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More city schools exceed averages on state standardized tests
Wednesday, November 24, 1999 By Eleanor Chute and Carmen J. Lee, Post-Gazette Education Writers
Three years after it became possible to compare state test scores, the statewide average scores still are mostly stagnant.
"The status quo of anything is really hard to move. It's like turning a battleship," said Susan Brookhart, associate professor of education at Duquesne University. "You wouldn't really expect this [statewide] to move much quickly. You certainly would hope it would gradually rise over time. I would consider this a medium amount of time."
The state Department of Education yesterday released the latest reading and math results of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, which was given in February and March to pupils in fifth, eighth and 11th grades.
The tests results are scored on a scale ranging from a minimum of 1,000 to a maximum of 1,600.
The 1998-99 results show the state average was 1,300, the same as it was in 1995-96, except for fifth- and eighth-grade reading for which the average went up to 1,310.
According to the latest round of testing, a greater number of city schools met or exceeded the state average than did in 1995-1996. The test results showed 15 city schools exceeded the state averages, compared with seven city schools three years ago.
Among suburban school districts, 129 schools exceeded state standards, compared with 135 schools in 1995-96.
Brookhart cautioned against reading too much into test results, noting they are just one measurement of student achievement and they don't explain any of the causes or issues behind the results.
"All you can say [about the statewide average] is the achievement level is roughly the same. It doesn't give you anything about why or against what conditions," she said. "Any one indicator is not enough to make judgments."
William Cooley, professor emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh, sees the tests as measuring only a limited amount of what children learn and said the results are influenced by the children's environment, including poverty.
"I don't think that test is going to give us much information about whether education is getting better or not in the state as a whole," he said.
Dan Langan, spokesman for the state Department of Education, acknowledged the results are stable but said, "It's important to recognize that once this test is fully evolved into one completely aligned with the standards, we will have a much better sense of not just how well a school scored but how proficient its students actually are."
The state Board of Education in 1998 established academic standards in math and reading for pupils in fifth, eighth and 11th grades. The state's standardized tests have changed over the years, with the version given in February and March being "virtually completely aligned with the state standards," Langan said.
The next round of tests will be administered in February and March 2000. The results of those tests will be the last to be compared with the state average that was established in 1995-1996.
After that, the state will establish proficiency levels, which have not yet been determined. But the state already is awarding performance incentive grants based on improvements in test scores.
Langan said that will make the test increasingly important.
"The [Pennsylvania System of School Assessment] remains one of the only devices available to the state to determine overall the academic progress of schools in the state," he said.
Over the years, some schools have seen their scores fluctuate.
One of the top performers is Edgeworth Elementary School in the Quaker Valley School District. Its scores on the last four tests in fifth-grade math started at 1,510, rose to 1,600, went down to 1,500 and returned to 1,600 in the latest results. It is the only school in Allegheny County to score 1,600 this round.
The state considers a change of 50 points in a school building's score to be significant.
Quaker Valley Assistant Superintendent Velma Saire said she doesn't see any significance in the changing scores.
"In a small school district, that can mean just a couple of students. It's not a great variation," she said. "I know we have a very strong elementary math program [Everyday Math], and these results really show that."
Quaker Valley is in its sixth year of Everyday Math.
Because of its improved tests scores, the school qualified for a $5,091 performance grant.
In the Pittsburgh Public Schools, Diane Briars, the district's assistant director for mathematics, said that the district's new math programs have helped boost scores in the fifth and eighth grades.
At the high school level, Briars attributed higher math test scores to increased emphasis on problem-solving and explaining how answers were achieved. Also, students have been working on problems similar to those given on the state test.
"We're very pleased that the trend is looking very good and that we're moving in the right direction," Briars said.
As for the cases in which schools' test scores declined significantly in both math and reading, Briars suggested that might have been a result of curriculum changes or school size. Schools with only 25 or 30 students per grade could have extreme variation in test results from year to year, she said.
Instances in which results improved in one subject but declined in another could be due to schools deciding to put more of an emphasis on one subject, Briars said.
The latest results throughout the county show a range of performance on the state test.
Mt. Lebanon and Upper St. Clair were the only school districts in which students in every building scored at least 1,400 -- 90 to 100 points above the state average -- on every exam in 1998-99.
The only districts to score below 1,200 -- more than 100 points below the state average -- on reading and math tests in all grade levels were Duquesne City, Sto-Rox and Aliquippa.
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