Steep drop in 10th-grade scores may be an anomaly, official says
By Ed Nadolski
Editor in chief
Dragged down by relatively poor scores posted by 10th-graders, the Burlington Area School District took a major step backward in performance on statewide assessment tests administered last fall.
However, those scores appear to be more of an anomaly than a trend, according to Connie Zinnen, BASD’s assistant superintendent of instructional services.
“I don’t want to give the impression that we’re aloof – certainly we’re concerned whenever scores go down,” Zinnen said. “But we really need to look at it over time.”
And by that measure, BASD’s scores had been rising steadily over the previous three years. That trend, however, hit a major pothole this school year with an overall decline that can be almost entirely attributed to the 10th-grade scores.
Information released last week by the state Department of Public Instruction shows the district’s composite average of students rated advanced or proficient in five subject areas at grades four, eight and 10 fell nearly five percentage points from 82.7 percent in 2010 to 77.8 percent in 2011.
The drop drags the district’s percentage back to near the state average (77.6) and ends three years of steady gains. However, because the composite average looks at just three grade levels, the drop is not indicative of the performance throughout the district, according to Zinnen.
Dragged down
While scores on the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exams (WKCE) at the fourth- and eighth-grade levels remained fairly constant (dropping about a half percentage point across all five subjects at each grade) from 2010 to 2011, the scores posted by sophomores at Burlington High School took a major nosedive – and took the district’s average down with it.
The percentage of students rated advanced or proficient in 10th grade fell by double digits in all but one of the five subject areas tested – reading, language, math, science and social studies. The average decline across those five subjects was 13.7 percentage points. The five-subject average this past fall was 77.8, compared to 82.7 in 2010.
The performance by the local 10th-graders lagged behind the statewide average in all five subject areas. Among the local sophomores, 66.8 percent were rated as advanced or proficient compared to the state average of 73.5.
So why did the 10th-grade scores fall so drastically in one year’s time?
“That’s certainly a question we’ve been asking the past week,” Zinnen said of the district’s staff. “There have been no curriculum changes at that level and there were no schedule changes – two constants that haven’t changed.
“I can’t answer that (question) until we drill down a little farther,” she added.
Test burnout
Zinnen speculated that 10th-graders might have been suffering from standardized test burnout to a certain degree since they had taken the PLAN test a week earlier.
The PLAN is the second of three tests that are part of the ACT testing progression used to gauge college readiness. The district now offers the EXPLORE test to eighth-graders and the PLAN test to 10th-graders in preparation for the ACT test taken by juniors and seniors in high school.
The PLAN had been offered as an option in past years, but this was the first year it was given to all the 10th-graders at district expense.
“A lot of emphasis had been placed on the PLAN and I think the kids took it very seriously,” Zinnen said. “That doesn’t mean they didn’t take the WKCE seriously, but perhaps there was a sense that there wasn’t as much importance placed on that.”
Zinnen also said the drop in the 10th-grade scores seems to support the district’s reasoning to switch to a more traditional seven-hour schedule rather than the current block schedule offered at the high school.
In arguing for the schedule change – which will be in place for the 2012-13 school year, administrators said a traditional schedule will eliminate gaps in schedules that led to students going without a core subject such as math for as long as a year.
“I think it substantiates to some degree the change in our schedule,” Zinnen said. “I do think consistent core curriculum for kids will make a difference (in test scores).”
Under the current block schedule – which allows students to take a traditional yearlong course in a single semester – gaps in continuity within certain subjects were common, which could impact test scores in those subjects depending on the timing of the standardized exam.
Zinnen said only time will tell if those gaps were impacting Burlington’s test performance among 10th-graders.
Other scores steady
Zinnen said it is unfortunate that the decline in 10th-grade scores overshadowed relatively steady efforts at the fourth- and eighth-grade levels.
Eighth-graders scored higher in three of the five subject areas. Increases of 3 and 2.5 percentage points in math and science, respectively, helped offset a nearly 8-point drop in reading scores.
At the fourth-grade level, reading and science scores were up slightly and language, math and social studies scores were down slightly. In all cases the increases or decrease were less than 2 percentage points, which is statistically insignificant, according to Zinnen.
“There are some bright spots, but for the most part scores are steady,” she said.
Next fall will be the last time the state will give the WKCE test. It will be scrapped in favor of a new standardized test that is currently in development, Zinnen said.
She added that the district has shifted its focus toward the EXPLORE, PLAN and ACT family of tests because it provides more timely results that can impact curriculum in the current school year and help administrators identify when students have gotten off target.
Because WKCE tests results are not released until April, it makes it difficult for administrators to make effective changes.
Zinnen said she hopes the state’s new test will address that concern.
“Hopefully it will be a positive impact on student achievement,” she said.
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