Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Shanker Blog » It's Test Score Season, But Some States Don't Release Test Scores

Shanker Blog » It's Test Score Season, But Some States Don't Release Test Scores:

It’s Test Score Season, But Some States Don’t Release Test Scores

Posted by  on July 9, 2013


We’ve entered the time of year during which states and districts release their testing results. It’s fair to say that the two districts that get the most attention for their results are New York City and the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS), due in no small part to the fact that both enacted significant, high-profile policy changes over the past 5-10 years.
The manner in which both districts present annual test results is often misleading. Many of the issues, such asmisinterpreting changes in proficiency rates as “test score growth” and chalking up all “gains” to recent policy changes, are quite common across the nation. These two districts are just among the more aggressive in doing so. That said, however, there’s one big difference between the test results they put out every year, and although I’ve noted it a few times before, I’d like to point it out once more: Unlike New York City/State, DCPS does not actually release test scores.
That’s right – despite the massive national attention to their “test scores,” DCPS – or, specifically, the Office of the