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School testing experts stress soundness of latest state scores
by Tim Pugmire, Minnesota Public Radio
May 19, 2004

Patricia Olson, assistant commissioner for accountability and improvement, says the department has added technical advisors and quality control procedures to prevent another testing error. (MPR Photo/Tim Pugmire)

State education officials say the third and fifth grade test scores in reading and math showed slight gains this year, and they're confident these results are accurate. The Minnesota Department of Education released scores Wednesday from latest round of the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments. Earlier this year, the department discovered the 2003 tests had been wrongly scored.

Roseville, Minn. — Testing experts with Minnesota Department of Education say they're certain they got it right this time. Back in March, they were explaining how some miscalculations had inflated the scores of the 2003 Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments, or MCAs. The error made last year's scores look better than they really were.

Patricia Olson, assistant commissioner for accountability and improvement, says the department has since added new technical advisors and quality control procedures to prevent another error.

"We're very concerned about quality, not only of our data, but of everything that comes out of the department," Olson said. "We want you to have faith that our results are accurate, and we also want to provide information for the public, the parents, the teachers, to be able to use the data to continue to improve the instruction for the students in the state."

The department released results from this year's third and fifth grade testing, as well as corrected results from 2003. Overall, the results show little change. About three-quarters of the students in both grades scored at or above the proficiency mark on the reading and math tests. There are no passing or failing scores. Scores fall into one of five achievement levels. But average scores continue to climb on all four tests. The biggest improvement came in third grade reading, where the average score jumped 23 points.

	Tim Vansickle

Tim Vansickle, statewide testing director, says the results have been following a predictable upward path since the tests began in 1998.

"If you look at norm-referenced scores, or ACT scores, or a lot of things that schools do, you expect that as people get to understand what's expected of them they will teach to those things and do a better job," Vansickle said. "And if we're assessing it correctly, we should see students grow. How much is usually a matter of how quickly curriculums are put in place and things of that nature."

The department also released first-year results from new seventh grade reading and math tests. Those scores show about two-thirds of students scoring at or above the proficiency level. Results from new 10th and 11th grade tests are expected next month.

The MCAs were designed to measure student progress toward meeting state standards, specifically the Profile of Learning standards that lawmakers repealed a year ago. New reading and math requirements are now in place in schools, but the tests won't catch up to those standards for two years.

Jim Angermeyr, director of research and evaluation in the Bloomington school district, says the switch will affect test results.

"We're in this time of kind of constant evolution and change, which makes it difficult to study trends and patterns, which is what testing should be all about," Angermeyr said. "So, how to reconcile changes and the differences that causes with stability and trends is going to be a real challenge for the state and for the schools."

State officials use the MCA scores of student subgroups to identify schools not meeting the adequate yearly progress requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind law. The law requires schools to bring all students to proficiency levels by 2014. Minnesota's current proficiency level is a test score of 1420. Last year, 144 schools failed to meet performance goals. The analysis of subgroup scores comes later this summer. A revised list of under-performing schools comes out in August.

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