Students making progress with CATS
By TOM BERRY
Staff Writer
Despite some confusion created by the change in the way the annual Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS) is measured, both Calloway County and Murray Independent School officials are commending students for making progress toward academic proficiency.
Newly-released scores in reading, math, science, social studies, arts and humanities, practical living and vocational studies and writing through the 2007 CATS assessment and the Kentucky Core Contents Test (KCCT) taken by students in April show satisfactory improvement in most areas with some improvement needed in others.
All schools across the state have a state-mandated goal to obtain a 100-point “proficiency” level by 2014 with annual and biannual scores hopefully reflecting progress toward that goal.
Below are the listed scores for Calloway County students, according to the Kentucky Department of Education:
- East Calloway Elementary: reading, 94.5; math, 90.9; science, 88.8; social studies, 92.6; arts and humanities, 95; practical living and vocational studies, 70.9; writing, 90.3 for a total academic index of 90.8. the “non-adjusted accountability index was set at 90.9 and the adjusted index was set at 87.3
- North Calloway Elementary: reading, 98.9; math, 99.5; science, 98.3; social studies, 98.9; arts and humanities, 89.3; practical living and vocational studies, 96.9; writing, 98.5 for a total academic index of 98.4. The “non-adjusted accountability index was set at 98.3 and the adjusted index was set at 94.3.
-Southwest Calloway Elementary: reading, 106.5; math, 102.7; science, 109.6; social studies, 84.9; arts and humanities, 81.8; practical living and vocational studies, 94.3; writing, 92.1 for a total academic index of 98.9. The “non-adjusted accountability index was set at 98.9 and the adjusted index was set at 95.1.
- Calloway County Middle School: reading, 93.5; math, 76.8; science, 96 ; social studies, 82; arts and humanities, 99.3; practical living and vocational studies, 89.4; writing, 79 for a total academic index of 86.7. The “non-adjusted accountability index was set at 87.1 and the adjusted index was set at 80.
-Calloway County High School: reading, 84.6 ; math, 77.1; science, 83.3; social studies, 80.2 ; arts and humanities, 96.3; practical living and vocational studies, 89.1; writing, 66.7 for a total academic index of 80.8. The “non-adjusted accountability index was set at 82.4 and the adjusted index was set at 82.8.
Calloway Superintendent Steve Hoskins says he is very pleased with students' “raw scores.”
“Although it is difficult to appreciate any method of adjustment that reduces scores, it is clear that our entire district is gaining on the goal of 100 by 2014,” Hoskins said. “We plan to use our first day after fall break to assist our faculty in analyzing the unadjusted test scores in order to identify trends or gaps in population sub-groups. By adapting our instructional strategies, we hope to continue to improve our methods of teaching and to assist our students in achieving their goals.”
District Assessment Coordinator Randy McCallon also commended parent and community support for success with CATS.
“With assistance from parents and community involvement, our elementary scores show a nice move forward in all content areas. Most elementary scores are in the 90s or above with the highest score in the district - a 109.6 in science - belonging to Southwest Elementary,” McCallon said. “Calloway County Middle School also showed excellent progress in most of the core content areas. The faculty there will continue to emphasize reading, writing and math skills during this school year.”
According to a news release from Sherry Purdom, public information officer for Murray Independent Schools, the release of updated and re-designed CATS test scores show that MISD's overall accountability index of 91.3 is evidence that the district maintains leading rankings among the top-performing schools in the region and state.
The overall adjusted academic index composites of MHS 88.3 and MMS 92.5 reflect that each have exceeded their 2008 combined academic index goals of 81.1 (MHS) and 91.9 (MMS), while making steady progress in achieving proficiency for all students on or before 2014.
“We know the steps we take with the students in the next seven years are critical to meet and exceed that goal,” said Eleanor Mills Spry, MISD assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction.
Scores for Murray Independent schools reported by the KDE were :
-Murray Elementary School: reading, 99.6; math, 97.7; science, 109.3; social studies, 75.5; arts and humanities, 81.4; practical living and vocational studies, 93.4; writing, 87.6 for a total academic index of 94. The “non-adjusted” accountability index was set at 94.1. The adjusted score was not available.
-Murray Middle School (combined with MES scores): reading, 101.1; math, 101.1; science, 102.7; social studies, 102.5; arts and humanities, 101; practical living and vocational studies, 95.4; writing, 91.4 for a total academic index of 99.7. The “non-adjusted” accountability index was set at 99.7. The adjusted score was reported at 92.5
-Murray High School: reading, 93.3; math, 76.5; science, 84.7; social studies, 84.2; arts and humanities, 93.8; practical living and vocational studies, 93.1; writing, 77.4 for a total academic index of 85. The “non-adjusted” accountability index was set at 86.4. The adjusted score was reported at 88.3.
Last year, MISD was listed 16th of the 175 Kentucky school districts taking CATS and KCCT with a combined district average of 91.3.
Spry said this year's adjusted scores reported for all Kentucky districts and schools are designed to correlate with changes in assessment that bring the state into full compliance with the mandated No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requirements as well as the KCCT testing changes.
“The new core content for assessment is designed to provide depth for instruction and assessment rather than assessing a wide array of concepts with little extension or enrichment,” she said.
MISD Superintendent Bob Rogers said the tests had to be aligned with the standards that Kentucky had set for each subject and level.
“State law requires including a Norm Referenced Test at the high school level in 2007, that being the addition of the 2007 PLAN test scores,” he said. “Because the scores were added and changes were made in the accountability content weights, the state developed a concordance table to link the previous scores with the 2007 scores.”
Spry said each year the MISD recognizes the hard work and commitment of the faculty, students, parents, and volunteers who give above and beyond to reach the district's goal.
“This translates into academic success for all,” she said. We want to ensure that we are providing a depth of knowledge to our students while cultivating critical and productive thinking skills as our students become lifelong learners in the global workforce.”
Rogers said with the adjustments and concordances the MISD mission remains.
“We continue to evidence the tradition of excellence for all our students.”
According to a news release from David Dowdy, public information coordinator for Calloway County Schools, several changes have been made in the content area priorities and new cut scores for student performance measured in all categories. Dowdy aid KDE has developed a concordance to bridge the current performance to the past system.
“Both the unadjusted test scores and the adjusted accountability index are being reported to the public,” Dowdy said. “KDE suggests using the unadjusted test scores to measure the distance to the goal of 100. The adjusted accountability index may used for comparison to the 2006 score.”
McCallon said an ongoing assessment of students using the MAP testing program helps instructors gauge the progress of each individual.
“By identifying a need and then applying assets such as the ‘Read to Achieve' program, Extended School Services and the Title One program, we are seeing positive results for all our students,” McCallon said.
“It's an exciting time to be involved with education in Calloway County. We expect our students to reap the benefits of academic progress, outstanding athletic and extra-curricular programs, and the support of our community as they learn and grow and make us all proud.”
According to a news release from KDE officials: “Concordance tables are a stable and valid way to link scores from different assessments, with the most well known use of the tables being the linkage of scores from the ACT and the SAT. We believe that this process will provide a smooth transition with little effect on district and school level scores. It also will maintain individual student scores, so that parents' experiences with score reports will change little.”
According to an Associated Press report, test results show most Kentucky students scored well in reading. Most of the 428,543 students who took the reading portion of the test scored either “proficient” or “distinguished,” the highest ratings awarded.
“Kentucky has placed special attention on reading for the last few years, and the results of that attention are shown in these scores,” said Lisa Gross, spokeswoman for the KDE. “We know if students are well-grounded in reading, the chances are they'll do well in other subjects as well.”
Of the elementary students tested in reading, 72 percent scored in proficient and distinguished ranges, 21.5 percent at the apprentice level and 5.8 percent at novice. Among middle school students, 66.3 percent were at the proficient or distinguished levels in reading, 27.9 percent were apprentice and 5.8 percent novice. At the high school level, 60.1 percent of students were proficient or distinguished in reading, 34.9 percent were apprentice and 5 percent novice.
Brad Hughes, spokesman for the Kentucky School Boards Association (KSBA) said the scores are key because reading is a crucial subject.
“Ask any teacher at any grade level,” he said, “The better a child can read, the better a child is going to be able to master concepts in any subject area.”
Gross said the results are encouraging considering the academic goals the state wants to meet. The goals include reaching proficiency in the subjects measured by the Kentucky Core Content Test (KCCT).
“You can see there are a number of schools at that point or close to that point,” she said.
In math and science, most elementary and middle school students tested proficient or distinguished. However only 39.3 percent of high school students scored proficient or distinguished in math and 41.7 percent in science.
“That's clearly an area at the upper grades that Kentucky schools have to produce better results in,” Hughes said.
KDE officials say the changes will not significantly help or hurt schools in reaching goals, but some educators critical of the state's handling of federal No Child Left Behind data reportedly disapprove of implemented changes to CATS.
The changes supposedly would not allow accurate comparisons to last year's scores so the state assigned schools “adjusted” scores. The “adjusted” scores were calculated using a statistical model that ranked schools on the basis of their performance using a statewide average to link 2006 to 2007. Much as in the use of a bell curve, schools with the lowest scores should be given a bump up and the highest-achieving schools should be pulled down, ultimately drawing more schools toward the middle of the scale, according to the report. However this year and next year, schools will be judged on their adjusted scores.
Story created Oct 02, 2007 - 12:37:21 EDT.
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