Common standards, measures

By The Gazette Editorial Board

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Iowa, like every other state, is obliged to assess the proficiency of its students as part of the federal No Child Left Behind Act requirements. Every year, the percentage of students who test as “proficient” is supposed to increase, reaching 100 percent by 2014.

That goal is impossible, in part because of how the law is structured and some of its counterproductive sanctions. Congress needs to craft tough but realistic revisions.

Just as concerning is what passes as proficient in Iowa. We see a need for change.

Under the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act - the last reauthorization of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 - each state had latitude in determining what is proficient and establishing its own assessment tests.

Iowa's assessments have relied on the Iowa Tests of Educational Development (ITED) and Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS). Most states once used the Iowa tests, but few do now to meet the NCLB accountability rules.

After NCLB became the law of the land, Iowa education officials determined what student achievement levels should be deemed proficient, based on historical data from within the state. As it turned out, it's 41 on a percentile basis where 99 is the highest. Raw scores (correct answers) from the ITED and ITBS tests are converted into standard scores and the percentile ranking. An 11th-grade student, for example, must answer 23 of 44 questions correctly to be designated as proficient in reading comprehension.

Is that a good measure, a high enough standard?

“Being designated as proficient is not the same as being college- or career-ready,” Cathy Welch of the Iowa Testing Programs told us.

Other evidence supports that statement.

Consider the National Assessment for Educational Progress, the respected and largest continuing measure of student progress nationwide. Same standards and tests for everyone.

The 2009 NAEP results show the percentage of Iowa students in fourth and eighth grades who were proficient in math and reading ranged from 32 to 41 percent - roughly half as many compared to Iowa's testing results.

Widely used ACT college-entrance exams show Iowa seniors still rank high compared to other states, yet only 30 percent of 2010 graduates who took the ACT met college-ready benchmarks.

All of which casts doubt. How well are our students really doing?

Some changes in assessment and standards are being studied or are in the works.

Iowa Testing Programs and the state's largest school districts, including Cedar Rapids, recently conducted a pilot study to examine other ways of assessing student progress.

Education officials last year approved Iowa's first-ever core state standards in English language arts and math. However, assessments need to be developed, even as resistance to statewide standards lingers among some legislators.

We support implementing strong statewide achievement standards for our schools. But they must effectively measure what our children need to learn to be successful. Iowans must have a clear understanding of how our children's education level stacks up not only nationally but on the increasingly competitive world stage.

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