Students exceed averages on national college test

Kootenai County high school students fared better than state and national averages on the ACT college-entrance exam this year, posting gains and losses that some school officials say can be attributed to differences in the strengths of graduating classes.

Lake City and Coeur d’Alene high school students who took the test averaged a total score of 23.2, above the state average of 21.4, Post Falls High School’s average of 21.9 and Timberlake and Lakeland high schools’ combined average of 21.6, according to data released Wednesday by the state Department of Education.

It’s also a slight drop from last year’s average of 23.5. But do differences of a few tenths of a point really mean anything?

A local testing expert doesn’t think so.

Most increases and decreases in standardized test scores are insignificant and say nothing about a district’s strengths and weaknesses because the changes fall within the test’s margin of error, said Charles Clock, who helps with testing at the Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy and teaches classes on test taking.

“It has to be, on the ACT, at least two full points” to overcome the margin, Clock said. The maximum score on the ACT is 36.

So when school officials laud gains in statewide math and English scores when the increases are by mere tenths of a point, it “just absolutely drives me crazy,” he said.

“It doesn’t mean a thing – (it’s) well within the margin of error,” Clock said.

That should come as good news for Post Falls High School, which saw its average total score drop from 22.5 to 21.9. The school posted drops in the average scores in all four testing categories – English, math, reading and science – but none of the drops exceeded a full point.

“I guess I wouldn’t say we’re totally surprised that there’s some differences between classes, because we see them on a daily basis,” Post Falls Superintendent Jerry Keane said. “You would think statistically it wouldn’t work that way, but it does. Educators talk about it all the time.”

Conrad Underdahl, principal of Lakeland Senior High School in Rathdrum, agreed.

“Certain classes, for some reason or another, do exceptionally well,” Underdahl said.

Most agree that while test results are interesting and do provide some indication of a school’s strengths and weaknesses, they shouldn’t be considered perfect measurements of merit.

“When you look at the scale, you may be a point or two above the state average but it’s really hard to use that as a real indicator,” because not all students take the test and not everything can be measured in one test, Underdahl said.

Keane and Underdahl both said their districts put more focus on trends than one-time occurrences.

High schools in the Lakeland, Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene school districts consistently beat state averages in every category. Timberlake High School was an exception this year, falling six-tenths of a point below the state score in science, posting a 20.6.

Lakeland and Timberlake excelled in different areas. Timberlake posted an average reading score of 23.3, which is 1.2 points above the state average and 1.6 above Lakeland’s. But Lakeland posted a science score of 22, eight-tenths of a point above the state average and 1.4 points above Timberlake’s.

The number of students taking the test varied significantly at each school, however. Just 20 percent of Timberlake’s 131 juniors took the test, compared with 43 percent of Lakeland’s. Post Falls High School had the most eligible students – 43 percent – taking the test.

About 30 percent of Lake City and Coeur d’Alene High students did, compared with 57 percent in Idaho and 40 percent nationally.

Newly proposed high school graduation requirements from the state Board of Education call for all high school students to take a standardized test such as the ACT or SAT.

The ACT is widely used in high schools in the Midwest and West, and the SAT is preferred on the coasts.