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Read comments (4)LB 1157 may not come back to the floor, not without some adjustments and changes, Christensen told those gathered for his weekly telephone conference at the McCook Area Chamber of Commerce.
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Christensen said he does not believe that Nebraska -- the only state in the nation without a state-wide system of testing students' progress -- is at risk of losing federal education funding by not having a state test system. He said, however, that Texas has been fined for not being in full compliance with federal "No Child Left Behind" legislation.
Christensen said he has visited with school officials in his district who are opposed to state testing, who are pleased with the existing STARS (School-based, Teacher-led, Assessment and Reporting System) system in use across Nebraska.
Christensen said he is concerned that a state test system will compare districts without considering their innate differences -- number and training levels of teachers, student-teacher ratio, the percentages of single- vs. two-parent families, English-language learners, working parents, migrant families, free and/or reduced lunch qualifiers. "These things affect test scores beyond just how smart kids are," Christensen. "My fear is, with a state-wide test, that School A (will be graded as) bad because they don't test well. Some schools don't test well, but are still doing an excellent job," of teaching students. He said schools and student progress should be determined on issues besides test scores.
Christensen asked, who better to educate and test students than their local teachers and administrators.
On Monday, March 17, senators adopted an amendment to LB 1157 (see an accompanying story with McCook's curriculum director Gayle Sharkey), and Senator Cap Dierks filed a motion, which is pending, to indefinitely postpone LB 1157.
Online, with all do respect I stand by my statements. As you yourself wrote, a couple of states have something close to what Nebraska does BUT Nebraska stands alone in doing what we are doing. As to the comparisons, since each district develops their own assessments, sets their own cut scores and says if their students are progressing it is not reasonable to compare district to district. I do understand that some individuals make their living off of the current testing procedures but in a global society we need to focus on if our children are goiing to be competitive with those in different districts, states and countries instead of protecting the status quo.
Dennis: Better check your facts. There are other states like Maine and Iowa that are close to Nebraska in process. States that have adopted a State-Wide test are re-evaluating the effectiveness of their process, ie Texas. Just because "everyone" is doing a State Test doesn't mean it is the best way to measure student improvement. In addition, schools may compare results with other schools. All current local STAR's tests are Criterion Referenced and all have been approved by the Nebraska Department of Education, along with several UNL psychometricians. If our Nebraska Department of Education doesn't "know education", we are wasting millions of dollars in supporting this Bureaucracy.
I strongly support LB1157 without the ammendment to give the State Department of Education another $120,000 to help create/adopt a state test. Nebraska is the ONLY state in the union that does what we do on assesssments. Saying the NDE knows education is saying all the other states do not. The problem is what the NDE requires. The problem is that Nebraska taxpayers spent $25 million on STARS and continue to spend on the state and local level. The problem is that there is no independent data that shows that students are achieving more because of STARS. The problem is that the state senators directed the NDE to do specific changes and the NDE did not follow though. The problem is that with STARS I do not know if my child is achieving compared with a child in another district, state or country. The problem is that with STARS each local district develops the tests and decides a "cut score" to say if the kids are learning. The fox is gaurding the hen house. Contact your senators and demand that we have real accountability.
As you well know, Nebraska is required to have ALL of our students meet the Math and Reading standards by 2014. If we combine the STAR and Statewide-Tests this can be accomplished. But with a state test only, this is impossible. Remember making patterns on the achievement test (NRTs) answer sheets? I feel we should leave LB653 in place and allow NDE to do their thing. Teachers must assess students throughout the year and place grades on report cards. Rule 10 states we MUST teach and assess all state standards. They still have to test their students locally. Therefore, let's use the data to supplement our state test. I feel you would receive a more realistic view of student learning. Senators are wrong about the time required to do STARs. Our online consortia require one day per year per tested area (Math, RWSL, SS and Science). No more is needed if schools are efficient with their time. We have already spent $25 Million to put this in place and perfect the process. Since NDE requires all assessments to meet 6 criteria and have completed onsite visits for Math and RWSL, WE can compare apples to apples. I would like to see LB1157 killed and let LB653 be implemented as is by the NDE. They know education!