Flaws found in Idaho graduation test
BOISE – An Idaho test due to help determine if students graduate from high school doesn’t adequately measure student knowledge, according to a study released by the State Board of Education.
As a result, educators are calling for changes to improve the Idaho Student Achievement Test – and avoid possible legal disputes once it becomes a key graduation requirement starting with the class of 2006.
“We don’t want to be fighting court battles,” said Marilyn Howard, Idaho’s school superintendent.
The three-year-old ISAT is intended to measure how well schools teach kids and whether students know enough of what the state expects before they graduate. About 177,000 students take the exams every year in grades two through 10.
Across the country, the tests are used to help comply with President Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” requirements that students demonstrate progress toward specific educational goals.
According to Idaho’s education board study, 10th graders are quizzed intensely on algebra, but the test ignores whether they have learned basic math concepts such as how a sales tax relates to the cost of a purchase.
Other flaws: Writing skills aren’t thoroughly measured because there is no required writing sample, the study said. Some questions test skills barely mentioned in Idaho’s education standards, such as vocabulary, which the state doesn’t currently consider a standard students must master.
The Ed Board staff is beginning preliminary discussion on whether to add a writing segment to the ISAT, but no decision has been made. The test, commonly known as ISAT, could undergo revisions as early as next spring to cover a wider range of subject matter, and to cover them more evenly.
“We need to expand to be a more comprehensive test,” said Gary Stivers, executive director for the State Board of Education.
State officials are required by federal law to review the test to ensure it is valid and reliable.
While the study concluded the test is flawed, it also said problems can be fixed “without the need to completely start over anew with the ISAT.”
Some state education officials were more optimistic than Howard, who dubbed the test so compromised in its current form that it must be radically altered.
“The report offers encouraging news in terms of how far Idaho has come in assessing student achievement,” said Rod Lewis, Ed Board president. “The report also brings to light areas of improvement.”
Evaluating the test makes sense for Idaho schools and parents, said Stan Olson, Boise district superintendent.
The ISAT is a “work in progress,” he said. “The idea of having an audit was very smart and will provide the information necessary to keep improving the process.”