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Washington Common Core Test (SBAc) Results: Evergreen vs. Washington State

Last week we brought you the results of the Battle Ground School District’s 2016/17 Common Core Test known as the SBAc. You can find that article at: http://www.swweducation.org/?p=4299 

Today we bring you the data for the Evergreen School District (ESD) and show how their test results compare to the Washington State averages. Like the BGSD’s results it is detailed. The report is nine (9) pages in length and can be downloaded by clicking this link: ESD vs WA State SBAC performance 14-15 to 16-17

Let’s walk through the highlights:

  1. Washington State, for ELA,  across the three (3) years of available data, showed slight improvement across all grade ranges tested
  2. The ESD varied a bit. In all but two (2) grades the ELA (English Language Arts) test scores improved and in some cases was 2x better than the State improvement. In two cases (5th and 8th grades) ESD showed a decline.
  3. In Math the State showed slight overall improvements across all grades tested
  4. The ESD, in Math, showed declines in 3rd, 5th and 7th grades with 5th and 7th showing LARGE declines
  5. In ELA, the ESD, 45% to 52% of all students are FAILING
  6. In Math, the ESD, 46% to 62% of students are FAILING

We tracked testing results a 2nd way. We took 3rd grader scores in 2014/15 and looked at them as 4th graders in 2015/16 and then when they became 5th graders in 2016/17. Doing this, some suggest, is a better way to track the same children to see how they do as they progress. Are they scoring lower, the same or better? Here is the summary:

  1. As a whole Washington State showed improving scores ranging from a 1.5 to as much as a 6.5 point improvement
  2. The ESD showed strong gains in the 3 to 4 to 5 and the 6 to 7 to 8 grade steps but showed declines in the  4-5-6 and the 5-6-7 grade steps

Finally, we looked at the demographics for the three (3) testing years and here’s what we saw:

  1. The ESD showed a DECLINE in total students for the 3 year period (-265)
  2. Student ethnic population had a tiny drop (0.066%) in white students
  3. The high school graduation rate improved from 80.1 to 83.5% which was almost double Washington State’s increase
  4. In the 3 years the expenditure per student increased by $2,334 or 22.8% ( a large increase).
  5. The inflation rate for the 3 year period (http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/current-inflation-rates/) was 3% in total so the increase in spending per student is 7.6x the inflation rate.

Summary

  • The ESD did both better and worse than the State as a whole with a higher high school graduation rate which is a positive
  • The spending per student suggests that more money isn’t the answer to improving test scores
  • The SBAc test itself is unvalidated, can’t be used to compare to any other test and is simply a poor method of assessing student performance. The ONLY proven measure of student performance in advanced education and the job market is….GPA (Grade Point Average). Strange how school districts and OSPI are so bent on tests that do nothing to help deliver education. Go check the test example questions for yourself: http://www.smarterbalanced.org/assessments/practice-and-training-tests/ 

What do you think?

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