Testing
What Parents Should Keep in Mind
Since each student improves daily, parents and guardians are urged to look at the progress indicators over a longer period of time, and not to place too much emphasis on the standardized tests. Observation of a child’s daily progress, periodic report cards, and conferences with teachers are all important tools in keeping parents informed as to how a child is doing in school.
Parents and guardians should also keep in mind the areas in which children are not formally tested, such as verbal communication, the arts, music, and, in some grade levels, science, or physical fitness skills. All of these areas make a child whole and contribute to his/her overall learning and experience. Focusing on the larger picture will offer both parent and teacher the best indication of how a child and his/her class are doing.
Letter from Superintendent Lawrence Regarding Student Testing
April, 2007
To the Families of Students Attending Berkeley Public Schools:
The spring testing season will soon begin, so I would like to explain to you the reason we want your students to participate in the STAR test. Although I share the concerns that many parents have about the nature and use of our state and national testing process, I ask that you consider the facts.
Our goal is to educate every child. Test results are an important measure to ensure that our efforts to improve instruction have been fruitful. Comprehensive testing data, including what the state requires, help us track our effectiveness in meeting the academic needs of all our students and target efforts and resources for instruction.
Additionally, while I am no fan of the majority of the "No Child Left Behind" legislation, the law requires every school to have a 95% testing participation rate in every subgroup. The subgroups include every ethnic group with a significant population at the school as well as Special Education students, English learners and students who qualify for the Free or Reduced Price Lunch Program. Failure to test 95% of the students in each group, even in the schools where overall achievement is high, penalizes the school. Three of our schools have already been identified as "Program Improvement" simply because they did not test 95% of the students in each subgroup. It is also due to a participation rate of less than 95% that the district is identified as a "Program Improvement" district, resulting in the shift of financial resources away from the school and all students, to outside agencies or private corporations that provide tutoring to low-achieving students. In essence, local control is lost, and schools in our district are unfairly labeled as "underperforming" despite the fact that the districts' Academic Performance Indicator (API) of 729 is higher than either the state or county average. I want you to recognize that to exercise your legal option to exempt your student from the tests can hurt the entire school. Perhaps this is another reason why the law must be changed.
It is important to remember that standardized tests such as the STAR measure institutions and not individual student progress. The best way for you know how your child is progressing is to be in on-going communication with his or her teacher(s).
I hope that every family in Berkeley will discuss the spring tests and determine the best way to help their students do well. Of course, the time-honored methods of being prepared, well-rested, well-fed and relaxed are important. Your site principals will be advising you of the specific details and the schedule for your student's school. They are eager to answer your questions and to help make this a positive experience for all.
Thank you for your attention to this key educational concern.
Sincerely yours,
Michele Lawrence
Superintendent
Berkeley Unified School District
The Good News
- BUSD students, on average, score above grade level and comparable or higher than national averages.
- Principals and teachers can use this comprehensive information to make necessary instructional adjustment to improve classroom instruction, and thus each child's personal success.
School and District Test Data
Visit the California Department of Education Web site for complete information about testing data by school or district. There you can find STAR data, as well as how this data translates into API and AYP scores for schools. Typically there is a delay as each step of the scoring process takes place. First individual student tests are graded and compiled. Student test results for tests taken in spring 2007 were mailed to parents in September 2007.
This the schools for each school are compiled and posted to the STAR website. Absolutely no indivual student is available. Use the pull-down menu to choose the county (Alameda), district (Berkeley Unified) and school you want to look at, then click on the View Report button. You can also choose to look at various subgroup data, to see, for example, how the scores for girls differ from boys.
After a period of time, these data are used to calculate API (the state measure) and AYP (the federal measure) for each school and each statistically significant subgroup at each school. A group is statistically significant if there are more than 30 children attending that school. The categories include racial/ethnic category: (Asian, African American, Latino, White); students with limited English proficiency (you'll see that listed as LEP), students with disabilities, and low-income students. Schools must assess 95% of each student group.
Finally, that data is posted at state website.
API data is found at http://api.cde.ca.gov/reports.asp.
AYP data is found at http://ayp.cde.ca.gov/reports.asp.
AYP vs. API: California's accountability requirements, reported as APIs, differ from federal accountability requirements, reported as AYP. API requirements are based on a "growth model," which measures the academic success of a school on the basis of how much it improves. It acknowledges that not all schools start at the same place. Federal AYP requirements, however, are based on a "status bar model," which measures how well a school or district meets common minimum performance targets, or status bars. It assumes all schools or districts must meet common minimum academic levels, regardless of where they started. For example, a school that showed 100 points growth in the API from 2006 to 2007 reflects a school that greatly improved its results on statewide assessments from 2006 to 2007. The growth in the school's API reflects the progress the school made, regardless of the level of its beginning API score in 2006. However, the same school might not meet AYP criteria because its 2004 participation rate or percent proficient was below the AYP minimum target (or status bar) set for all schools. The 2006 Accountability Progress Report includes a school's or district's API growth alongside AYP status in order to provide more complete data about school and district progress toward proficiency on rigorous state academic standards.
It should be noted that federal requirements are not identical to state requirements and that meeting AYP criteria for NCLB is not the same as meeting school API growth targets for California accountability. In order to meet its API growth target under current state requirements, a school must increase its API score by 5 percent of the difference between the school API and 800 or maintain its API score above 800. In order to meet AYP under federal requirements, however, a school must have a minimum participation rate and percentage of its students at proficient or above in English-language arts and mathematics, attain a minimum API of 560 or API growth of one point, and meet graduation rate requirements if it serves high school students.
The 2006-07 API continues to emphasize standards-based assessments as primary measures of students' academic achievement. These state tests include the California Standards Tests (CSTs), the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE), and the California Alternate Performance Assessment (CAPA). New last year, the CAPA is a standards-based assessment for students with significant cognitive disabilities, who are unable to take the CSTs. The CSTs, the CAPA, and the CAHSEE are closely aligned to state academic standards for each subject tested. BUSD schools have worked diligently to incorporate state standards into the curriculum and classroom instruction, with textbooks that address the same standards, while at the same time being aware that many important aspects of student growth and future sucess are not addressed by standardized tests.
A parents guide to NCLB produced by the federal government can be found at No Child Left Behind.