Seattle Schools Community Forum: Let's Talk SBAC Scores - Part One

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Let's Talk SBAC Scores - Part One:

Let's Talk SBAC Scores - Part One

My apologies for taking so long to get to this.  Our discussion on SBAC will take three threads.  One, an overview.  Two, what was said at Superintendent Dorn's press conference last week on the results.  Three, some topline impressions from looking at the scores.  (If anyone has been looking at the scores in-depth, let me know.  I'm probably not going to be able to deep-dive them myself so any impressions you have would be helpful.)

Overview

The most basic takeaway - both from Dorn and others touting the Washington state scores - is a big fat WHEW.  The scores were not nearly as bad as they could have been.  We can debate why that might be later on.

One big consideration is the difference between states using SBAC and those using PARCC.  Sixteen states (and what are called "affiliate" states) are using SBAC and 11 states and D. C. are using PARCC.  ( To note: PARCC had been in 26 states and the drop to 11 caused the Boston Globe to say the test is in a "death spiral.")  Other states are using their own tests or some tweaked version of either SBAC or PARCC.

They are two different tests.  To compare the test scores against each other is going to be apples and oranges and that's why I was surprised to hear a Seattle Schools principal brag about how much better Washington State did than NY State when Washington is an SBAC state and NY State is not.

SBAC has created its own cut scores but states are free to make their own.  (Vermont and New Hampshire abstained from the vote on approval of SBAC cut scores.)  From Ed Source:

Under NCLB, cut scores “led to dysfunctional behavior” in which school districts focused their attention on “bubble kids” – raising scores of those right below the cut score while ignoring those further below or above the line, she said. Schools would not get credit when students showed growth within achievement levels from year to year or when scores grew significantly but fell short of proficient.

One thing to keep in mind, no matter the actual scores, is this from an Ed Source article in Jan. 2015 on California (which also just started taking the SBAC test):

“Let’s be frank: All scores will be shifted to the left,” he said, meaning lower on the point scale, with fewer students deemed to be proficient than under the old state standards and more students scoring at basic or below basic levels. “We have to educate parents about that. It’s not that your kid got dumber; there has been a shift in systems.”

I think that's probably quite true.  You cannot expect a shift in both WHAT is Seattle Schools Community Forum: Let's Talk SBAC Scores - Part One: