Cheney uses more than Smarter Balance

Much has been made — and sometimes not too positive — in the media about K-12 students academic progress, or in some cases lack thereof, as measured through the national Smarter Balance Assessment methods.

When it comes to determining how well their students are learning, Cheney School District officials seek a different path, or more accurately, paths to augment the national assessment.

According to results from the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP), Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) and the WAKIDS inventory of skills given to kindergartners, Cheney students met, and in most cases exceeded mean expectations in English language arts and mathematics during the 2014-2015 school year.

By contrast, results from the Smarter Balance testing, obtained through the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, showed Cheney students in grades 3-8 below the state average in both categories, while students in the 11th grade were significantly above, 22.2 percent compared to 13.6 percent in math and 40.8 percent compared to 26 percent in language arts.

The difference in the assessments is that Smarter Balance is currently administered only once per year, generally in the spring, whereas the MAP, DRA and WAKIDS are given several times over the course of instruction.

“We certainly will take the Smarter Balance Assessment results into account as we review our progress this year,” Assistant Superintendent Sean Dotson said in an email, adding that the process has already begun.

“These (SBA) scores give us a baseline, but with only one data point, it is difficult to draw definitive conclusions or base significant decisions on this test,” Dotson continued. “We prefer to look at multiple data points rather than basing decisions on one snapshot of student performance.”

The MAP tests are given each quarter and are aligned with Common Core standards. According to results presented at the Cheney School District’s board of directors meeting Aug. 19, student growth in math in grades K-9 exceeded projected mean expectations, and in all but one instance — kindergarten — by good amounts. The same mostly held true for K-8 students in reading, with the exception of first grade where students fell just short of expectations and second and third grades where they barely exceeded.

The state of Washington requires the DRA be given in the second grade, however Cheney elects to apply this assessment to students in K-5, with some use in middle school. Results from last year varied, with the assessment given twice at some grade levels and three times in others.

In first grade, students reading levels attained 81 percent proficiency, but fell off over the next two assessments to finish at 58 percent. In second grade, they originally tested at 57 percent, climbed to 72 percent on the second assessment before ending at 70 percent after the third.

Third-graders hovered between 62 – 65 percent over three assessments, while fourth-graders climbed from 61 percent on the first assessment to 72 percent on the third, and fifth-graders went from a start of 50 percent to end of year assessment of 79 percent.

Finally, the WAKIDS assessment, which tests kindergartners in six domains or skills, showed 92 percent of students are beginning their academic careers at the appropriate developmental level in literacy, and 82 percent doing the same in math. Last year, only 69 percent achieved this level in math.

The difference, Dotson said, was the district’s approach to students entering kindergarten. Parents were given more information on how to work with their children through things such as the Ready for Kindergarten program and the distribution of materials and educational toys.

“Simple steps we encourage parents to take include reading to children daily, counting with them and point out numbers, letters and words in the world around them,” Dotson said.

Dotson said the SBA is now providing assessments that can be given more frequently, and the district intends to evaluate these in conjunction with its current assessments over the coming school year.

“Our goal is to make sure teachers have the information they need about student achievement and student growth to make good instructional decisions,” he added.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].