School district officials said this week the preliminary statewide test results showing Haines students just above the state average for meeting standards in math aren’t a surprise.
They say a new curriculum in the elementary grades is aimed at improving student performance in math.
“We’re lower than where we want to be across the board in math. We were already working on all levels to become more rigorous this coming year,” said Kim Cunningham, the district’s director of student support services.
The new curriculum, called “Math in Focus,” is being taught in grades K-5. Also called “Singapore Math,” the teaching curriculum uses methods including physical aids (such as chips or coins) and pictures to explain how numbers work before introducing abstract concepts. A public open house on the curriculum was held at the school about a month ago.
Students in grades 3-10 statewide took the Alaska Measures of Progress statewide assessment tests in April. Individual student results were being mailed out this week, district officials said.
Districtwide, 49 percent of Haines students met standards at English Language Arts and 33.5 percent met standards at math. That compares to statewide averages of 35 percent meeting standards in English Language Arts and 31 percent meeting standards at math.
Haines math scores were lowest at the third grade (27 percent meeting standards) and fifth grade (15 percent meeting standards).
District interim superintendent Rich Carlson said test scores represent revised State of Alaska education standards adopted in 2012 and modeled after ones established by the federal “Common Core State Standards Initiative,” a federal effort aimed at stiffening standards for graduation.
Alaska’s standards were developed by Alaska education officials and the test was produced by the University of Kansas.
“In terms of the numbers, the old standards were frankly a lot easier,” Carlson said. “I know the test results weren’t what we wanted, but that was true statewide.”
Concerns have been raised about the test, including that results haven’t been provided with details that could help teachers address specific areas. The test previously used would break down English scores to include scores in punctuation, spelling and grammar, Carlson said.
“Teachers could grab that to include those areas in instruction. This test doesn’t do that at all,” he said. “There have been a lot of questions statewide on how useful these scores are.”
There also are concerns about the time it took to receive results. The district’s “report card,” which includes more in-depth information about how the district is doing, typically is issued in the fall but has been delayed until after the New Year, Carlson said.
“We still have to give statewide tests, but it doesn’t have to be this one. There was a lot of statewide concern about the test itself,” Carlson said. He said he expects there will be a “whole lot more” statewide discussion of the test after the Alaska Legislature convenes in January.
“Since the results finally came out, I really have not heard much from (Alaska’s Department of Education) commissioner, nor has the (state education department) spoken about the tests,” Carlson told the school board earlier this month.
Support services director Cunningham said some of students’ difficulty with the test included a format that requires “higher order thinking skills” and “multi-step computations.” The test also used fewer multiple-choice questions.
The test results will be more meaningful when the same type of test is administered a second time next year, she said, to use as a baseline and see how students are progressing from year to year.
Cunningham says every curriculum has gaps, but she’s impressed with “Math in Focus” so far for its ability to use patterns and “real-world problem solving.” “We’ll definitely be monitoring these students to see how they’re doing and if we’re seeing increases in scores.”
Pam Long, school board liaison for the school district’s School Advisory Council, asked at last week’s school board meeting if the district could establish a resource that parents could go to on a daily basis to help them interpret the new math curriculum when helping students with homework.
“It’s been hard for parents to know how to approach that when you haven’t been exposed to the content at all yourself. It’s a whole different way to approach math,” Long said.
The school recently held an open house demonstration on the new curriculum that Long said was “pretty amazing.” Long said she’s hoping a video recording of the presentation will be posted on the district’s website.
Only six students took the test at Klukwan School, where two – or 33 percent – met standards in English Language Arts. Math scores for Klukwan were not available.
To see the preliminary results of the test online by grade or by district, go to http://www.education.alaska.gov and follow the “Alaska Measures of Progress” links.