation
  requirements, test schedules, and post-secondary
  education options and how to plan for them
• Information about where to find academic support,
  such as help with homework, tutoring,
  after-school programs, and special classes.
  Include subject areas covered and associated
  costs.
• Explanations of courses students should take to
  be prepared for college or other post-secondary
  education and the work force.
• Information about costs of higher education and
  applying for financial aid
• Child Trends Data Bank

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Low-Income Students Less Likely to be Enrolled in
a College Preparatory Track
Source US Department of Education, National
Center for Education Statistics. National
Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 Second
Follow-Up, 1992 in A Profile of the American
High School Senior in 1992.( p. 36) Washington,
DC US Department of Education, June 1995.
1999 by The Education Trust, Inc.
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More African American and Latino 12th Graders Do
Daily Worksheets
Source USDOE, NCES, 1996 NAEP Math Summary Data
Tables online.
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Results of a Rigorous Curriculum
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A Rigorous Math Curriculum Improves Achievement
Source National Center for Education Statistics.
NAEP 1999 Trends in Academic Progress (p 113).
Washington, DC US Department of Education. 2000
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Students Who Take Algebra Show Greater Gains in
Mathematics Achievement
Source Algebra for Everyone? Benefits of
College-Preparatory Mathematics for Students With
Diverse Abilities in Early SecondarySchool,
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Vol.
22, Fall 2000.
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Vocational Students Taking High-Level English
Courses Score Higher
Source Bottoms, Gene. High Schools That Work,
SREB, .
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William Fleming High SchoolRoanoke, Virginia
Source Roanoke (VA) Public Schools, 2000.
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• THANK YOU

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The Education Trust
202-293-1217 www.edtrust.org