Students score low on new test

Thursday, Dec. 5, 2002 | 11:29 a.m.

About half of Nevada's third and fifth grade students failed to meet state standards in reading and math on a test designed to serve as a federal benchmark of whether the state's school system is working.

Of third graders who took the Nevada Criterion Referenced Examination last spring, 51 percent met the standards in the math portion and 51 percent met the reading requirements. Of fifth graders, 47 percent met reading standards and 50 percent hit the mark in math.

The test was designed to gauge students' knowledge of what they were taught during the school year. The state Board of Education sent the results of the test, in its first year, to the federal Department of Education.

The test will be used to gauge student progress in the state as part of the No Child Left Behind Act and will help determine federal funding.

"The low results are scary," said Assemblywoman Vonne Chowning, D-North Las Vegas, who serves on the state council that oversees academic standards. "We're seeing in black and white just how much work will have to be done if we're going to satisfy these new federal requirements."

The No Child Left Behind Act calls for all students to meet a state level of proficiency by the 2013-2014 school year. The proficiency test given last spring was an attempt by the Legislature to find the level of proficiency. That level will be set by the Legislature and the state Board of Education in the next two years.

Nevada educators and lawmakers who have reviewed the report issued this week by the state Education Department said the results, while troubling, were not surprising.

Nevada students have fared similarly on nationwide exams, said Dr. Keith Rheault, deputy superintendent of the state education department.

"We've known all of our kids weren't meeting the standards but we haven't been able to do much to change that," Rheault said. "The federal government has said it's tired of states knowing and not doing anything about it, which is why we have No Child Left Behind. Now our performance is right in the public eye and we'll have to work to meet those federal requirements, not just our own."

Officials say the state faces several difficulties, pointing to test scores that broke down the results by ethnicity, gender, English language learners (ELL) -- who are not native English speakers -- and whether students qualified for free and reduced meals.

The state tested 57,841 third and fifth graders tested statewide. Of those, about 13 percent were classified as ELL and about 36 percent qualified for the free and reduced school meals.

Overall, students who were not proficient in English scored at least 20 points below the average at both the third and fifth grade levels.

Students who were on free and reduced lunch programs scored between 14 and 16 percentage points below the average. Studies have long shown that students who eat regular meals perform better academically, both on a daily basis and on standardized tests.

Educators and lawmakers say Nevada's schooling problems are unique, given the rapid growth of the state. Southern Nevada gains about 5,000 new residents each month and some schools receive new students on a daily basis.

The Clark County School District, the nation's sixth-largest with more than a quarter-million students, has a student transiency rate of more than 36 percent and a surging ELL population. More than 45,000 students are enrolled in ELL classes, a figure that's expected to climb to 80,000 in the next two years.

Schools with large numbers of non-native English speaking students will likely struggle to meet the new federal testing standards, said Mark Lange, director of the school district's ELL program. Under the new law schools will no longer be allowed to classify students as ELL if they've been in the district three years or more, regardless of the child's actual ability, Lange said.

"We'd like to think that all of our ELL students would be able to test alongside their peers at that point, but realistically we know that's not the case," Lange said. "I'd hate to see schools with large immigrant populations punished because they're not able to meet the benchmarks."

Test scores for Clark County's third and fifth graders have not yet been released by the school district.

Nevada officials were already working on plans to improve student achievement prior to the passage of federal education reform. In 1997 the Legislature created the Council to Establish Academic Standards, made up of lawmakers, state education officials, teachers and administrators.

Sen. Ann O'Connell, R-Las Vegas and a member of the council, said the low scores for the state's ELL students reflect the significant challenge facing educators. There's a broad range of students coming to Nevada, some of whom have had little or no formal education, O'Connell said.

"We certainly have our work cut out for us," O'Connell said. "We have children in our district who come to us at all different levels of ability and experience, and we have to figure out how to reach all of them."

Chowning said she is concerned that Nevada won't receive the extra federal funding needed to raise the test scores.

"We need smaller classes and teachers with specialized training, and that all costs money," said Chowning, who is also a member of the council. "What's the outcome going to be if we just wind up having to tell more and more kids that they're failing?"

Wendy Weisbart, a second grade teacher at Ruth Fyfe Elementary School in northwest Las Vegas, said Wednesday she's seen her students improve dramatically thanks to an after-hours program paid for with a grant from the U.S. Education Department. Six Clark County campuses operate 21st Century Community Learning Centers, which offer homework help, arts and crafts, science labs and field trips.

"The attitudes of the students are just incredible," Weisbart said. "We tie behavior and academics together, and they learn quickly that they have to focus during the day if they want to participate."

Clark County officials hope to expand the program to additional campuses using grants through the No Child Left Behind Act. The Fyfe program was not awarded a federal grant for next year and must find alternative funding to continue, Weisbart said.

"We're looking for community partners, anyone who could help us pay for the basics," Weisbart said. "If people want to see test scores improve, this is a great way to do it."

The new federal law requires tests for students from third grade on as a way to measure performance. Testing will be phased in over the next five years.

State officials are already debating a change in the criterion test just unveiled.

The Legislative Committee on Education last month approved a bill draft to use an enhanced version of the nationwide exam for grades three through eight.

Lawmakers are considering using another test -- the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, a nationwide exam which replaced the TerraNova this fall -- and adding portions of the criterion test to it.

Sen. Bill Raggio, R-Reno, has said he wants to ensure Nevada's students are able to meet not only the state's standards but those set by the federal government as well.

Judy Costa, director of testing for the Clark County School District, said she favored replacing the criterion test with a combination of the nationwide exam and material based on Nevada's standards.

"Some people are adamant about (national-standard based) tests and say you have to see how we measure up to the rest of the nation, while others believe you must test what you're teaching," Costa said. "To blend elements of both arguments is really an interesting solution."

Costa said which ever test version the state endorses, the new criterion tests are helpful in showing how specific segments of student populations are performing.

"It's an early detection system," Costa said. "We can look at a student who has been in our school for one year or one day and get an idea of where he's at."