NAEP Science: Good, Bad and Ugly in Grade 8, Too

| Susan Perkins Weston |

2015 NAEP science results came out this morning, with grade 8 scale scores showing:

• Good news with Kentucky students matching or outscoring their peers nationwide both for all students and for those we have historically underserved

• Bad news with 2015 results not showing improvement from 2009 (the most recent previous year fourth graders took the NAEP science assessment)

• Ugly news with continuing achievement gaps by race, income, and disability

Here's the good part:
 

Here's the bad part:


And here is the  all too familiar ugliness of our gaps:

Together, these three charts underline the importance of intensive work to implement Kentucky's ambitious new science standards and the urgent need for leadership and community mobilization to sustain those efforts. Past Kentucky work in science has move our students past national average, but we have major work to do to equip them for full full future success.

All data used here was downloaded today from the NAEP Data Explorer, and a matching grade 4 post is available here.

NAEP Science: Good, Bad, and Ugly In Grade 4

| Susan Perkins Weston |

2015 NAEP science results came out this morning, with grade 4 scale scores showing:

• Good news with Kentucky students matching or outscoring their peers nationwide, both for all students and for those we have historically underserved
 

• Bad news with 2015 results not showing improvement from 2009 (the most recent previous year fourth graders took the NAEP science assessment)

• Ugly news with continuing achievement gaps by race, income, and disability.

Here's the good part:


Here's the bad part:


And here is the  all too familiar ugliness of our gaps:
 
All three charts underline the importance of intensive work to implement Kentucky's ambitious new science standards and the urgent need for leadership and community mobilization to sustain those efforts. Past Kentucky work in science has move our students past national average, but we have major work to do to equip them for full full future success.

All data used here was downloaded today from the NAEP Data Explorer, and a matching grade 8 report will be posted in a few minutes is also available.

Prichard Statement on 2015 NAEP Science Results

Kentucky Still Above the National Average for NAEP Science
However, Scores are Flat Compared to Last Assessment

LEXINGTON, Ky. ─ The latest results from the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP), released today, show Kentucky’s students performing above national averages in science in 2015, but also show a lack of improvement since the previous round of testing.

NAEP or the “nation’s report card,” shows Kentucky fourth and eighth graders with higher scale scores than the average results for the country. Today’s release also shows Kentucky’s Hispanic students, students with identified disabilities, and students eligible for free or reduced price meals performing at higher levels than similar students across the nation.

However, the results show no significant improvements since the last time Kentucky students took the NAEP science assessment (2009 for fourth grade and 2011 for eighth grade) and there has been no narrowing of gaps between student groups based on race, income, or disability.

For Kentucky to compete nationally and globally, each and every student must develop deep scientific knowledge and skills, moving well beyond current Kentucky levels and the national level of performance. It is not enough for Kentucky to sustain past strength while other states make significant headway. Continuing and vigorous improvement is needed.

Kentucky has already taken two important steps to ensure improvement. First, the Kentucky Academic Standards for Science expect more out of students than any past set of standards. Second, the Kentucky Department of Education is in the process of developing high quality aligned assessments that will measure student mastery of important scientific knowledge and skills while also providing information to adjust instruction.

Today’s NAEP science results underscore the importance of deepening implementation of the standards and call for a sense of urgency to build excellence with equity across all subject areas - including science.

Accessing Student Financial Aid - Fill out the FAFSA

The FAFSA (or Free Application for Federal Student Aid) is the gateway to financial aid for most students pursuing postsecondary education. This includes federal aid such as student loans and Pell grants, need-based state aid administered by the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority (KHEAA), and a variety of assistance provided directly by postsecondary institutions.

With an increasing reliance on debt to cover rising college costs, it is more important than ever for students and families to complete the FAFSA to access financial aid that will assist in making postsecondary education more affordable.

There are several major changes to the FAFSA this year:

• An earlier start date: The opening for FAFSA applications used to begin January 1, but for students planning to attend college in the 2017–2018 academic year, the FAFSA application will now be available starting October 1, 2016. This will be the new date for all future application cycle.
• An easier approach to pulling tax info: Families will now be able to fill out the FAFSA using tax information from two years prior to the aid year they’re applying for. This means students applying for the 2017–2018 year will be able to use their parents’ tax information from 2015. Families will also be able to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool from the get-go to help fill in relevant tax information, which the federal government hopes will simplify the process overall.

Below is a table displaying the changes and revised deadlines for submitting the FAFSA.



In Kentucky, state financial aid programs are primarily funded through lottery proceeds.  The two main need-based aid programs require a FAFSA and are funded on a first-come, first-serve basis.



• The College Access Program (CAP) provides up to $1,900 annually for undergraduate students to attend eligible public and private colleges and universities, proprietary schools and technical colleges.
• The Kentucky Tuition Grant (KTG) provides up to $3,000 annually for aid to help Kentucky residents attend in-state eligible private colleges.

In recent years - according to KHEAA - roughly 70% of public high school graduates in Kentucky have filled out the FAFSA.  But those who do not miss out on the opportunity to access a more affordable postsecondary education.  According to one recent analysis, Kentucky students potentially missed out on $35 million in federal Pell grants in 2014 by not completing the FAFSA.

 

The U.S. Department of Education has a new data tool that allows students, families and school administrators to track in real time the FAFSA completions in their high schools and school districts.  Below is the completion rate map for Kentucky for the 2016-17 FAFSA cycle as of October 14 - the most recent data available.  This tool can help inform school and community leaders about how their outreach efforts are succeeding.

 

More resources to help guide students and their families through the FAFSA process are available from KHEAA and the U.S. Department of Education.  For a student's perspective on the FAFSA, check out the KnowHow2GoKY public service announcements and videos produced by the Prichard Committee's Student Voice Team in partnership with GEAR-UP and the Kentucky College and Career Connection Coalition.



Science Assessment: Powerful Developments Underway!

| By Susan Perkins Weston |

I've been hearing for a while that Kentucky's bold new science standards will require a bold new approach to assessment, and this morning I was delighted to spot a great video report on the work underway. Do view the video, both for the information and for the lucid and personal approach taken by Commissioner Pruitt and by Associate Commissioner Karen Kidwell, Director of the Office of Teaching and Learning Division of Program Standards [Added to correct my error on Karen's title.]

.

To go with their words, I'll share what struck me most as I watched.

Big purpose
In Dr. Pruitt's words, "This is about doing the things we need to do to ensure that our kids are actually being successful." Seeing the process as all about external accountability would be a big mistake.  It's about seeing what's happening for students and creating continuous improvement in their learning.


A system with three kinds of assessments
Students and teachers will be working with three different kinds of assessment, each of which contributes to ensuring that students move forward.

1. Day-to-day, minute-to-minute checks
For student progress, it's important for teachers to check steadily on how the learning is going.  That checks provide evidence to make very rapid learning adjustments. The adjustment may mean quick help for one student to catch up on something missed or some added challenge for a student who has clearly mastered a learning step. It may even mean changing plans for the whole class. These classroom assessments will help teachers gather that evidence and put it to use in "real time."  Done well, this approach can have strong, research-proven, impact on student growth and especially on growth that narrows gaps between student groups.

Two key notes here: First, teachers can gather their data from students' ongoing assignments. This part of the system does not have to involve a pause in learning in order to test.  Second, these results are not going to be used for state accountability. This part of the system is for improving learning, period.

2. Shared through-course tasks
These tasks will happen several times a year, taking a deeper look at what students know and can do and calling for teachers to work together to understand where students are, where they need to go, and what steps can best help students get to full success. These will be "rich, three-dimensional tasks," so that students' responses integrate scientific practices, core ideas, and crosscutting concepts.

The Department's big request is for teachers to form their own networks: maybe within a school, maybe across a district, maybe a team across a larger area. They'll have the option of drawing tasks from a Department library or designing their own using templates that support the science standards.  Then they'll study the task and think together about how to facilitate students carrying out the task.  After students complete the task, the teachers will reconvene to analyze the student products.  The Department also plans to build a bank of "anchor papers," samples of strong work that will help teachers across the state aim for similar levels of quality.

Two more key notes: First, the Department is not going to specify which tasks are given or when they're given or which educators collaborate on the work. This is a system to be build out by and for teachers. And second, this part of the system is also not for accountability use.  It's for improving learning, deepening teachers' professional expertise, and building the kinds of collaboration that let the whole profession share and expand its strengths.

One added comment: Both American and global research on education show that this kind of ongoing professional collaboration can generate importantly higher levels of student learning, so I'm super-excited about this part.

3. Statewide summative assessment
This part will be the most like testing we've seen before, in that it will yield results that are reported to the public and used for accountability. Based on Dr. Pruitt's comments, it will also differ from past science assessments in important ways, but the video doesn't give detail on those differences.  For that, stay tuned!

A concluding thought
If we can make this big shift deeply and consistently, I believe we can make a huge difference for Kentucky's future.  It's a direct bid to change what happens when students and teachers work together on scientific understanding and, as a result, to change what the next generation can achieve with what they've learned. It's got deep roots in what we know about effective learning around the world, and it will be exciting to watch and support its development.

Building excellence (Ali Wright on Glenn O. Swing)

In a post for the Center for Teaching Quality, Ali Wright explores the "recipe for success" at Covington's Glenn O. Swing Elementary, which has a rising reputation for nurturing high student achievement in a context of  high student poverty.

If you know Ali, you're already clicking through to see her report.

If you haven't met Ali yet, you should, and this piece is a great introduction to her thinking as a Kentucky teacher leader. Here's the short version of the elements she identifies as making a difference:

1. The principal sets the tone for the culture.
2. The principal listens to teachers and creates roles based on student need and teacher expertise
3. Everyone teaches.
4. There is an emphasis on student work.
5. The school schedule is built around teacher collaboration.
6. Everyone, including the principal, is responsible for all students.
7. The principal works to intentionally build leadership capacity in the school, not only to improve student achievement, but also to retain teachers.
8. Did I mention co-teaching?
9. No barking!
10. The principal protects the teachers’ time

See? You need to read Ali's full post. It's a lively and thoughtful description of the kind of deep collaboration that can fully develop the potential of all Kentucky's students.

(Hat tip to Cory Curl on Twitter.  Follow her, too.)

--Post by Susan Perkins Weston

Mixed News for African American Students

 

2016 statewide results show improvement in math, reading and other subjects, but most gaps have widened

For Kentucky's African American students, recently released 2016 results show some important progress, including:

■ Mathematics proficiency increased at all levels, growing 1.0 point at the elementary level, 2.9 points at the middle school level, and 4.5 points at the high school level. The double checkmarks celebrate growth of more than two points when the three levels are averaged together.

■ Reading and social studies proficiency also increased.

■ Students graduating ready for college and career rose, with a 0.2 increase in the four-year graduation rate and a 0.6 point increase in the percent of graduates who have demonstrated readiness for college and/or career.

However, 2016 results for African American students also provide reasons for concern, including these:

■ Proficiency declined in writing, language mechanics, and science.

■ Gaps got worse in most subjects, leaving African American students further behind their white classmates in 2016 than they were in 2015.

■ The gaps between these students and their classmates remained unacceptably large in every subject and at every level, as shown in the detailed reporting on the next page.

■ Proficiency remains far away for most of these students. For example, only 23.9 percent of African American students were proficient or above on the middle school KPREP mathematics assessment, even after this year’s big step up in mathematics results.

The chart above combines each subject’s KPREP results, averaging together the percent of students who reached proficiency or above at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, except that science uses the only high school assessment results.  The Ready Graduates rate combines the four-year graduation rate and the college and career readiness rate for graduates. 

For further detail, with results and improvements at each level and full gap details, check out this one-page display of the trends for this group of students.

It is important to remember that no one assessment can give a complete picture of progress towards meeting Kentucky’s ambitious goals for student learning. Many other kinds of evidence can enrich our understanding of how students’ knowledge and skills are developing.

Still, this one-time snapshot shows us mixed and insufficient results. We clearly must accelerate our work to develop the talents of Kentucky’s African American students, providing the supports, challenges, and opportunities these students and all students need to reach much higher levels of achievement..

Note from Susan Perkins Weston: This post is an early sample from a larger report the Prichard Committee is developing, designed to share news like this for multiple groups of students, build attention to achievement and achievement gaps, and encourage statewide commitment to the urgent work of developing excellence with equity across Kentucky public education. Questions and feedback are especially welcome on this effort, as we're working to make the reporting as useful as possible.

Good News For Students with Disabilities

2016 statewide results show improvement in math, reading and other subjects, with most gaps narrowing

For students with identified disabilities, recently released 2016 results show some important progress, including:

■ Mathematics proficiency increased at all three levels, growing 3.4 points at the elementary level, 2.5 points in middle school, and 0.9 points at the high school level.

■ Proficiency also increased in reading, social studies, writing, and language mechanics.

■ Achievement gaps declined between these students and their classmates without identified disabilities almost across the board, with an exception only for mathematics (where growth was even bigger for students without disabilities).

These results for students with identified disabilities still provide reasons for concern, including these:

■ Science proficiency declined, with gap results improving because scores also declined (and declined faster) for students without identified disabilities.

■ The gaps between these students and their classmates remained unacceptably large in every subject and at every level

■ Proficiency remains far away for most of these students. For example, just over 28 percent of students with identified disabilities were proficient or above on the elementary KPREP mathematics assessment, even after this year’s big step up in those results. 

The chart above combines each subject’s KPREP results, averaging together the percent of students who reached proficiency or above at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, except that science uses the only high school assessment results. 

For further detail, with results and improvements at each level and full gap details, check out this one-page display of the trends for this group of students.

The Ready Graduates rate will combine the four-year graduation rate and the college and career readiness rate for graduates –but graduation results are not yet available for this particular group of students. 

It is important to remember that no one assessment can give a complete picture of progress towards meeting Kentucky’s ambitious goals for student learning. Many other kinds of evidence can enrich our understanding of how students’ knowledge and skills are developing.

Still, these results suggest generally positive movement for Kentucky’s students with identified disabilities. We must sustain and build on that improvement, providing the supports, challenges, and opportunities these students and all students need to reach much higher levels of achievement.

Note from Susan Perkins Weston: This post is an early sample from a larger report the Prichard Committee is developing, designed to share news like this for multiple groups of students, build attention to achievement and achievement gaps, and encourage statewide commitment to the urgent work of developing excellence with equity across Kentucky public education. Questions and feedback are especially welcome on this effort, as we're working to make the reporting as useful as possible.

Preschool Partnership Grants awarded for fiscal year 2017

Bravo to a diverse array of Kentucky school districts and local child care and Head Start organizations for their innovative leadership in partnering to promote school readiness in their communities.

This week, the Kentucky Department of Education announced the completion of the review process for fiscal year 2017 awards to school districts and their partners through the Preschool Partnership Grant program. A total of 23 school districts have received awards for up to $25,000 in Tier I planning grants and 46 school districts have received awards of up to $150,000 for Tier II implementation grants.

Awards can be found at KDE's website.

We commend the leaders from state agencies and advisory groups that worked to advise and fine-tune the grant requirements as well as those who provided technical assistance to potential grantees. This is a major step toward promoting strong partnerships across school districts and child care to increase the number of children served in high-quality, full-day preschool settings - which supports school readiness as well as working families.

As we have highlighted before, the Preschool Partnership Grants were authorized in the 2017-18 biennial budget through a $7.5 million/year set-aside from the preschool appropriation. This year will prove an important time to learn from the efforts of local partnerships, analyze the data, and set the course for stronger partnerships to benefit our youngest Kentuckians well into the future.

Math and College Readiness Are Key Bright Spots in 2016 Data

Here's the Prichard Committee Statement on 2016 school results:

2016 statewide assessment and accountability results released Thursday morning show some exciting progress for Kentucky’s students toward college and career readiness – with mathematics proficiency showing particularly important growth.
Kentucky students have made strong progress in math achievement. The percentage of elementary students scoring at the proficient level in math increased by 3 percentage points, while the percentage of middle and high school students performing at this level increased by 4 percentage points. This is important progress to celebrate because Kentucky has long struggled with mathematics performance.

Even better, the strong mathematics improvement is fully shared by student groups traditionally behind their peers. Students with disabilities, students with low family incomes, African-American students, Hispanic students, and students of two or more races all saw mathematics proficiency increases of 3 percentage points or more.

Similarly, college and career readiness continues to increase. The readiness rate stands at 68.5, up from 66.9 in 2015. Nearly all of that improvement came from growth in college readiness shown on the ACT and college placement exams.

One area of concern is that the 2016 results suggest that the statewide novice reduction effort, designed to lift students above the lowest performance level in reading and mathematics, has yet to realize positive results at scale. In reading, the percent of students scoring at the very lowest level actually increased for most student groups. This is an area where we should pay close attention moving forward.

Now, five years into the implementation of higher standards that better align to the expectations of colleges and employers, it is clear Kentucky is on the right path. We celebrate the educators, parents, and community partners who have been working hard to set high expectations and help more students learn at high levels. It is now more important than ever that we maintain our momentum to increase achievement for all students and close achievement gaps each student.

The Prichard Committee’s recent “Excellence with Equity: It’s Everybody’s Business” report on the achievement gaps in our schools urges Kentucky to redouble its efforts to close gaps and ensure high levels of achievement for each and every student. Closing these gaps is more critical than ever given the increasing need for education and training after high school to ensure the future success of each individual student and the state’s economy and quality of life as a whole. The Prichard Committee plans to analyze this year’s results for each student group and issue a more detailed analysis later this fall.

Additional 2016 bright spots included:

• More elementary students reaching proficiency in reading than in 2015
• More middle school students reaching proficiency in reading, social studies, and writing, making middle school the most improved level overall
• More high school students reaching proficiency in social studies and language mechanics
• More students completing high school, raising the four-year graduation rate from 88.0 to 88.6

Additional areas of concern include 2016 proficiency levels that were lower than 2015 rates for:

• Elementary students in social studies, writing, and language mechanics
• Middle school students in language mechanics
• High school students in English 10, biology, and writing.

The Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence is an independent, non-partisan citizens’ advocacy group. Since 1983, the Committee, made up of volunteer parents and citizens from across Kentucky, has worked tirelessly to improve education for Kentuckians of all ages.