District can’t explain away poor scores on key exam

Monday, Jan. 26, 2004 | 11:07 a.m.

When Clark County students scored lower than had been hoped on a statewide proficiency exam, school officials said it was because results for all students -- even those with limited English proficiency -- were included in the overall total.

But a comparison of the districtwide results -- with and without the scores for 8,800 students with the lowest level of proficiency in English -- show little difference overall.

"That tells us we still have a lot of work to do," said Agustin Orci, deputy superintendent of instruction.

Even with the lowest-scoring group of students removed, the district's overall scores on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills improved by no more than two points at any grade level in any subject area.

Given last fall, the Iowa Test measured student proficiency in reading, language, mathematics and science at grades three through 10. District scores overall showed a slight decline from the 2002 test.

In grades three through five district students scored near or above the 50th percentile -- the national average. Student performance decreased in the higher grades, with scores ranging from a low of the 39th percentile for sixth-grade reading to a high of the 48th percentile for eighth-grade mathematics.

In past years the district did not include scores from students in the English Language Learner program until they had been in the district three years or more. The federal No Child Left Behind Act lowered that threshold to one year of ELL instruction.

Because of the change in the law, the district was required to include test scores from 8,800 students with "partial Limited English Proficiency" -- the lowest level of comprehension.

At all grade levels ELL students performed significantly below their peers, sometimes scoring only half the percentage points possible for the test. At the third-grade level, LEP students scored 23, compared with the district average of 47. When the scores for the partial LEP students were removed from the total, the district average reading score for third graders rose to six percentile points to 53.

Because more than 6,500 of the 8,800 partial LEP students in the district are in elementary school, removing their scores had a bigger impact on test scores for the lower grades, said Karlene McCormick-Lee, director of assessment and accountability for the district.

"There are a lot of entry-level jobs in the Las Vegas Valley, and as a result we have a many young families with small children," McCormick-Lee said. "If we want to see achievement really start to climb for the ELL students that's the group we need to be targeting."

The strong scores of former ELL students demonstrates that the program is working, Orci said. The district's most immediate goals are to improve literacy in the middle and high school grades and move as many students as possible beyond ELL status, Orci said.

ELL students should not be used as scapegoats for low test scores districtwide, said Clark County School Board Vice President Larry Mason. Last year's test results showed that former ELL students outscored their mainstream peers across the board, Mason noted.

"When given the appropriate educational instruction these kids thrive," Mason said. "And in the long run they raise the scores of entire district."

Melba Madrid-Parra, director of the of the district's ELL program, said Friday she had not yet seen the test scores for students in her program and could not comment until she had reviewed the results.

Test results for former ELL students were not immediately available.

The Iowa exam, norm-referenced test that scores students in comparison to their peers, may not be used by the state to measure "adequate yearly progress" under the federal act. The criterion-referenced test, which will be given in March, measures students against state and national standards, is used to determine "adequate yearly progress." Nevada officials use the Iowa results to determine remedial state funding for struggling schools.