The Education Gadfly Weekly

G. Gage Kingsbury, Allan Olson, John Cronin, Carl Hauser, and Ron Houser, Northwest Evaluation Association
January, 2004

This report is so interesting, we'll overlook the fact that it cribs the titles of two previous Fordham reports, in 1998 (http://www.edexcellence.net/detail/news.cfm?news_id=25) and 2000 (http://www.edexcellence.net/detail/news.cfm?news_id=24). This time, however, the title is somewhat misleading, since this report deals not with state academic standards but with the widely varying ways in which 14 states, mostly in the Pacific Northwest, calculate Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). The researchers developed a common measurement scale across these 14 states by giving at least 1,000 students in each grade a Northwest Evaluation Association-developed test alongside the state's official assessment. The study then compares where the state sets the "cut score" for its own assessment, which determines whether students are making AYP. As expected, cut scores are all over the map, meaning that students with roughly equal skill levels can be labeled failing or proficient depending on where they live. Other peculiarities abound: in Arizona, for example, the math proficiency level is set at the 46th percentile in the fourth grade but the 75th in the eighth grade, meaning that large numbers of students will be labeled proficient in elementary school and failing in middle school. The study falls short of making recommendations on how to fix these anomalies, but does suggest that this problem deserves fuller attention. We agree. Find it at http://www.young-roehr.com/nwea/.