State office is developing new student progress test

Confused as to whether your child's school really is doing a good job?

Feel like No Child Left Behind reports aren't helping?

The State Office of Education believes it has found a way to pinpoint which schools are doing an acceptable job, and which aren't. And it will all be based on how much students are growing, academically; not whether everyone posts a certain test score.

The trouble is, the plan isn't quite all there, even though the legal deadline is falling. State testing director Judy Park says she needs more data to determine how much growth is acceptable and can't identify which schools are up to snuff until 2007. The law calls for that now.

And Salt Lake City Superintendent McKell Withers notes the plan pays no special attention to performance of ethnic minorities, low-income students and others typically considered at-risk for academic struggles when weighing whether schools get a star or an ink smudge on public reports.

"Any attempt to include student growth (in a school accountability plan) will be a positive thing," Withers told the State Board of Education Friday. "The dilemma is . . . should a school be able to hide an under-performing group?"

The 2000 Utah Performance Assessment System for Students includes a series of tests, including core curriculum tests, high school graduation tests and writing exams (see chart.)

It also requires the state to use test scores and other information to pinpoint schools needing help.

State officials have convened several task forces and consulted educators to hammer out a plan. The plan, available online at www.usoe.org, received the state board's blessing Friday.

The state wants to look at test scores, attendance, graduation rates, and test participation (95 percent required) to say whether schools are up to snuff. Test scores will carry the most weight; some, such as high school language arts, more than others.

Schools will get points for certain levels of student progress.

But the state is still working on a formula for that. First, Park says, it needs more than one year's worth of test scores to create a realistic model that's not just pulled out of the air. Also, other schools still are being brought online, delaying full implementation to 2007.