You may have heard in the media that test scores for the 2012-13 school year have been released. Across the state, scores are much lower than in previous years. We do not have all the information yet, but preliminary data is that our test scores were lower than we had hoped. We must admit that for a moment it took the wind from our sails and we were discouraged. But as we began to pull ourselves “up by our bootstraps,” we began to examine the “why?” and “what now?” of the reality. When pondering the why, we realized that our scores were based on a very small sample of students. There were 21 students tested at Corvian last year. Additionally, Corvian was in a unique situation in that we were a new school. Most of the students tested were brand new to Corvian last year. These students came to us from a variety of previous school settings including private, charter, public and home school settings. As a result they did not all enter third grade with a common body of knowledge. Because of our small sample, even one student getting one more answer correct could have increased our scores dramatically. We are not in the business of making excuses or defining students by test scores, but did want to shed light on the matter, as testing information can often be misunderstood. When pondering the “what now” we decided that while we are disappointed, we will not let this snapshot of a few of our students distract us from our mission and vision of creating a school that has high standards of academic excellence while also addressing needs of the whole child. We have many new things in place this year that will enable us to do a better job. One is that all third graders were given a state mandated Beginning of Third Grade Test. The state has not released the results of that to us, but we hope to have that information while there is still time to act on it. In addition, our teachers have done a tremendous job of collecting authentic data and we have already begun targeting students for one-on-one and small group instruction through our literacy lab. We have set up an assistance team that meets weekly to problem solve issues with students and allows us to direct resources to best meet student needs. We are purchasing materials that will help teachers target instruction to meet the needs of a variety of learners. I would like to share a wonderful article with you written by Joy Warner, director of Community School of Davidson. In it she does an excellent job of explaining the complicated topic of high stakes testing and its impact on students and education. Please take time to read this. It is long, but incredibly well written. sitwheretheysitparentedition.wordpress/ I will leave you with this quote that Joy shares in the blog. It is from educator Bill Ayers, “Standardized tests can’t measure initiative, creativity, imagination, conceptual thinking, curiosity, effort, irony, judgment, commitment, nuance, good will, ethical reflection, or a host of other valuable dispositions and attributes. What they can measure and count are isolated skills, specific facts and functions, the least interesting, and least significant aspects of learning.” At the end of the day, we hold fast to our guiding question “Is this best for kids?” We are committed to holding fast to our mission and do believe with the additional resources and targeted instruction we are well on our way to a more successful testing year.
Posted on: Sat, 09 Nov 2013 16:36:24 +0000
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