Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Test Results...what to do with them.

Our standardized testing is over.  With not much to do for a couple hours for several days, I got to thinking.
What have our results been like lately, and how would we evaluate the teachers' performance based on these scores?


So, the last two years' scores. 


Level 3 and 4 constitute 'passing.'  Level 1 and 2 are 'not meeting standard.'
The Overall at Standard percentage, then, is the sum total of Levels 3 and 4.

Move to the right for the performance of the 2010 8th graders when they were in 7th and 6th grade.
In other words, each table consists of the results for the same group of students, across the years.
PMS is my school, which consists of two language arts teachers in both 7th and 8th grades, 4 (they do LA-SocStud combinations) in 6th grade.

PMS %  (State %)
2010 8th grade testers
8th grade results
7th grade reading results
7th grade writing results
6th grade results
Overall at Standard
82.8  (69.4)
74.2  (59.3)
82.5  (69.8)
84.9  (68.9)
Level 4
51.2  (43.1)
38.1  (27.2)
37.1  (25.1)
40.2  (25.6)
Level 3
31.5  (25.6)
36.1  (31.2)
45.4  (43.8)
44.7  (42.1)
Level 2
17.2  (18.8)
23.2  (29.1)
17.5  (18.0)
14.0  (23.1)
Level 1
13.3  (10.7)
2.6    (10.2)
5.2    (10.1)
1.1    (7.2)


PMS %  (State %)
2009 8th grade testers
8th grade results
7th grade reading results
7th grade writing results
6th grade results
Overall at Standard
79.6  (67.5)
73.2  (63.1)
77.8  (70.0)
74.2  (68.0)
Level 4
48.4  (34.3)
40.4  (34.3)
22.2  (24.3)
26.3  (25.9)
Level 3
31.1  (32.5)
32.8  (27.9)
55.6  (44.8)
47.9  (41.0)
Level 2
14.2  (21.1)
20.2  (26.5)
18.2  (19.2)
20.5  (24.0)
Level 1
5.3  (9.8)
5.1    (9.4)
3.0    (9.3)
5.3    (6.9)


I still don't know what to read in these figures.  It's great that we're above our state average.  I don't know how much that has to do with me, or any other teacher, though.
(Note that most of the time we're also lowering than the state average on the 'not passing' scores.)

I was also pleased to see higher numbers passing at Level 4.  Then again, I don't know if anybody has talked of making that a measure of teacher performance.  What about 2010 in 8th grade?  High Level 4 pass rate, but also higher than the state on Level 1 scores.  Is that good, bad, or what?

What do we do with 7th grade, which tests on two language arts related subjects?  Do we evaluate their test outcomes differently?

I hope this becomes clearer, and more open, than the test development process.

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