The difficulty of a reading test used to judge students across New York State dropped by as many as six grade levels between 2004 and 2005, according to an internal study by the New York City teachers union obtained by The New York Sun.
The study, written in March 2006, found that passages in the 2005 test hovered around third- and fourth-grade reading levels, down from a ninth-grade level in 2004. It also found that the 2004 test was characterized by longer passages, smaller print, crammed text, and more complex questions, such as asking a student to make an inference versus asking the main idea. Despite this apparent drop in difficulty, however, the number of correct answers needed to pass -- known as the "cut score" -- was just slightly higher in 2005 than in 2004.
Many states have reduced the difficulty of their assessments in order to post better results without actually improving - see here for more on that. But the boldness of what was done in New York - whether it's reducing reading difficulty by six grade levels or five - is simply unbelievable.
Update: It's not just reading, either.
Cross-posted at The DeHavilland Blog.
2005 math scores in NY state - test far easier
if you can't improve the results, make the test easier (2005 reading scores in NY)
. . . Ms. Weingarten said she chose not to publicize the study out of concerns that doing so would make her appear "anti-test."
ReplyDeleteThis study was reported to Ms. Weingarten, NYC teachers’ union president, in March 2006. Was she afraid she would appear to be against easy tests? Oh, yeah, I’m believing that was her motive in keeping this under wraps.
What stikes me more than any sort of relative difference is the absolute level of the test. That, and the fact that the tests are way to heavy on probability and patterns. This has to be for the beginning of grade four. If it's a test for the spring, then it's even more pathetic.
ReplyDeleteI am afraid the math section of the Virginia SOL was too easy. After taking it last spring, my third grader described it as baby work. However, I was happy he did so well because he had come such a long way since the beginning of third grade. His SOL math score was a 592 out of 600.
ReplyDeleteYou beat me to it!
ReplyDeleteThere's a similar story for math that year. I'll send the links.
Or...I'll post them here.
yeah, well, you're probably all getting a glimpse of why I'm so freaked out over C's high 3 on the state math test
ReplyDeleteextremely distressing
The difference in difficulty is important, however.
ReplyDeleteThis 2005 test was used as evidence in our district that Trailblazers was working.