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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS News & Commentary By John F. Bailey. October 20, 2010:
The White Plains City School District reputation for delivering a quality education every parent can believe in was shaken Monday evening.
Superintendent of Schools Christopher Clouet, shown preparing to address the overflow crowd at the high school, said at the beginning of the Community Forum Monday night:
“New York State tests were too easy. They lead some of you to believe your children were performing at a proficient level. There is a disconnect here we need to fix.”
Clouet showed 2010 assessment test results driven down by sharply higher passing scores applied by the state after the 2010 tests were taken.
Clouet reported 55% of Grade 3 to 8 students passed the 2010 state ELA tests and 64% passed the Math, down dramatically from the heady 75% to 95% scores White Plains posted on the Assessments in 2009.
Dr. Christopher Clouet, Superintendent of Schools, with new Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, Jessica O’Donovan, presenting impact of new passing scores on the district. The news showed glowing White Plains student performance on assessments in the past was the result of low scores needed to pass.
Intervention Now.
Clouet announced a crash effort to upgrade children’s skills who did not pass, to prepare them for the 2011 testing coming up.
Intervention Blocks within the elementary classes will be introduced, in addition to early morning review periods.
These “I-blocks” will begin in November, details to come. At Middle School level, mandatory skill upgrades will be conducted in workshops after school. Total numbers of students not passing by grade level were not presented.
Sobering Charts
A crowd of 200 White Plains Parents, teachers, administrators, coordinators saw the district state Assessment scores they believed were progressing steadily were not what they seemed, but instead the product of what appear to be not so much mastery of the skills but the low passing scores set by the state for years.
The Score needed to pass (Cut Score) to reach Level 3 on the Math Asessments rose in a range from 20 to 34 points in 2010. On the ELA’s, the range of increase was less from 20 points to 34 points, with less of an increase in the 6th, 7th and 8th grades.
They saw what WPCNR has pointed out every year: low passing scores, presented positively by the state, and ultimately, the school district.
In 2009–the Pass Score on the 7th Grade English Language Assessment(above) was 28 of 41 points (68%). In 2010, that went up 7 points to 35, requiring an 85% correct passing grade.
Note below, the very low passing score required in 2009 on the math assessment below. (Selected charts were shown…not all levels of passing score changes were shown.)
And the low passing scores on the Grade 4 Math in 2009 below.
The glowing percentages put out over the last ten years by the district have given the impression children had mastered the basic skills of English and Math through Middle School. Last night it became clear: nearly half the children (about 1,200) in grades 3 through 8 taking the assessments apparently have not mastered basic grade level schools.
Millions to Clear Low Hurdles.
The White Plains School System has grown its budget $175 Million to $285 Million since 2000-2001 when it was $110 Million a year.
Monday night, parents saw for the first time in public what that increase in expenditures really bought: 55% and 64% passing rates.
The district efforts of curriculum adjustments every year too numerous to count, professional workshops for teachers, building on data tweaks every year, consultant input, and initiating strategies– they were sold as aiding teachers to upgrade performance. The result: the efforts have enabled White Plains students to pass assessment tests that allowed thousands of students to appear proficient by surpassing low-hanging score levels.
Knowledge Gap Compounds, grade-by-grade
The effect of the low score passing bar became palpably real Monday night. Though not stated out loud by the presenters, the low scores needed to pass has built a continuing, ever-compounding gap in student skill sets — like a creeping terror.
As they move through the White Plains grades, students’ continuing instruction is not closing the gap at all, rather making the skill gap wider, leaving many more children behind when they reach high school.
It was inescapable for this reporter not to think of the highly touted fifth year of high school option in this district that enables a 96% graduation rate. It struck me that the reason it takes five years for a growing number of White Plains students to complete high school in White Plains (earning a Regents diploma) is they are not prepared for Regents level work when they enter high school.
A sense of dread.
Parents appeared stunned seeing a series of charts which showed how low assessment test passing scores have been set in the past by the state.
Parents saw a few isolated examples of how more students in grades three through eight now need to improve their scores to achieve passing grades on 2010-11 tests coming up.
Low Income Students Fall Behind Early by Third Grade
The school district mission to address the needs of every child from every walk of life appeared not to be working at all — particularly new comers — according to a chart introduced comparing assessment test results with income level.
Third grade assessment results for 2010, (after children have been in the elementary school system through kindergarten, first and second grades), show 70% of “Not Low Income” children passed the Third Grade Assessments. Only the Third Grade Income Level performances were shown.
Only 35% of “Low Income” Children passed. The total low income children not passing and the total not low income children was not given in the chart.
It should be noted that the “Not Low Income” Children passing declined 15% under the new passing system.
Early Program Success? Questionable.
What appeared particularly troubling is all-day kindergartens, the pre-K programs, the newcomers program have been praised for helping to prepare all students to learn more efficiently.
That has not worked efficiently for the low income students. At the third grade level the “less fortunate” are performing 50% worse than their “Not Low Income” counterparts.
In view of this chart alone, the glowing reports of closing achievement gaps between the African American and Hispanic populations, appearing just last spring are in question and what those statistics mean up for examination.
How Many Did Not Pass?
The total numbers of children who have not passed assessments by grade were not presented.
The Superintendent of Schools emphasized how many more children did not pass because of the “raised” passing scores. The following charts show the additional work the district has cut out for it before the 2011 tests:
These four charts Clouet showed, demonstrate how the higher pass scores resulted in 65 more students failing the Grade 8 ELA Asessment and 130 more students failing the Grade 4 Math Assessment, and 105 more students failing the Grade 7 Math Assessment.
Previously Dr. Clouet, wisely preparing the district for Monday evening’s bad news had warned the district that test scores under the new scoring of the state (announced after tests were taken in August this year), had predicted the scores for passing would go up some 12 points.
Passing Levels Lofted 12 points to 34 points.
Instead, the passing scores have gone up from a minimum of 12 points in third Grade ELA Assessment to 18 points in the 8th Grade ELA. On the math side the challenge is worse: Math passing levels now go from 34 points higher at the third grade assessment to 20 points higher at the 7th grade level.
This is more indication that the district has a lot of work to do the next two months to have students hold their own under new 2011 tests.
The significance: pass scores have been raised less as the grades go up on the Math side while being raised more on the English test at the 7th and 8th grade levels.
It is striking for me to to realize Assessment Test results have always been stated in percentages. The parents of the district have never been shown the raw scores distribution with real numbers as to how many children are bunched on the passing line.
The Charts showing how Level 4 grades have not changed much at all would indicate it would be instructive in the future to show how many students just eked out passing grades with the lower scores.
How many students are now performing “below grade level” on the assessments? Possibly over 1,000.
WPCNR, based on the total passing percentage for Grades 3 through 8 presented last night, notes that an unofficial WPCNR estimate based on the last White Plains School Report Card 2008-2009 could be made.
In 2008-09, 2,929 Grade 3-to-8 students took the ELA test and 2,980 3-to-8’s took the Math test.
With 55% of 3-to-8’s passing the 2009-10 ELA assessment, this would mean 1,300 to 1,350 children in grades 3 to 8 did not pass the 2010 ELA Assessment.
In 08-09, 2,980 3-to-8 graders took math assessment tests in each grade. With 64% passing the math test throughout the district in 2010, this means roughly 1,900 passed the 2010 Math Assessment in their grades and 1,070 or more did not.
One might assume that if you did not pass the ELA you also did not pass the meaning perhaps over 1,000 students need upgrading of skills.
Glowing 2009 Results not so Glowing
How did students do in 2008-09..in the third grade ELA assessments? in ELA Grades 3 to 8 passing rates ranged from 72% in Grade 4 to 86% in Grade 6.
In Math the passing rates ranged from 83% in Grade 4 (with 27 points of 50 points passing) to 95% in Grade 7.
Based on what was presented Monday evening, these results were dramatically lowered by the more challenging passing levels in one swoop.
Coming Challenges
Every school district faces this challenge this year: preparing students to achieve higher passing scores on new tests.
White Plains is not alone. What is of grave concern to the district is how the district scores in 2011 will be judged as to whether its schools are making Adequate Yearly Progress, and whether the State Education Department will apply more lenient standards in determining that.
A melancholy reaction
Parents in attendance, some containing the school reports on their child’s scores on the Achievement Tests, asked respectful questions, obviously trying to grapple with the revelations of the evening and what they meant for their child’s future.
Superintendent of Schools Clouet closed the meeting, taking every question and making sharp note that the decline in math scores was aggravated by students not understanding the reading questions that pose the math questions.
Clouet is charged with fixing what was done wrong in the last ten years in two months.
Clouet said at the close of the evening,
“We need to teach children to think and focus on reading and understanding and to make relevant conclusions.”
