According to WFPL public radio in Louisville, a new study from the Center on Education Policy shows that reading and math test scores in most states have risen since No Child Left Behind was enacted.
Most states, that is.
The study group wouldn’t draw conclusions from Kentucky’s CATS scores, however, because changes in our testing program in 2007, made CATS, “insufficient to determine any trends,” according to Jack Jennings, the head of the Center on Education Policy. Basically, Jennings’ team recognized that the CATS trend lines had been destroyed in 2007.
It’s important to note that the destruction of the CATS trend lines wasn’t caused by Senate Bill 1, which ended CATS. It was a result of inflationary scoring changes made by Kentucky’s education leadership themselves several years earlier.
In fact, if Kentucky’s educators had not made such obviously inflated, trend busting changes after 2006, Senate Bill 1 might not have passed. One of the best arguments to preserve CATS was its trend line. When that trend line was cut, those who wanted to keep CATS lost their most compelling argument.
So, Kentucky’s educators largely brought the demise of CATS on themselves, and even research teams in Washington recognize what happened to the validity of the CATS trend lines.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
National study on NCLB won’t draw conclusions from CATS scores
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4 comments:
Dick,
It's certainly true that the CATS trend lines were destroyed in 2007.
And just as surely the destruction of the CATS trend lines wasn’t caused by Senate Bill 1.
That happened when NCLB was layered on top of CATS rendering it....a bit of a mess. The Kentucky Ed establishment fought against making the changes NCLB required; lost the argument (or should we say, "took the money"). From that point on, principals were unable to gauge changes in test scores.
As you say, "One of the best arguments to preserve CATS was its trend line. When that trend line was cut, those who wanted to keep CATS lost their most compelling argument."
True.
Kentucky did monkey with the cut, scores, like a lot of states, but the real catalyst to CATS's demise was NCLB. Allowing each state to define proficiency, as NCLB did, invited shenanigans and destroyed the meaning behind the numbers.
Richard
Richard,
We obviously have the same take on most of these issues, including the generally poor job the US Department of Education has done to date in implementing NCLB. The state-to-state proficiency rate chaos and even more so the graduation rate chaos in NCLB are inexcusable. There was weak leadership from Washington.
That said, I do think you have one thing a bit backwards. NCLB didn’t make Kentucky cut any trend lines. Instead, Kentucky tried to jimmy NCLB by lowering its CATS standards, a process that actually started well before the more overt changes of 2007. I document that in “CATS in Decline: Federal Yardstick Reveals Kentucky’s Testing Program Continues to Deteriorate,” which is on line here: http://www.bipps.org/files/2/CATSinDecline.pdf.
It’s not right to blame NCLB because Kentucky educators chose to dumb down their tests to artificially make the state look better. That’s like blaming a professor when his students cheat on his test because the course is required for graduation. In both cases cheating is the problem rather than the system for accountability.
Sure,
What I'm sayin' is that, while imperfect - as all tests are - if the feds had left Kentucky alone, the last batch of trend killing changes would not ahve occurred.
Richard,
Obviously, we’ll never know for certain if CATS would have been changed without NCLB, but I suspect it would have become inflated regardless.
Even under CATS, with its terribly watered down accountability formula, schools and districts were getting into trouble.
However, after its unsatisfactory experience when the Kentucky Department of Education took over Floyd County back in the 1990s, the department has demonstrated a strong aversion to actually moving into failing systems. Thus, the fewer failing systems that exist, the less pressure for the department to actually do something.
For a historic perspective, consider the state’s pre-NCLB history with CATS and KIRIS tests. I outline some of that in the “CATS in Decline: Federal Yardstick Reveals Kentucky’s Testing Program Continues to Deteriorate,” (on line here: http://www.bipps.org/files/2/CATSinDecline.pdf ), which I mentioned in my earlier comment. For example, between 1994 and 2002 there was a phenomenal decline in what Kentucky considered proficient fourth grade reading compared to what the NAEP showed. There was a similar, though somewhat smaller trend for middle school reading between 1998 and 2002.
In math, what passed for proficiency in Kentucky’s assessments dropped notably between 1996 and 2000 for elementary schools.
The only exception to this trend was for middle school math, where scoring did get tougher on state assessments between 1996 and 2000.
However, the predominant implication from the limited NAEP data available indicates that Kentucky generally started inflating its state assessment scores before NCLB came along. Just the stakes in Kentucky’s own assessment program were high enough to generate this temptation.
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