Since I posted
my blog yesterday on the growing evidence of state test score inflation -- and the inherently invalid claims from NYSED and the media of actual increases in student achievement:
- Articles today in the NY
Daily News and NY
Post about the drops in the raw scores on the NY exams needed for proficiency.
- NYSAPE just released its analysis of this issue which is somewhat clearer
than mine here: Link
to Press Release
- In a comment
on my blog, Andrea Gabor points out that comparing the test results last
year to this is like comparing rotten apples to rotten oranges.
- Diane Ravitch provides a succinct summary and concludes: "These are serious charges. It is now the responsibility of Commissioner
Elia, the Board of Regents, and the State Education Department to
demonstrate the validity and integrity of the tests."
Meanwhile,
Chalkbeat attributes the
(highly
dubious) gains at least in part to the expansion of charter schools and the
Common Core – no doubt Bill Gates’ favorite explanations as well.
(Be sure to read the comment about Success
charters below the piece.)
Then check out the difference between NYSED's discussion in 2015 and 2016 of this process of equating raw
scores to different proficiency levels:
Q3: Why did the raw scores change?
A:The raw scores that map to each of the scale
score cut scores change almost on a yearly basis. See
the "Raw Score to Scale Score Conversion
Charts" at http://www.p12.nysed.gov/irs/ela-math. These
charts are available back to 2006.
Q4: How did the raw scores change in 2015?
A:On the 2015 tests, year-to-year raw score change
is for Level 3 were small and varied by grade.
Raw scores went down slightly on 5 tests (indicating
slightly harder tests in 2015 compared to 2014
for Grade 6 ELA and Grades 4, 5, 6, and 7 Math) and
went slightly up on 5 tests (indicating slightly
easier tests in 2015 compared to 2014 for Grades 3,
5, and 7 ELA and Grades 3 and 8 math). Raw
scores stayed the same on two tests (Grades 4 and 8
ELA)
In 2014 NYSED had posted a similar discussion of equating, including this info:
Q4: How did the raw scores change in 2014?
A: On the 2014 tests, year-to-year raw
score changes for Level 3 were small and varied by grade. Raw scores
went down slightly on 6 tests (indicating slightly harder tests in 2014
compared to 2013 for Grades 3, 4, and 7 ELA and Grades 3, 5, and 6
Math) and went slightly up on 4 tests (indicating slightly easier tests
in 2014 compared to 2013 for Grades 5 and 6 ELA and Grades 4 and 7
math). Raw scores stayed the same on two tests (Grade 8 ELA and Grade 8
Math).
Q3: Why did the raw scores change?
A:The raw scores that map to each of the scale
score cut scores often change with each subsequent
test administration. See the "Raw Score to
Scale Score Conversion Charts" at http://www.p12.nysed.gov/irs/ela-math
The number of raw points necessary to achieve each performance
level change due to several factors. These factors include equating and changes
in number of raw points available on each test. For instance, the total number
raw scores for ELA and Mathematics went down this year in all grades due to the
shortening of the tests (i.e., removal of one reading passage and items).
That was it. Unlike 2014 and 2015, there was no Q4 or answer this
year because unlike past years, they couldn’t
say in five tests the raw scores went up and five down OR six vs four tests, etc.
Instead they would have to admit that in 11 out of 12 exams, not only the total
raw scores but the PERCENT of raw score points out of the total
fell for proficiency. And this despite the other changes, including the tests being shorter and untimed, which all things being equal would make it likely that the percent of right answers would go up not down.
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