WA & Math NAEP: 4th grade steady, 8th grade up

Posted on 14. Oct, 2009 by Heather.

The results of the 2009 Mathematics National Assessment of Educational Progress (fondly referred to as NAEP, or the nation’s report card) for grades 4 and 8 were released this morning. As a nation, 4th grade math scores are unchanged from 2007, and 8th grade scores are up slightly. Results in Washington follow that trend, and continue to be above the national average, although Washington is not the leader among the Global Challenge States.

What is less encouraging about our results is the difference in scores between Washington’s low-income and non-low-income students. While we may have smaller gaps than most of the other GCS, we fall into the middle or bottom of the national pack. Negative signs in the tables below indicate low-income students scored lower than their non-low-income peers.

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WASL update for Class of 2010 and 2011

Posted on 18. Aug, 2009 by Heather.

With last week’s WASL scores release came an update on the Class of 2010, most of whom took and passed the 10th Grade Reading and Writing WASLs in 2007-08. Those students who did not pass one or both tests retook the exams this year. And what a difference a year makes for some. What’s most encouraging is the large jump in passing percentages among certain subgroups — a 16-point gain for African-American, Latino and Native American students, and almost 28 points for Special Education students. Certainly many of the pass rates are nowhere near where we would like them to be, but at least progress is being made.

Let’s also take a look at the progress of the Class of 2011. So far, almost three-fourths of this class have passed both Reading and Writing WASLs, putting them on track to graduate next year (barring any credit deficencies). But how have they done over time? (I did a similar analysis on the Class of 2010 at this same time last year) To create the below chart, I used this year’s data along with WASL pass rates from 2002-03 (4th grade), 2003-04 (5th grade Science), 2005-06 (7th grade) and 2006-07 (8th grade Science). Admittedly, not all members of the Class of 2011 were in Washington and/or these grades at those times, but it’s the closest we can get to tracking the class as a whole.

The results are a bit troubling. Steady gains were made on the Reading and Writing WASLs, but pass rates from the Math and Science WASLs are not encouraging.

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Wonky words: International assessments & U.S.

Posted on 18. Aug, 2009 by Heather.

The National Center for Education Statistics issued a special analysis report today comparing the United States’ performance on three international assessments. The analysis, U.S. Performance Across International Assessments of Student Achievement: Special Supplement to The Condition of Education 2009, compares U.S. scores on the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). This data isn’t new per se, but it is the first report that puts all the findings in one place, which can be helpful to data nerds like me.

Rather than rewrite what NCES summarized so well, here are the major findings from the executive summary:

Reading

• In PIRLS 2006, the average U.S. 4th-graders’ reading literacy score (540) was above the PIRLS scale average of 500, but below that of 4th-graders in 10 of the 45 participating countries, including 3 Canadian provinces (Russian Federation, Hong Kong, Alberta, British Columbia, Singapore, Luxembourg, Ontario, Hungary, Italy, and Sweden).
• Among the 28 countries that participated in both the 2001 and 2006 PIRLS assessments, the average reading literacy score increased in 8 countries and decreased in 6 countries. In the rest of these countries, including the United States, there was no measurable change in the average reading literacy score between 2001 and 2006. The number of these countries that outperformed the United States increased from 3 in 2001 to 7 in 2006.

Mathematics

• The 2007 TIMSS results showed that U.S. students’ average mathematics score was 529 for 4th-graders and 508 for 8th-graders. Both scores were above the TIMSS scale average, which is set at 500 for every administration of TIMSS at both grades, and both were higher than the respective U.S. score in 1995.
  • Fourth-graders in 8 of the 35 other countries that participated in 2007 (Hong Kong, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Kazakhstan, Russian Federation, England, and Latvia) scored above their U.S. peers, on average; and 8th-graders in 5 of the 47 other countries that participated in 2007 (Chinese Taipei, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan) scored above their U.S. peers, on average.
  • Among the 16 countries that participated in both the first TIMSS in 1995 and the most recent TIMSS in 2007, at grade 4, the average mathematics score increased in 8 countries, including in the United States, and decreased in 4 countries. Among the 20 countries that participated in both the 1995 and 2007 TIMSS at grade 8, the average mathematics score increased in 6 countries, including in the United States, and decreased in 10 countries.
• In PISA 2006, U.S. 15-year-old students’ average mathematics literacy score of 474 was lower than the OECD average of 498, and placed U.S. 15-year-olds in the bottom quarter of participating OECD nations, a relative position unchanged from 2003.
  • Fifteen-year-old students in 23 of the 29 other participating OECD-member countries outperformed their U.S. peers.
  • There was no measurable change in U.S. 15-year-olds’ average mathematics literacy score between 2003 and 2006, in its relationship to the OECD average, or in its relative position to the countries whose scores increased or decreased.

Science

• The 2007 TIMSS results showed that U.S. students’ average science score was 539 for 4th-graders and 520 for 8th-graders. Both scores were above the TIMSS scale average, which is set at 500 for every administration of TIMSS at both grades, but neither was measurably different than the respective U.S. score in 1995.
  • Fourth-graders in 4 of the 35 other countries that participated in 2007 (Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, and Japan) scored above their U.S. peers, on average; and 8th-graders in 9 of the 47 other countries that participated in 2007 (Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Korea, England, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and the Russian Federation) scored above their U.S. peers, on average.
  • While there was no measurable change in the average score of U.S. 4th-graders or 8th-graders in science between 1995 and 2007, among the other 15 countries that participated in the 1995 and 2007 TIMSS at grade 4, the average science score increased in 7 countries and decreased in 5 countries; and among the other 18 countries that participated in both the 1995 and 2007 TIMSS at grade 8, the average science score increased in 5 countries and decreased in 3 countries.
• In PISA 2006, U.S. 15-year-old students’ average science literacy score of 489 was lower than the OECD average of 500, and placed U.S. 15-year-olds in the bottom third of participating OECD nations. Fifteen-year-old students in 16 of the 29 other participating OECD-member countries outperformed their U.S. peers in terms of average scores.

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Class of 2009: 93% met WASL standards

Posted on 17. Aug, 2009 by Heather.

As we noted, the latest WASL results were released last Friday. Included in the release were the latest tallies for the Class of 2009 (previous update here), as well as status updates for the classes of 2010 and 2011 (more on those later). The good news is, over 93 percent of the Class of 2009 met the Reading and Writing WASL standards. (As a reminder, we’re looking at Reading and Writing WASL results because they are graduation requirements.) And while gaps remain between ethnic groups (up to 10 percentage points), met standard rates are up for almost every subgroup. Here are two charts showing Class of 2009 results, with Class of 2008 data thrown in for perspective. The largest gains were made by our English Language Learners and Special Education students, which is encouraging.

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WASL scores released

Posted on 14. Aug, 2009 by Heather.

The 2008-09 WASL results were made available today. We’ll have some continued analyses of the results next week, but below are a few charts to whet your whistle. Over the past six years we’ve seen some significant improvements in student proficiency on the Reading and Writing WASLs. What we have seen less of is closing of the achievement gap.

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Class of 2009 update

Posted on 18. Jun, 2009 by Heather.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn released the spring 10th grade WASL scores today, as well as graduation rates for the Class of 2008. And the news isn’t all bad, although it’s not all good either.

First the good news: 93 percent of the Class of 2009 has passed the Reading and Writing WASLs. Although not a graduation requirement, 73.4 percent of 12th graders have passed the Math WASL, an improvement from previous years.

Now, the bad news: We continue to have a dropout problem in this state — 21.4 percent of the Class of 2008 dropped out of high school. That in and of itself is disappointing, but what is even more depressing is the dropout rate broken out by subgroup. While 18.7 percent of White students dropped out, 29.6 percent of Latino, 32.5 percent of African American and 40.8 percent of Native American students dropped out. This is not OK.

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Quality Counts 2009

Posted on 07. Jan, 2009 by admin.

Education Week released the latest edition of Quality Counts, a report comparing the 50 states on education policy. Every year EdWeek focuses on a specific topic or issue in education; this year the staff looked at how our schools support English Language Learners.

Here’s a snapshot of the nation as a whole, and Washington’s scores:

Overall, Washington scores largely held steady. The state earned a C overall, a B- in Chance for Success, a C in Transitions & Alignment and a C- in School Finance.

Here’s a table comparing Washington’s grades in 2008 to 2009 (only categories graded in 2009 included):

Among the many helpful tidbits in Quality Counts 2009 is updated data on per-pupil funding that have been adjusted for regional cost differences. The most recent national data available is from 2005-06. In raw numbers (from the National Center for Education Statistics), the average amount spent per pupil in Washington was $7,984 and nationally was $9,154. In regionally adjusted dollars those numbers change:

There’s plenty more where this came from, so check it out.

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Tracking the Class of 2010

Posted on 27. Aug, 2008 by admin.

Posted by Heather

With the release of WASL pass rates yesterday came the first opportunity to look at the progress of the Class of 2010. Two-thirds of the class is on track to graduate, having passed the Reading and Writing exams this past spring. But how has this class progressed over time? I took a peak at the data from when the Class of 2010 was in 4th and 7th grades (2001-02 and 2004-05, respectively).

The results: the Class of 2010 has made progress on the Reading and Writing WASLs but declined slightly on the Math exam. Science WASL scores are not included in this comparison as the class wasn’t tested three times in this subject.

Source: OSPI

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WASL scores unveiled

Posted on 26. Aug, 2008 by admin.

Posted by Heather

WASL scores for 2007-08 were released today by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. As we all could probably predict, results are mixed, but let’s look at this through a glass-half-full lens.

For the Class of 2008, passing rates on the Reading and Writing WASL are now at 92.9 percent, up 1.5 percent, or 684 students, from June (I wrote about those results here).  No, we can’t boast a pass rate of 100 percent. And yes, these numbers do not include the students who have dropped out (9,000+) or been reclassified into other grades (9,500+). BUT, we also can’t call the WASL-as-graduation-requirement a “train wreck” (as many thought it would be).

For the Class of 2009 (incoming 12th graders), scores are also going up, with 86 percent having passed the Reading and Writing WASL. Scores for all subgroups are up when compared to the Class of 2008 at the same point last year, although the achievement gap persists at a similar rate (between 11 and 17 percentage points).

Source: OSPI

And for the Class of 2010, scores weren’t too bad either. On the first go-round, 75.41 percent passed the Reading and Writing WASL. Unfortunately the achievement gap persists between subgroups, ranging from 7 to 25 percentage points.

Source: OSPI

In grades 3-8, Science and Writing WASL scores were up, although not always by leaps and bounds. Increases ranged from 1 to 2 percentage points in Writing and 3 to 6 percentage points in Science. Grade 5 had across-the-board score increases while grades 4 and 7 saw decreases in Reading and Math. Scores in grades 3, 4 and 6 varied little from last year.

 

 

Detailed results are available on the OSPI website here.

Support materials, including press release and PowerPoint, are available here.

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