From Deseret News archives:
Racial gap big in test data
Utah's overall results obscure poor scores by most minorities
"At each target grade, Utah students performed above the national average in all of the test content subjects," says the State Office of Education's summary on Iowa Test performance. An analysis includes information on subjects in which students test higher or lower than others and other tidbits.
But neither mentions an achievement gap between whites and ethnic minority students, as later pages of data play out.
Composite results of African-American, Hispanic, American Indian and Pacific Islanders in grades tested were almost all below the national mean score of 50, with some in the mid-30s range and a few showings just above the mean.
White students, on the other hand, scored between the 61st and 68th percentiles — high above the national mean. And Asian students had composite scores between the 63rd and 68th percentiles.
With ethnicity data categorizing about 81 percent of test-takers as white, that group's showing helps boost the state's overall composite scores of 65 in third grade, 63 in fifth grade, 58 in eighth grade and 59 in 11th grade.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Patti Harrington says the state's report is appropriate and transparent.
Achievement gaps weren't part of the analysis because they are so obvious elsewhere in the report, and "there was no need to comment or give further analysis on it," state assessment director Judy Park said.
"But (the achievement gap) is troubling, and I think we see this clear pattern on all our assessments," Park said. "I think people are focused around it . . . I think the state, as with many places in the country, is trying to determine the best ways to improve instruction or do things in a way that will better meet the needs of all our students."
Achievement gaps have been spotlighted in recent years under the national No Child Left Behind program and state test reporting requirements. The idea is to not let the high performance of one group mask lower performance of another that needs extra help.
"When you talk about accountability, you have to have the information available, and it has to be reported as such; otherwise, it's misleading to say 'our state is doing very well' and let's not talk about those kids being left behind," said Rep. Duane Bourdeaux, D-Salt Lake, who has championed state accountability for low-performing student groups. "When you peel off the layers, the devil's in the details."
