AIMS test scores remained relatively flat in math and reading statewide, but writing scores dropped across nearly every grade level, according to the most recent test scores, released publicly today.
Although high school students showed a 3 percentage point drop from 2007 in writing overall — with 63 percent passing the section — that masks some large swings in lower grade levels.
Seventh-graders, for example, showed a whopping drop of 17 percentage points, and fourth-graders dipped downward 9 percentage points. Indeed, writing scores dropped at every grade level except for eighth grade, which gained 2 percentage points, to 76 percent.
Local district officials questioned whether the subjective nature of grading essays — which the writing tests are based upon — might have played a role in the long line of negative numbers.
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"The writing results are just flaky," said David Scott, the number-cruncher for the Tucson Unified School District. "When you see big changes like that, I think you're seeing more of a change in how adults are scoring the test than a change in how kids are learning."
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said the schools may have a point, saying there were a number of students clustered right around proficiency who might have been affected by a few points in either direction.
"Last year, a lot of them made it. This year, they didn't," he said, adding that he'll explore revisiting the scoring process to pad the margin of error to give students the benefit of the doubt.
Horne wasn't particularly heartened by the math and reading scores, either.
"We've got to do better," he said, noting that under federal requirements, 100 percent of students should be proficient by the 2013-2014 school year and the numbers show a steep climb. To help schools, he said, his office has offered professional development for teachers, including aid with the use of technology in the classroom.
The Tucson Unified School District, while consistently a few points lower in every measurement than the state average, still generally mirrored state trends.
High school reading and math scores were static over the year, but writing scores fell 6 percentage points overall. Eighth-graders were the only students to show slight writing gains, while seventh-graders dropped 19 percentage points.
"The scores reflect one data point along a spectrum of data points. They don't tell the story of our schools or our students," TUSD spokeswoman Chyrl Hill Lander said.
Lisa McCorkle, principal of Dietz Elementary School, said she hadn't had a chance to analyze the data with her staff. Dietz third-graders had the largest gains at the school, jumping 14 percentage points in reading from the previous year, to 65 percent passing. Fifth-graders, though, struggled on the math portion, dropping 21 percentage points to a 43 percent pass rate.
McCorkle said teachers each will receive a printout showing not only how each student performed, but how the children performed as a group, broken down to show whether any standards were particularly weak.
Although she credits the AIMS test with making school officials more aware of individual student needs, she also said the district as a whole is conducting more assessments throughout the year.
"That shows us where kids are and what they're learning, and that's more important than one test at the end of the year."
Andrew Kent, principal of Fort Lowell Elementary, said he's mulling over the data to try to pinpoint why his third-graders showed gains while his fourth-graders dropped a notch.
"We certainly have concerns whenever we see a downturn," he said. "We will study the results as an academic community to try to figure out which areas we need to bolster."
Kent said, however, that the AIMS test is imperfect on many levels, not the least of which is that by the time the test comes, it is too late to address any deficits with students who scored poorly. And, he said, there's no way for the public to look at the scores and gauge which schools have challenges such as high student mobility or a large number of students who aren't proficient in English.
"My contention is that it's such a snapshot and an inaccurate way of measuring a school's performance," he said.
At Flowing Wells Junior High School, 78 percent of seventh-graders passed the writing test in 2007, compared with 58 percent in 2008.
The district will address the results, Flowing Wells Superintendent Nicholas Clement said, but he noted that they're not too far off from the state averages.
"If the state had stayed at 82 (percent), we'd be really scratching our heads," Clement said. "We are concerned, and we are going to address it."
Seventh-graders at Amphitheater Middle School improved their writing scores by 6 percentage points.
AIMS scores naturally fluctuate, Clement said.
"You try to go out and identify areas that need to be addressed districtwide and at individual schools," he said. "We look at each school. We look at the district. We look at the state."
Clement was pleased with gains made at the district's alternative school, Sentinel Peak High School.
There, 5 percent of students earned an "exceeded" label on the 2008 math test — meaning they were in the highest passing ranks. None did in 2007.
The scores come after lawmakers created a panel to weigh how, and if, to revamp AIMS, with some questioning whether the test should remain a graduation requirement at all.
Horne maintains that the test combats mediocrity.
"I believe the public wants a high school diploma to mean something, and the public wants our high school students to be motivated," he said.
complete scores on Starnet
Search our database of AIMS test scores at schools statewide: go.azstarnet.com/aims.
