ISATs show math drop-off

About a quarter of Kootenai County 10th-graders who took the Idaho Standards Achievement Test in April didn’t post math scores high enough to earn a diploma.

That matches the statewide trend reflected in the test results released Tuesday by the state Board of Education, with math scores starting out strong in the lower grade levels, then declining steadily as the grade levels increase.

“You just slowly see it just decline,” said Luci Willits, spokeswoman for the state Board of Education. “It’s very clear that we need better math all the way along.”

Students are tested in grades three through eight and again in grade 10. Proficient scores in all three areas of the test – math, reading and language usage – are required to graduate from an Idaho public high school.

About 71 percent of Idaho’s 10th-graders met math standards on the latest round of the ISAT, taken in April. That compares with 73 percent of the 10th-graders in the Coeur d’Alene School District, 72.3 percent in Post Falls and 79.8 percent in the Lakeland School District.

Lakeland posted the highest percentage of math-proficient students for every grade level tested except eighth, with Coeur d’Alene nudging by Lakeland’s 85.6 percent figure with 86.6. A little more than 97 percent of Lakeland’s third-graders are doing math at or above the proficiency level, beating Post Falls by 5 percentage points and nudging out Coeur d’Alene by eight-tenths of a point.

Overall scores show that, on average, more than 80 percent of the students in the Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls and Lakeland school districts are proficient in reading, math and language usage.

Students who don’t demonstrate proficiency in all three areas as sophomores must continue retaking the test until their scores improve, or draft an alternative plan with their school district that demonstrates knowledge of the minimum standards.

The number of proficient students decreases as the grade level rises, a trend reflected in statewide averages, particularly in math.

For most school districts, overall proficiency doesn’t carry as much weight as improvement does.

Superintendent Jerry Keane said Post Falls saw significant gains in middle school math scores and in scores for students in special education.

“We’re really pleased with the progress we made,” Keane said.

One major benefit that comes from ISAT scores is they let districts know their strengths and weaknesses, Willits said. “The whole point is for districts to look at the data, and then adjust their instruction to help students achieve,” she said.

Measuring growth, even in districts performing well above state standards, is crucial, she said.

“Unless I measure growth, I’m not going to be able to tell if my student is really learning or is just coasting,” Willits said.

Idaho has phased in the testing requirements since 2004, when the Legislature adopted the ISAT standards to meet federal No Child Left Behind mandates.

The class of 2008 – this year’s 11th-graders – is the first required to meet the new standards fully.

The 2005 graduating class had to meet eighth-grade proficiency levels in all subject areas, and the class of 2006 needed to meet ninth-grade levels.

The fall ISAT will be administered in just a few weeks, Willits said, followed by the 2007 spring ISAT in April. That test will be administered by a different company, meaning it could differ from the test Idaho students currently take.

Whatever happens, Keane is hopeful the tests will be similar enough that districts can compare future scores with past years.