At a time when some states are adjusting their definitions of proficiency in reading and math to comply with federal mandates, California’s standardized tests for third through eighth graders are among the most rigorous in the nation, according to a study by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
Under the No Child Left Behind Act, states are required to set a standard of proficiency and design a test to measure how many students meet that standard. California sets high standards in comparison with those of other states, the study found.
The report, which was released Oct. 4, looked at the results of California students’ standardized tests along with those of students in 25 other states.
California’s high standards are commendable because they encourage high performance, said Jeffrey Kuhner, a spokesman for the Fordham Institute.
“We think California should be quite pleased with the results,” he said.
In all of the states studied, results from state-developed standardized tests were compared with those of a test developed by the Northwest Evaluation Association, a nonprofit testing organization.
Ron Dietel, an assistant director of the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies agrees with Kuhner that California’s rigorous definition of proficiency in reading and mathematics is good for public education.
Setting the bar higher, he said, leads to greater learning.
California’s assessment standards were developed with help from universities including Stanford and UCLA, Dietel said, adding that he believes the standards are some of the best in the nation.
Deb Sigman, the testing director for the state of California, said California’s definition of proficiency has been consistent for some time.
“Our system (of testing) has been in place for a number of years and it has been built with the rigorous content standards that have been affirmed by Fordham and others,” she said.
However, despite California’s rigorous definition of proficiency, California has performed relatively poorly on a national test administered by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also called The Nation’s Report Card, Dietel said.
This low performance can be attributed to the diverse social and economic backgrounds of California’s students and the poor quality of education in some districts, he said.
Sigman said the National Assessment of Educational Progress test and the state tests that the Fordham Institute studied are not comparable, adding that California chooses to include many disabled students and English learners that other states omit in the NAEP test.
Across the nation, the Fordham Institute study found states have adjusted their definitions of proficiency to better comply with the No Child Left Behind Act.
Kuhner said the Fordham Institute views the ability of states to set their own standards as a flaw in No Child Left Behind.
“Why should the students of California or Washington be given a better education and have more expected of them than students in Texas?,” he said.
The report also found that tests for students in eighth grade tend to be harder than those given to students in third grade, in terms of grade-level appropriate work.
“We’re strongly recommending that (states) calibrate the third grade tests all the way to the eighth grade tests,” Kuhner said.
The No Child Left Behind Act is set to be renewed this year. Many in Congress are considering ways to encourage states to raise their standards.
With reports from Bruin wire services.