Schools Await Stanford 9 Scores, Testily

As Ventura County schools prepare for the release of Stanford 9 test results today, the debate continues over how useful the scores are in measuring real improvement in learning.

The standardized test, the key component of the state’s school-accountability program, was given to students in grades 2 through 11 for the fourth year last spring.

In past years, the results have shown local schools outperforming their peers statewide, and parents can expect to see a continuation of that trend today, predicted Ventura County Supt. of Schools Chuck Weis.

“We have every reason to believe they will do it this year as well,” he said.

Even so, Weis and other educators warned parents against putting too much emphasis on a single factor when judging student or school performance.

The Stanford 9 is a national test surveying reading, math and language skills. Those in certain grades take additional exams in spelling, science and history/social science.

“It’s just one thin slice of what kids learn in school, though unfortunately that slice is becoming larger,” Weis said. “Because people want to do well on the test, they are narrowing the focus of curriculum to things that are on the test.”

California education officials, however, say they are working toward improving the system.

This year, for the first time, results from English and language arts tests, based on what children are expected to know at their grade level, will be released along with Stanford 9 scores. Included today will be results from the first year of writing samples from fourth- and seventh-graders statewide.

The additional tests should give a more accurate indication of how well Ventura County’s teachers are adhering to the state-mandated standards.

“It’s an important step in the right direction,” Weis said.

Still, for one more year, the Stanford 9 results will remain the only basis for the Academic Performance Index, the state’s public ranking of schools. That ranking can mean rewards for schools high on the list, and sanctions, including reassignment of teachers and principals, for those that do not make adequate gains in scores. The API is due out in October.

Alicia Reynolds, an English teacher at Oxnard High School, is among many teachers who don’t believe one standardized test can accurately reflect the quality of classroom instruction. That’s especially true, she said, when the results are being used to make high-stakes decisions.

“There are many ways people can express their ability, intelligence and knowledge of a particular subject other than what can be measured on a multiple-choice test,” Reynolds said. “As long as people completely rely on outside tools that do not require a personal investment of time, they’re going to be misled.”

Recent research supports those who say scores don’t tell the whole story.

Sometimes, “what you’re seeing is artificial improvement,” said Robert Linn of the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing at UCLA.

Studies there show that on basic skills tests, scores gradually improve over time; but when students are given a new format of the test, scores drop, even though the material is identical.

Problems exist not only with the test itself, but with the way the scores are reported, educators and researchers say. Comparing how third-graders did on the test this year with how third-graders did last year, for instance, is not measuring the same group of students.

Los Angeles Unified School District officials are tracking the scores of each individual student, but a similar system won’t be available in Ventura County for another two to three years, Weis said.

“Right now it’s like a proxy for growth,” Weis said. “It’s fairly accurate, but it’s not perfect.”

In at least one Ventura County school district, however, the test scores are reflecting what officials are finding in their own, nonstandardized assessments of progress.

“I am seeing some real improvement,” said Barbara Wagner, an assistant superintendent in Camarillo’s Pleasant Valley Elementary School District. “Looking at all of this stuff . . . it’s pretty hard to say [the tests] don’t make a difference.”