‘Inadequate’ schools face big test this week

Benjamin Grove

Tuesday, Oct. 13, 1998 | 10:56 a.m.

Tenth-grader Jacob Hicks said Western High School is out to shed the "inadequate" label it received last year after bombing the standardized TerraNova test.

"Everyone has thought that Western students weren't as high quality as students from other schools," Hicks said. "We want to get this off our backs."

According to a new state law, the Nevada Department of Education labels as inadequate schools with low scores on the annual examination. The test covers mathematics, language arts and science.

Last year, 23 Nevada schools -- 13 in Clark County -- were designated as inadequate. Those schools have competed for $3 million in state money for programs designed to help them raise scores.

Western was the state's only high school to fall in the inadequate category. The label stung, Western teachers and students said.

"We were called inadequate just because a bunch of sophomores didn't take the test seriously," Julia Gomez, a senior, said. "Now the whole school has been punished."

A year later, the school has another shot. Western's 640 10th-graders are taking the test today and Wednesday. Results are available in December.

Districtwide, more than 70,000 Clark County students are taking the TerraNova test this month.

The state uses scores from fourth-, eighth- and 10th-graders to label schools. Clark County also tests students in sixth and 12th grade.

In the past, teachers have used the TerraNova test, and its predecessor, the CTBS, to compare the district with others nationwide and identify areas of weakness for students. Many teachers also use the test to place students in classes by ability.

Last year, the Legislature added new importance to the test.

Lawmakers deemed that schools would be designated as "high-achieving," "adequate" or "inadequate," depending on TerraNova scores. Las Vegas' Advanced Technologies Academy, the district's competitive technology magnet high school, was one of two schools in Nevada to earn a "high-achieving" label.

"You have kids here who want to be here," ATA Principal Michael Kinnaird said. "They are considered some of the brightest. They are what I call 'test savvy.' "

Inadequate schools have more than 40 percent of students scoring among the lowest 25 percent of students taking the test nationwide.

Western Principal Ronan Matthew said many of the school's 10th-graders did not take the test seriously last year because it did not directly affect their grades.

"They just didn't do the test," Matthew said. "They knew the test didn't count for anything toward graduation, so they blew it off."

Matthew said that after the scores were released, the school established new English classes and began focusing more on language and mathematics fundamentals.

"I don't think this was a true reflection of the ability of our students," Matthew said. "Now they realize it affects the perception of the school in the community. Our kids are pumped up. Our teachers are pumped up. I don't believe there will be a repeat of what happened last year."

Other schools also hope to avoid the "inadequate" tag.

At Cashman Middle School, teachers did a line-item analysis of last year's test. They pinpointed a number of specific areas of weakness -- multiplying whole numbers and fractions, for example.

Many educators have said the inadequate label unfairly categorizes them. Some teachers and principals have said they face high transience rates and high percentages of special education and Spanish-speaking students.

Cashman principal Evans Rutledge recalls a student he overheard commenting on the media that swarmed his school when the scores were released last spring.

"He said, 'I know why they are here -- it's because we are dumb,' " Rutledge said. "It's a label that is demoralizing. It's a label we want to lose."

Educators also stress that test scores are only one indicator of student achievement.

If a student tests poorly, it could mean that the individual student struggles in certain areas, that his teacher isn't covering the material adequately, or even that the student simply had a bad day, district testing coordinator Judy Costa said.

In any event, low scores are a "wake-up call," Costa said.

"It doesn't mean things can't change," she said.

In preparation for this year's test, teachers and principals say they have not been "teaching to the test," the practice of covering material that teachers know will be on the test. Teachers are not allowed to see this year's test until the day they give the exam.

"If (teaching to the test) occurs, that's not the appropriate preparation," Costa said. "The appropriate preparation is to teach the curriculum."

That's what teachers at "inadequate" Madison Elementary have done since last year, Principal Garrett Kerkstra said.

"I don't think anyone likes to be called inadequate," Kerkstra said. "There are no inadequate teachers at this school, nor are there inadequate students. There are students we simply need to work harder with."