Test scores coming Wednesday
UPDATE: SCORES DELAYED
The state board has delayed release of ABCs results until Nov. 9. Read more here and the full e-mail from board Chairman Howard Lee here.
===========================================
The last of the ABCs and AYP results should come out Wednesday morning.
The state Board of Education meets Wednesday to go over the elementary and middle school results. The data is supposed to go live on their Web site at 9 a.m. High school results were released Oct. 5.
What can you expect?
For starters, passing rates for math should drop dramatically at many schools.
Two reasons why; the state:
*updated the test to match the tougher curriculum
*upped the ante by requiring students to answer more questions correctly to be deemed proficient.
So the days of most schools seeing 80 percent to 100 percent of students passing math are over. The results are expected to be more in line with how Tar Heel students do on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or the Nation's Report Card.
Forty percent of N.C. fourth-graders met or exceeded proficiency on the 2005 NAEP math test. The numbers climb to 83 percent when you look at students at or above the basic level.
What's the difference between proficent and basic on the NAEP, you ask? Good question.
Proficient: demonstrates competency over challenging subject matter, including subject-matter knowledge, application of such knowledge to real-world situations, and analytical skills appropriate to the subject matter.
Basic: denotes partial mastery of prerequisite knowledge and skills that are fundamental for proficient work at each grade assessed.
Also Wednesday, you'll see Adequate Yearly Progress results, which are based on overall passing rates on the state tests. This data will determine which schools must offer transfers or tutoring to eligible students.
Another result of the math test changes: the state board lowered the bar for meeting math AYP. The board did the same thing a few years ago when it switched from comprehensive tests to end-of-course tests as the measure for meeting high school AYP.
Comments (4)
To report abuse of the comment feature on this site, please use the feedback form at the bottom of any page.
Jennifer,
Thanks for the info. Can you clarify - the bar was raised for individual students as to whether or not they passed, but the bar was then immediately lowered for the schools' performances (per AYP)?
What's the rationale in that?
Posted on October 31, 2006 1:31 PM
numbersgame,
North Carolina chose to reach 100 percent proficiency by 2013-14 (No Child Left Behind's goal) through a graduated, step process. State officials felt it was unfair to keep that level the same for math when they had revamped the test and made it harder to pass. So they reset the levels, making the overall passing rate lower for math the next few years, but bumping it back up again to keep on track to 100 percent proficiency by 2013-14.
The required percentage dropped from 81 to 65.8. I think that's in effect for 05-06 and 06-07, although I'm relying on my memory so don't take those years as gospel.
Posted on October 31, 2006 4:22 PM
Jennifer,
As I expected, it's after 9:00 and the scores are not posted. If you received your own press copy, would you please post the Guilford County school-by-school results?
Posted on November 1, 2006 9:10 AM
The delay in releasing the results is very suspicious. The tests were taken in May. And it takes this long to get the results and have them analyzed and socialized with the State BOE chairman?
C'mon - the delay puts the results just AFTER the election.
Could there be some local school board elections in this state that would benefit from delaying bad news?????
Posted on November 1, 2006 9:49 AM