A new schedule was not the only development in this year’s standardized testing, as postponed assessments for the Class of 2023 show a decline in scores compared to recent years.
SBAC or SBA (Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium) “summative tests,” better known as the 10th grade standardized language arts and math tests, are used as a “‘measure of students’ progress toward college and career readiness in English language arts/literacy and math,” as explained by the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI).
While these tests have previously served as important steps toward graduation at Roosevelt and other Washington State high schools, in recent years students across the state are now provided with a plethora of graduation pathways.
With the intention of “Promoting college readiness, through modified high school graduation requirements,” Washington State passed House Bill 1599 in 2019 which presents high schoolers with 10 new and different “graduation pathways.” For students who do not pass SBA, completion of the academic achievements outlined in these new pathways would fulfill the SBAs previously almost exclusive role. One example of these pathways is the completion of a college level mathematics course, such as Advanced Placement Calculus AB or BC, in place of passing the Math portion of the SBAC test.
The results given for this year were offset by the pandemic. Due to this offset, the class of 2023 took the SBA tests this past fall of their junior year to make up for an inability to take the assessments in their sophomore year. As a result, the class of 2023 scores are now displayed by OSPI as those of fall 2021. Additionally, the last available scores are from 2018-19, before the pandemic halted standardized testing.
According to OSPI, though unusually low scores were returned for RHS students in multiple sections of the Fall 2021 tests, they were especially low in the math portion. Only 47.4% of RHS students who took the SBA last fall met the math benchmark or a score of 2595, compared to 62.6% in 2018-19. Low scores were also returned at neighboring Ballard High School, with only 39.8% having met state standards, compared to 66.6% in 2018-2019.
Roosevelt’s language arts scores fell as well, with only 69.6% of students meeting state standards, compared to 91.3% in 2018-19. This represents an even greater drop (21.7%) than in the math scores over the same period (15.2%).
Though these numbers may seem extreme, the reality is far from it. To further contextualize the situation, Co-Head of Roosevelt’s math department Beth Orme explains,“RHS dropped 1.5% from the 2018-19 [math assessment] results, compared to the State as a whole. Relative to the most recent results, SPS and RHS had a higher pass rate than the State as a whole.”
In response to the lower SBA scores, Roosevelt’s math department “had already acknowledged and planned for meeting students ‘where they were at’ mathematically [in light of the pandemic and its widespread trends of lower scores],” explains Roosevelt’s math department Co-Head, Beth Orme.
This trend in lower scores is present across the nation. “Now, 2021 test scores are being released by states, and nearly everywhere, scores are down, which is what you would expect when a pandemic forces schools to close for months on end and affects teaching and learning in classrooms that stayed open,” wrote Valerie Straussin the Washington Post in Sept. 2021.
“Collaboratively with other school leaders, we knew we would need to supplement both the middle and high school math experience. Just as the pandemic has lasted more than a year, we as teachers are committed to supporting students for whatever time it takes to recover academically.” Orme added.
Though Roosevelt students seem to be having difficulty post-pandemic with SBAC testing, new opportunities and efforts from RHS teachers are being provided to compensate. “Our plan is to meet the students where they are and move forward from there. It will be interesting to see the results for the current testing,” says Christensen.
