Thursday, September 30, 1999
Want your child's test scores? Ask around
BY CINDY SCHROEDER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
When Kentucky revamped its educational testing system last year, state educators pledged the new way of testing would make schools more accountable.
Not only would the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System, or CATS, give a more accurate picture of how schools were teaching, it also would show how students were learning, officials at the Kentucky Department of Education said.
However, the state offered no guidelines for releasing individual test scores and telling parents what they meant.
Instead, those tasks were left to individual schools, resulting in a myriad of practices that can cause confusion.
“While we don't recommend that schools give parents other students' scores, it's pretty much up to the schools how they release individual test scores, and help parents interpret them,” said Lisa Gross, a Department of Education spokeswoman.
The new test's components are the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills, which shows how Kentucky students in grades 3, 6 and 9 compare with others across the nation; and the Kentucky Core Content Tests, with multiple-choice and open-response questions in reading, math, science, writing, social studies, vocational and practical skills, and arts and humanities. The latter test is given to students in grades 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11 and 12.
In Northern Kentucky, methods for releasing individual scores on the state assessment test vary widely.
Some schools release individual scores at parent-teacher conferences in the fall. Others hold meetings to explain the scores and answer parents' questions. Still others send the scores home with students, mail them to students' homes, or pass them out with report cards — along with a note to call the guidance counselor, principal or district assessment coordinator with any questions.
“My suggestion to the buildings has been to have some type of open house and take a few minutes to explain the test scores,” said Diana Heidelberg, assessment coordinator for Campbell County Schools. “The state depends on us at the school level to get that information out to the parents.”
Too often, test scores can be confusing or misleading, if school staff members aren't properly trained to interpret them, and parents don't know the proper questions to ask, local educators said.
Carrie Dickmann, a Union mother of three, said it wasn't until her youngest child took the CTBS that she learned to look for an index measuring whether a student is working to his or her potential in the subject areas tested.
“Unless you have a teacher or counselor who's very well-versed in the cognitive-skills index, I'm not sure they'll be able to explain what your child needs to work on,” said Mrs. Dickmann, a four-year member of the Boone County school board. “Even though your child's scores may be good scores, she may not be working up to her potential.”
Mrs. Dickmann said she would like to see more training for teachers, counselors and members of site-based councils on how to interpret test results, and use them to enhance student performance.
She also would like to see parents and teachers better understand different learning styles to meet individual students' needs.
Ann Murray, who has three children at Boone County's Ryle High School and three at New Haven Elementary School, said that she has been pleased by the information she's received on school test scores. However, she is concerned that more parents don't attend school meetings to discuss test results.
“With so many students and only a few administrators, parents need to go that extra step, and ask what they need to know,” Mrs. Murray said. “There's no question in my mind that if you need additional information, it's there for you.”
N.Ky. schools at top, bottom on skills tests
Want your child's test scores? Ask around
How districts release scores to parents
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