What
we don’t know can hurt us
ELA scores do not provide schools, teachers, parents, or students
critical information
How can so many people and organizations be wrong (Sen. Bob & State Board Member Joyce Rankin [i], The
Colorado Sun[ii],
Chalkbeat Colorado[iii], The Denver
Post[iv]
Colorado Children’s Campaign[v])
to say only 40% of our 3rd graders read at grade level? The
Colorado Department of Education says nothing of the kind. How did it come to
this—that English Language Arts scores are misused to call out problems with
reading instruction, the READ Act, and who knows what else?
The problems are
real, but let’s first be clear about the facts.
To serve our students well, we must ask: how well do they read? We also need to ask
(it is a separate skill, of course, and—as any teacher will tell you—a separate
content standard): how well do they write?
For over 15 years (1997-2014) Colorado schools and families received,
appropriately, two separate answers.
Now, however, the Colorado Department of Education says: we
only provide one answer, a score on the English Language Arts (ELA) assessment,
which tests both reading and writing skills.
In 2018 the state reported 40.4% of our 3rd graders Met or Exceeded Expectations on the ELA test. A fact, but one then misused to make the false claim that
only 40% of our youngest students read at
grade level.
First, a brief look back to … 2014. Here are the results from
that last year of the Transitional Colorado Assessment Program.* Remember the
gap we saw between the reading and writing scores?
Colorado – grades 3-5 - TCAP results on reading and writing – 2014
Grade 4
|
Grade 5
|
|||||||
reading
|
writing
|
gap
|
reading
|
writing
|
gap
|
reading
|
writing
|
gap
|
72
|
51
|
21
% pts
|
67
|
52
|
15
% pts
|
71
|
55
|
16
% pts
|
(*TCAP is Colorado’s standards-based assessment
designed to provide a picture of student performance to schools, districts,
educators, parents and the community. The primary purpose of the assessment
program is to determine the level at
which Colorado students meet the Colorado Model Content Standards in the
content areas assessed. [vi])
(Bold mine. Reading and writing in bold throughout, mine.)
Remember
those content standards? Remember when reading
was a content standard, as was writing? And we expected to see “the level at which
Colorado students” were meeting those standards?
But that was then. The shift to the
PARCC/CMAS assessments in 2015 has led to one
ELA score. Here are the 2018 results
for grades 3-5, showing the percentage of students who Met or Exceeded Expectations.
2018 CMAS English Language
Arts/Literacy
State Achievement Results*
Performance Levels
% Met Expectations
|
% Exceeded Expectations
|
% Met or Exceeded Expectations
|
|
Grade 3
|
36.7
|
3.7
|
40.4
|
Grade 4
|
35.6
|
10.4
|
46.1
|
Grade 5
|
41.9
|
5.5
|
47.4
|
English Language Arts scores fail to make any distinction
between students’ reading skills and
their writing skills. ELA scores thus
obscure what teachers know about their students, what most parents know about
their children, and what the state had made perfectly clear for 15 years: how
well a student reads is often
markedly different from how well he or she writes.
Unsatisfactory
|
Partially Proficient
|
Proficient
|
Advanced
|
Yes, on reading, CMAS shows parents and schools
a student’s performance on literary text,
information text, and vocabulary; for writing, on written
expression and knowledge and use of
language conventions. But it is a far cry from what parents, and teachers
like me, could look at 15 years ago—a page with Reading Overall Performance Level at the top, and one of four boxes
checked just below that, and then a breakdown of Reading
Diagnostic Scores by Content Standard and Subcontent Area. And another page
much like it on Writing Overall Performance Level.
One reason for this change, I believe, is because the Colorado
Department of Education has forgotten, or no longer believes, that these are two standards. It is a stunning shift,
and few realize the implications. It may be due to our ignorance of, or our inattention
to, changes made over the past several years. How it happened—and especially why
we are no longer told if our student/our child is meeting expectations in
reading and writing—is still a mystery to me.
In this two-part review, covering 1993-2018, I will at least
try to show when this happened.
1993 - 1995
It is 1993, the standards bill is signed by Governor Roy Romer, and
reading and writing come first.'
“Passed in 1993, House Bill 93-1313 initiated standards-based
education in Colorado. That law required the state to create standards in reading, writing, mathematics, science, history, civics, geography,
economics, art, music and physical education. The law also led to the Colorado
Student Assessment Program (CSAP) in 1996.” (Colorado Department of Higher
Education – “Colorado Academic Standards”)[vii]
State law (22-7-40) (1)(a) listed the “first
priority state model content standards as reading,
writing, mathematics, science,
history and geography.” There we read:
(2)
“Following adoption of the state model content standards by the board… the
council shall develop and recommend to the board state assessments in the areas
of reading, writing, mathematics, and science that are aligned with the state
model content standards … that… shall be administered statewide…”
Clear, yes? Standards in reading
and in writing. Assessments in reading and writing. Not a word about standards or assessments in English Language Arts.
By 1995 CDE had produced the Colorado
Model Content Standards for Reading and Writing. Adopted by the state board
7/13/95. I still have my (much annotated) 17-page copy; it was an essential
guide for me when I returned to the classroom to teach English, 2001-06. (More
on that in AV #193.)
1997- 1999
By 1997 the state had developed its first round of the
Colorado Statewide Assessment Program (CSAP), allowing us to see if our fourth
graders were meeting the standards in reading
and the standards in writing. The huge
gap was immediately apparent: over 55% proficient in reading, but less than 40% proficient in writing. The dramatic difference was telling, but we did not hide
it. Not back then.
Here are the results for the following year, showing the percentage
of students in each of the four scoring categories (Advanced, Proficient, Partially Proficient, and Unsatisfactory). Useful information for
schools and teachers eager to see which students were not yet proficient
in reading – and in writing.
Spring 1998 - 4th Grade CSAP Results
Unsatisfactory
|
Partially Proficient
|
Proficient
|
Advanced
|
Proficient or Advanced
|
No scores reported
|
|
Reading
|
10%
|
30%
|
51%
|
6%
|
57%
|
3%
|
Writing
|
21%
|
41%
|
30%
|
6%
|
36%
|
3%
|
from “The Road to High Achievement,”
Colorado Department of Education – 1999 (annual report)
By year three of CSAP the state was assessing both 4th
and 7th graders. The results
were presented as the top story on page one of The Denver Post (Sept. 30, 1999). This is what we read above the
fold[viii]:
Owens targets school ‘crisis’
Lagging
tests cores spark reform plans
Percentage
of students who scored as proficient or advanced in the Colorado Student
Assessment Program test
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The media examined the results on each of the two
disciplines and produced articles that reflected discussions taking place in
districts and schools. Reading results earned coverage about—yes, reading.
“Consider
the numbers:
·
1,146 in Aurora.
·
2,400 in Jefferson County.
·
Nearly 3,000 in Denver.
·
20,851 in Colorado.
“That is how many
fourth-grade students failed to meet standards on last spring’s statewide reading test.”
“Youths stalled in reading–Latest Colo. tests show skills lacking”
(The Denver Post, Oct. 1, 1998)
“Reading level falls in Aurora” (The
Denver Post, Oct. 1. 1998)
While the poor writing results were distressing, the data also brought much-needed attention to this content standard. Having taught writing in
three schools, I joined many in welcoming the new focus.
“Is the writing
on the wall?” (The Denver Post,
Commentary, Caroline Schomp, Nov. 15, 1997)
“ … what’s the message about writing? Why did Colorado children do
even worse at writing? … I have a theory
that there is a new generation of teachers who are uncomfortable with writing. Either they have not learned
writing or they have not exercised their own skills often enough to keep them
sharp. … The corollary to this is that it takes a lot more time and effort to
grade a writing assignment than it
does most other kinds of work.”
“Writing-test
scores show wide gender gap”
“Schools must
give boys more help, expert says” (Rocky
Mountain News, Sept. 30, 1999)
“Forty-two
percent of Colorado’s seventh grade girls passed the [CSAP] test [in Writing] last
spring compared to 28 percent of the boys.”
“Gender gap in
writing tests favors girls” (The
Denver Post, Sept. 30, 1999)
“We’re
seeing the same results in national tests, and we’re not sure why,” said Don
Watson, director of student assessment for the Colorado Department of
Education.
“We
don’t have the answer as to why this gap is a gap,” U.S. Sec. of Education
Richard Riley said. “We need to take the time to fully understand if there is
anything we can do about it.”
“Stress on writing
demands clarity” (The Denver Post,
July 26, 2001)
“‘We’ve
definitely increased our exposure to writing in all the other curriculum areas.
CSAP encouraged that and gave us focus,’ said David Minter, principal of
Parker’s Pine Grove Elementry in the Douglas County School District. ‘We’re
doing a much better job in social studies and, depending on the activity, even art,
music and PE are seeing more writing.
We’ve increased our entire staff’s sensitivity to writing.”
2000-2001
Even after the writing scores were rescaled, annual reports
continued to show large gaps in reading and
writing results. (From news report
published in 2004 and 2005[ix].)
COLORADO
|
Grade 4
|
Grade 7
|
||||
reading
|
writing
|
gap
|
reading
|
writing
|
gap
|
|
60
|
44
|
16 % pts
|
62
|
53
|
9 % pts
|
|
2001
|
63
|
46
|
17 % pts
|
63
|
52
|
11 % pts
|
New legislation expanded the state tests in reading, writing, and mathematics to all grades 3-10, and added science
assessments for 8th graders. Soon grades 5, 8, and 10 were tested on
the science standards. Four of the six “first priority content standards” were
now being assessed statewide.
NEXT WEEK – Part
2: 2002 to present. Responses from the Assessment Unit at the Colorado
Department of Education (2017). Back in the classroom (2001-2006) teaching English, where I had a first-hand view of the reading and writing standards and the state
assessments. Colorado Academic Standards (revision), Colorado Education Accountability Act, Common Core State Standards (2008-2010). Revisions in state assessments: PARCC/CMAS (2015-2018).
**
Endnotes
[i] Sen. Bob
Rankin - “We have to do
something,” said state Sen. Bob Rankin, a Carbondale Republican and a sponsor
of the legislation. “Sixty percent of our kids cannot read, at third grade, at
grade level, and it makes a difference in the rest of their schooling and then
their whole life.” https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/co/2019/03/19/colorado-legislation-read-act-revisited/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cb_topic_co_capitol_report
Joyce
Rankin, State Board Member -“With the
release of the 2018 Colorado test scores in English language arts, we found
that 40 percent of our third-graders are reading at or above grade level as
they exit the third grade.” https://www.vaildaily.com/opinion/rankin-only-40-percent-of-colorado-third-graders-are-reading-at-grade-level-column/
[ii] The Colorado
Sun (Jan. 28, 2019)–“Only 40 percent
of third graders in the state are reading at their grade level now, barely up
from the 38 percent who could do so four years ago.” https://coloradosun.com/2019/01/29/colorado-read-act-failing/
[iii] Chalkbeat
Colorado (March 1,
2019) "Roughly 60 percent of
third-graders in the state don’t read at grade level." https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/co/2019/03/01/colorado-dyslexia-legislation
[iv] The Denver Post – [Here is a case where
the first sentence is correct, but the second sentence makes the mistake of
conflating the score on a “literacy test” with knowing what students read at
grade level.] “In 2016, 32 percent of Denver third-graders met or exceeded expectations
on the state literacy test. In 2018,
38 percent did. That’s still far short of the district’s goal that 80 percent
of third-graders be reading on grade
level by 2020.” https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/co/2018/12/10/15-things-to-know-about-denver-superintendent-finalist-susana-cordova-and-her-record/
[v] Colorado
Children’s Campaign –“The Importance of Early Literacy” -“Third graders who aren’t
proficient readers are four times more likely to dropout of school. According
to the PARCC test administered in Colorado in 2015, more than 58
percent of all fourth graders were not reading at grade level, and
unacceptably large achievement gaps exist when we break that statistic out by
race and income status.” https://www.coloradokids.org/early-childhood/early-literacy/ (Bold mine)
Some readers can be a real pain in the neck. Guilty as charged!
To be sure you know what a pill I
can be, many of these organizations and individuals heard from me as these
misstatements continued. A few examples
follow. If nothing else, AV#192-193 might allow several folks to feel I have
had my say and can now stop being such a nuisance on this subject!
1)
The Denver
Post – “Letting boys read what they want can help boost lagging language
scores, Colorado educators say” (Aug. 31, 2018)
Email to
Monte Whaley
“Thanks Monte for the nice piece in
the Post today on Sierra Elementary
and the gap between boys and girls in ELA. But the article’s focus was reading
- not reading and writing – and the test results given are ELA scores,
including an unfortunate merging of reading and writing scores for CSAP in 2008
– done I assume to ‘align’ with 2018 CMAS results.
“No need to merge if we want to
examine READING skills back in 2008. We keep muddying the waters by
combining reading and writing scores. We are not defining the problem clearly.”
2) Chalkbeat Colorado – “Denver Public Schools posts record gains on latest
state tests” (Aug. 17, 2019):
“Denver
students made
more academic progress on
state tests last year than ever before and the percentage reading and
doing math at grade-level moved to within a few points of the statewide average.”
Email
to Chalkbeat: “Good article. But hope
Chalkbeat can be careful about confusing ELA scores
for reading scores. NOT the same.
Would
love to see you too push for more clarity from CDE on what
the reading (and writing) results really are! - as I tried to do in
#168. Thx. Peter”
Chalkbeat article was corrected to read:
“Denver students made more academic
progress on state English and math tests
last year than ever before, and the overall percentage of third- through
ninth-graders who scored at grade level
moved to within a few points of the statewide average, test results
released Thursday. (Bold mine)
3)
Email to state
legislators McLachlan, Todd, Zenzinger, Lundeen, and Wilson (sent Jan. 3, 2019) - “need
for facts on reading and on writing-two different disciplines”
“I wish you the best in trying to
nudge CDE to find a way to break down the ELA results
in a way that is more helpful (and honest). As page 2 shows here - [I sent
them a copy of AV #168 – ELA scores hide
the gap: give us reading and writing scores (again)] we used to
have a clear sense on what a big difference there was on where our students
performed on reading versus writing--often a
double digit difference in the % proficient. Teachers can often decipher
the data, but parents (and the media) can't understand the information CDE
releases, so we keep saying (repeated
this morning) 40% of our 3rd graders read at
grade level. But that's the ELA score, nor the
% READING at grade level.”
[viii] Image of that front page available at - http://extras.denverpost.com/testing/test0227a.htm
[ix] Sources - 2001 data from Rocky Mountain News (Aug. 3, 2004) and 2000 data The Denver Post (2005).
[ix] Sources - 2001 data from Rocky Mountain News (Aug. 3, 2004) and 2000 data The Denver Post (2005).
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