Agenda 2012: Testing Policy | Eastern North Carolina Now

   Publisher's note: Agenda 2012 is the John Locke Foundation's charge to make known their wise political agenda to voters, and most especially candidates, with our twelth installment being the "Testing Policy," found in the Budget, Taxation, and the Economy section, and written by Dr. Roy Cordato, Vice President for Research and Resident Scholar at the John Locke Foundation. The first installment was the "Introduction" published here.

    Between 1996 and 2012, the N.C. Department of Public Instruction authored, field-tested, administered, and analyzed nearly all end-of-grade and end-of-course tests under the ABCs of Public Education accountability program.

    The elimination of several tests and adoption of the Common Core State Standards in English and math will diminish the state's test development role significantly. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that these changes will lead to more reliable measures of students' knowledge and skills than the tests developed by the state in the past.

    Key Facts

    •    Since 2009, the S tate Board of Education and the N.C. General Assembly have eliminated 14 assessments, including end-of-course tests in Chemistry, Physics, Geometry, Algebra II, Civics and Economics, Physical Science, and United States History.

    •    In June 2010, the N.C. State Board of Education unanimously approved Common Core English and math standards. States that have adopted the Common Core State Standards plan to adopt common reading and math tests by 2014.

    •    The federal government is bankrolling the development of common tests based on the Common Core State Standards. The U.S. Department of Education will distribute $360 million in grants to members of two state consortia. North Carolina became a member of the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC). In its role as a governing state in this group, state education leaders will work with public education agencies from 28 other states to shape test-design policy.

    •    Beginning in 2012, students in fifth and eighth grades, as well as those enrolled in a high school Biology course, will take revised science tests that are based on the new North Carolina Essential Standards for Science.

    •    Students in grades 9-12 are required to take three end-of-course tests -- Algebra I, Biology, and English I. The federal No Child Left Behind law requires states to administer all three.

    •    Most district and charter school students will be required to take the PLAN test in tenth-grade and the ACT test in eleventh-grade. The PLAN test assesses students' preparedness for Advanced Placement courses and postsecondary coursework. Institutions of higher education commonly use the ACT in the college admissions process. North Carolina is one of nine states to require high school students to take the ACT.

    •    Selected career and technical education students who are in twelfth-grade will complete the WorkKeys assessment. WorkKeys scores will help students determine if they have the skills needed for a given job or profession. In addition, students who meet WorkKeys standards can earn a National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC). The certificate shows that the individual has met basic requirements for entry into a profession.

    •   North Carolina participates in the federal National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The rigorous NAEP tests are administered infrequently; a representative sample of students is tested in mathematics and reading every two years, while science, history, civics, and geography tests are administered every four years. Because of the nature of the sample, NAEP cannot provide data on individual school districts, only states. In most cases, only fourth- and eighth-grade students are tested.

    Recommendations

    1.    Abandon the Common Core State Standards. While researchers disagree about the English standards' quality, there is a growing consensus that the Common Core math standards are abysmal. Poor standards invariably lead to inferior tests.
    2.    Adopt an independent, field-tested, and credible national test of student performance. There are a number of norm-referenced tests available for students in grades K-12, including the Basic Achievement Skills Individual Screener (BASIS), Metropolitan Achievement Tests (MAT 8), and the Stanford Achievement Test Series, 10th Edition (Stanford 10).
    3.   Set reading and math performance goals based on reputable national tests such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The state should set a goal of at least half of students showing proficiency and 90 percent testing at the "basic" level as defined by the NAEP.


    Analyst: Dr. Roy Cordato

     Vice President for Research and Resident Scholar
     (919) 828-3876 • rcordato@johnlocke.org