Maybe CSAP is too low-stakes
Tuesday, July 8, 2008Written by: Uncle Charley
The prolific research tandem of Jay Greene and Marcus Winters – this time teaming up Arkansas Tech’s Julie Trivett – released a Manhattan Institute report today with some interesting findings. Taking a look at Florida’s strong school accountability program, the team measured the effects of high-stakes testing sanctions on low-stakes subject performance:
The primary findings of the study are:
- The F-grade sanction produced after one year a gain in student science proficiency of about a 0.08 standard deviation. These gains are similar to those in reading and appear smaller than the gains in math that were due to the F sanction.
- There is some evidence to suggest that student science proficiency increased primarily because student learning in math and reading enabled that increase. That is, learning in math and reading appear to contribute to learning in science.
Boiling it down into simpler terms, the first-of-its-kind report strongly suggests that high-stakes testing doesn’t “crowd out” how well students do in lower-stakes subjects. As much as many in Colorado’s education establishment – and leading House Education Committee figures – rail against the CSAP concept and the evils of “teaching to the test,” such findings may throw a wrench into the conventional wisdom.
More studies are needed to unwrap the story hinted at in Greene’s and Winters’ research, but let’s just entertain the possibility. Could it be that CSAP stakes aren’t too high, but that they are in fact too low? Lawmakers would be wise to emulate Florida and toughen school accountability, and maybe reap the same results as the Sunshine State.
July 10th, 2008 at 9:38 am
I find the use of the term “high stakes” somewhat misleading, because, for the folks actually taking the exams, there are no stakes whatsoever. The only kids who stand to win or lose are the ones at Manual who get paid for showing up and scoring well. Everyone else takes the test to amuse the adults.
Anyone know if there’s any data comparing the performance of states where the tests actually count for the students, in terms of their grades, as opposed to the way we do it in Colorado? Be interesting to see if that changes performance any.
July 10th, 2008 at 10:50 am
David,
To help answer your question, the link I cited above (http://facethestate.com/articles/florida-school-reforms-a-model-colorado) shows some very intriguing positive NAEP score results for Florida 4th-graders who are required to be held back in 3rd grade if they don’t pass a test (http://www.manhattan-institute.org/pdf/ewp_07.pdf) - talk about high-stakes!
Your comment gets at a major part of my point - that maybe the CSAPs aren’t made to mean enough, not just for schools, but for the students taking them. Food for thought.