Kennewick School Board Meeting September 22, 2010
Board member Heather Kintzley was absent.
• The Kamiakin High School Dance Team requested a waiver of district travel policy to participate in a national competition next February. After a half hour of discussion Dawn Adams offered to rewrite district policy to permit the team’s travel. The revision will be considered during the next board workshop meeting September 29 at 5:30.
• A liquor license request for the Spare Time cafe at the casino on Garfield Street will be studied with action to be taken at a future board meeting.
• Results of spring 2010 WASL, MSP, MAP and HSPE tests were reported by superintendent Dave Bond. Volatility of the state tests renders results unhelpful. See details below.
• Bev Johnson-Torelli presented the first reading of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration policy 5352 which applies to district bus drivers. This policy establishes no tolerance for alcohol or drug use including prescription medications by transportation workers. The board passed acceptance of the policy.
Test Results -
Bond’s report was detailed with specific examples for reading, math, writing and science tests in grades 3 through 10. The MSP (Measures of Student Performance) is the revised state test replacing the WASL. Comparing MSP scores with MAP scores which have a longer record of measuring Kennewick students’ progress illustrated the “unusual volatility” of the MSP. District scores almost universally showed declines as much as 14 points from the previous year.
Discussion centered on what might cause such declines in student scores. Bond commented state Superintendent Randy Dorn had assured districts the new tests would be the same as the previous ones in terms of difficulty for each subject and grade level. Bond’s analysis showed, however, the state tests were not reliable when compared with MAP tests.
Kennewick’s return to more traditional math instruction with new math curriculum in grades K-10 could be a factor in lower MSP scores but did not appear to have changed progress measured by the MAP.
Given that this year’s sophomores (class of 2013) must pass the math and science MSP to graduate Bond concluded Washington State has a problem. Parents will not accept large numbers of students not graduating.
Board member Wendy London asked if KSD can have confidence in MSP scores when making decisions affecting curriculum and instruction.
Bond raised the issue of basing teacher evaluations on standardized test scores which show such volatility.
Dave Bond’s comment regarding the comparison of MSP to MAP scores caused me to contact OSPI and ask how the MSP compares to the MAP. Here is my response:
Hi Bob:
It doesn’t. The MAP isn’t aligned to our state learning standards, and we don’t know how they set their scores. They work with individual districts and not the state, so we have no basis for comparison.
Regards,
Chris Barron
I think what I comes down to is the KSD has been teaching to the MAP (and its very narrow range of EALRS) for several years and student scores have gone up artificially. This also happened with the WASL in Kennewick and almost every place in the state. This is not uncommon. The old standardized tests such as the CTBS and CAT had to be renormed every few years because scores went up across the nation and the test would no longer discriminate. What has happened with the MSP is the students are being tested against a somewhat different set of EALRS and it will take awhile for districts to figure out how to “game” the test.
The important thing here is that these tests, whether we are talking about the WASL, MAP, MSP, or CTBS, only look at a very narrow range of outcomes, and are never a true measure of what children have learned. Basing any kind of decision regarding a child’s future on the scores on one of these tests is close to educational malpractice. The testing companies always put this disclaimer in their technical manuals supporting their tests. It is universally ignored by legislators, state boards of education, and local officials.
I can hardly wait for the high school results!