By WESLIE STRATTON
Moapa Valley Progress
Local schools are regrouping after what is being considered a technological difficulty in state standardized testing this last month. Overloaded with online test takers, the designated server failed and prevented completion of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium test (SBAC), the state’s high stakes test which determines school performance rankings in teaching the Common Core curriculum.
In an interview last week, Mack Lyon Middle School principal Ken Paul said that standardized testing has, up to now, been done with pen and paper. But this year, the state changed from using the Criterion Reference Test (CRT) to the new SBAC which is based on Common Core standards. Paul said that previous standardized testing didn’t align with colleges or adequately test for student preparation in entering the work force. The new test adheres better to the established standards and is the first to be taken online; an inevitable step, he said.
“The sad part is that people jump to conclusions,” Paul said, regarding the standards more commonly known as Common Core. “Common Core standards are better than ever.”
Paul said that the standards bring a large emphasis on performance-based learning and deep thinking.
He said that the western states testing company (Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium) added the technological aspect of testing with the aid of Measured Progress, a tech company in charge of the server.
“They thought they could handle the volume,” he said. “The week of the fair it worked great but when the majority of the Clark County School District came on it overwhelmed the system.”
Paul said that a frequent problem that students encountered was an error message and slow response times. He said that testing times are strictly scheduled and that the major delays made the tests impossible to complete.
“I think they did a great job (with the test) they just couldn’t handle the volume,” he said. “It was a huge leap forward.”
Paul said that while a final resolution has not been made yet, he believes that the curriculum and testing is going in the right direction.
“We’re prioritizing what students should know and making a massive effort to align with colleges,” he said.
While students were unable to complete the test they will take what they were able to get this year, Paul said. The testing is used for placement and does not affect any specific classroom grades, he said.
“We’re moving forward for now,” he said.
The failed test was also a topic of discussion at a meeting of the Moapa Valley Community Education Advisory Board (MVCEAB) on April 24. Parents at the meeting expressed concerns that local schools would be penalized in their rankings because there would not be good data from the tests.
Wilson agreed that the state testing debacle caused a dilemma in how to rank the schools. He said that problems with the test came on many different levels. Wilson said that aside from error messages and slow responses, the test content itself was problematic with missing information and graphs in the questions. He pointed out that State Board of Education Superintendent Dale Erquiaga had suspended the test last week for a period 15 days. This was done to fulfill the state’s contract with Measured Progress that allowed the contractor 15 days to fix the problem.
“The trouble is we have already put the poor kids and their teachers through a lot of heartache,” Wilson said. “You’ve got them all excited about this test, preparing for it for months now, gone through all kinds of prep in class for the test, they’ve gotten all amped up and then the computers don’t work right.”
“In some of my schools I’ve had kids coming out of school crying because they were so disappointed or upset,” Wilson added. “It has had a huge impact on student learning already.”
Wilson said that while the contractor has 15 days to address the problems, he understands that many schools have already moved on and that, with the end of the year rapidly approaching, rescheduling the test is next to impossible. Fortunately, this glitch won’t have much of an effect on school funding for local schools, he said.
But the ranking system could be a problem.
“That is because there will be no valid data to determine the rankings for this year,” he said. “And there is a question as to how long it will be before we have good data.”
Wilson added that another problem exists with new legislation in progress requiring that the state pay its teachers based on their performance in the classroom.
“That performance is based on these tests,” he said. “But if you have no good data from the tests, what do you do about that?”
The state’s contract with Measured Progress to provide the test was around $8.3 million, Wilson said.
“The problem is that with the emotional toll this has taken on the kids and education community someone has to step up and say ‘We messed up, we apologize and we are trying to rectify it,’” Wilson said. “I haven’t heard any apologies yet coming from the State Education Board.”
In response to parental concerns about time lost during the testing period, Grant Bowler Elementary School principal Shawna Jessen explained that teachers are required to have two weeks of advanced lessons planning in place.
“So some people have thought that when the computer tests went down that the kids just sat there doing nothing for the rest of the day,” she said. “But that isn’t the case. There was plenty to be done if they were sent back to their classrooms. The teachers had them busy on learning activities.”
Paul seconded Jessen’s statement adding that teachers were able to keep kids busy and on task with valuable and meaningful lessons.
