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Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Watch for the Spin Cycle
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Of all the information school districts report to the public, test scores may be the easiest to spin. School officials can present the scores relative to the state average or relative to district scores in previous years, depending on which puts the numbers in a more favorable light.
A case in point:
Atlanta Public School officials recently trumpeted what they called “significant improvement” on the state’s writing test. Last school year, 88 percent of 11th-grade students passed the test - required for graduation - on their first attempt, compared with 84 percent in 2003. Superintendent Beverly Hall featured the news in her speech during a school board meeting, televised on local public television. She noted that the score was the highest in the 12-year history of the exam.
True, but … in reality, the district has just made up for ground lost the last few years. In 2000, the district had a passing rate of 87 percent, which fell to 84 percent in 2001 and 83 percent in 2002. Since 1997, the passing rate among first-time test takers has remained relatively steady, between 83 and 88 percent.
Not to take away from Atlanta Public Schools and the teachers who work with their students and their writing skills, but success on the state’s writing test is not necessarily something to hold a pep rally over.
Statewide, 94 percent of juniors breezed through the writing test on the first try. In Fulton County, 96 percent passed. In DeKalb County, 91 percent passed. In other words, this test is not exactly a brain twister. It’s designed to determine whether students have the writing skills needed to focus on a topic and develop ideas in a persuasive essay.
Not that writing skills aren’t important. Starting this spring, the SAT will add an essay component.
(Paul Donsky, our Atlanta Public Schools reporter, contributed to this blog entry.)
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