Tuesday, June 4, 2019

Reading-Gate Scores Rise on Retest

The Mississippi Department of Education issued the following statement.

The statewide pass rate for the 3rd Grade Reading Assessment increased to 82.8% (28,968 students) after students had a chance to retest before the end of the school year. The initial pass rate was 74.5% (26,057 students).

The retest results show the large majority of 3rd graders are meeting the highest reading standard ever required under the Literacy-Based Promotion Act (LBPA).

An amendment to the law in 2016 raised reading-level expectations starting in the 2018-19 school year, requiring 3rd graders to score at level 3 or higher on the reading portion of the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program (MAAP) English Language Arts (ELA) assessment.



“The passing score was raised to get closer to measuring proficiency. Once we raised expectations, students and teachers have proven, once again, they can meet higher academic standards,” said Dr. Carey Wright, state superintendent of education. “We must not let up on our efforts to ensure that all students are equipped with strong reading skills by the end of 3rd grade so they can be successful throughout their education.”

Of the 8,941 students who did not pass the initial test, 7,445 were retested and 2,911 passed the retest. Students have one more opportunity to retest before the start of the new school year. Districts will schedule the final retest between June 24 and July 12.

The Literacy-Based Promotion Act (LBPA) requires 3rd graders to pass a reading assessment to qualify for promotion to 4th grade, unless the student meets one of the good cause exemptions specified in the law. Exemptions apply to certain students with disabilities, students learning English or students who have been previously retained. Local school districts determine which of their students who did not pass qualify for one of the good cause exemptions for promotion to 4th grade. Students who did not retest may have met one of the good cause exemptions.

The LBPA requires schools to provide intensive reading intervention services to students retained in the 3rd grade and to students promoted to 4th grade with a good cause exemption.

In 3rd grade, students begin to make the transition from learning to read to reading to learn. If they are unsuccessful, they will have difficulty understanding grade-level reading material and are at risk of falling further behind each year.

In previous years, the law required 3rd graders to score above the “lowest achievement level.” The new passing score, level 3, indicates a student is approaching grade-level expectations. Level 4 means a student has mastered grade-level reading standards.

Final school- and district-passing rates for the 3rd Grade Reading Assessment and promotion and retention information will be published this fall in the Literacy-Based Promotion Act Annual Report after districts determine the final number of students who meet a good cause exemption.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Alternate Headline-

7,445 third graders given second chance to pass reading test--only 2,911 do.

Cynical Sam said...

And just like that. PFM (pure fucking magic).

Anonymous said...

I don't believe this for one minute !

Anonymous said...

Learn how to read, in one easy lesson.

Anonymous said...

Cheating

Anonymous said...

I’m a bit confused. First, congratulations for the improvement! The articles keep mentioning the expectation levels.

“The new passing score, level 3, indicates a student is approaching grade-level expectations. Level 4 means a student has mastered grade-level reading standards.”

Are they testing to see if kids meet a lowered expectation? If so, why? If so, how many reached level 4? Is this a costume jewelry, cubic zirconia- diamond type rating? Are there any educators on this site that could explain?

Anonymous said...

As they said in "The Wire", "Juking the Stats":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Uonc7BEZ4g

Cynical Sam said...

Everyone receives a trophy. Woo hoo. (Maybe this is how Baby Chok was able to get into law school).

Anonymous said...

It's a miracle I tell ya! There's no other explanation. If Kingfish buys this crap, he's as damned-dumb as that air-headed woman who runs the State Ed Department hopes he is.

There is nothing in this world, short of cheating, that would cause these scores to jump like that. Nothing. Teachers all over the country are being fired for these shenanigans while Carey Wright tells her test administrators and proctors, "I guess you people know your jobs are at risk if we don't see improvement".

Anonymous said...

The industrial education complex in Mississippi is in full out damage control. They're battening down the hatches since the State Auditor's bombshell, and they are terrified of what's to be uncovered next - fear is rampant. They also are freaking out about the new standard, because actually holding back THOUSANDS of students (which is the right thing to do - morally and fiscally) they stand to lose God only knows what other pots of money and federal dollars they've been secreting away into little holes like Oxford per loser racist scumbags like Gray Tollison. DOE is a charlie foxtrot if there ever was one, but the legislature uses it to take care of their friends and personal interests.

Rod Knox said...

The games continue and the more we are told we are winning the worse we are losing.

Years ago the Tupelo paper reported that truancy wasn't a problem early in the school year and then months later a federal program offering financial aid to schools to reduce truancy resulted in there suddenly being a significant issue with absences. But with some grand leadership from the superintendent's office the problem was nipped in the bud with students filling all their desks and federal funds filling the districts budget. Imagine that.

And soon after that the paper reported that 85% of students were performing at grade level but again, a federal program that paid according to how well performance was improved resulted in students improving from 14% at grade level to 80% in one year. And no one ever payed any attention except the proud teachers and superintendent.

But along with the largest budget item in state government comes the greatest corruption.

Anonymous said...

As a teacher, everyone should know - data = dollars. Whether it's butts in the seats (and more often they are NOT), or how many moved to the next grade level, or how many graduated.....it's all tied to state and federal funding related to REPORTED "performance".

As a teacher, everyone should know - teachers are bullied every day into absolute SILENCE. The actual realities of what's not happening in the classrooms isn't relevant.....it's whether or not you want to keep your job.

Not sure if RICO precedents would be met, but the Hobbs Act sure might. "Extortion (of the taxpayers) by force" sure sounds right.....and by virtue of the fascist DOE forcing teachers, staff, administrators to toe the line or else. If anyone's wondering why so many teachers want OUT, and that Mississippi has a teacher shortage - it's due to the culture of: Keep funding levels the same or better at all costs. Make sure the data stays the same or improves.

Generations of Mississippi's children are being politically exploited for financial gain by politicians. Ask anyone. It's the single biggest boondoggle in MS history......and at the expense of its children and youth, and its hard working taxpayers who are powerless due to their corrupt representation.

Rod Knox said...

And it's a real shame 5:47. I had 2 customers who were 'well seasoned' middle school teachers for years and they both left the local public school system disgusted by the lack of support from the administration. From funding to discipline to creative grading to meet objectives they felt there was little concern for actually educating the kids. Both ladies had students they were afraid of but the principal offered no alternative but to ignore them and pass them.

Anonymous said...

I absolutely believe schools game scores and cheat standardized tests, but I find this very plausible. These are 8-year olds. Some may have been one or two questions from meeting the required level. Others may have just had a bad day. One of my kids consistently scores quite highly on his state & NAEP tests. In 2nd grade, he scored something like 50th percentile. He had a bad day. It happens. If you’re worried don’t be, he was back where he should be when they did a practice test at the beginning of the next year.

Anonymous said...

Have these kids been tested for glasses? Perhaps that is the problem.

Anonymous said...

@10:53 That's great for your son, really. But it doesn't apply to 90% of the children in the public school system. They are not being educated. Period. And it's NOT the teachers' fault.

Ophelia said...

I went to a public elementary school in South Jackson (yes, before The Schools Were Ruined) and I distinctly remember the third grade. On our weekly library day, Mrs. Patterson would frown if we tried to check out books that were too babyish. “Leave that one for the first graders,” she would scold, plucking some colorful, infantile, one-line-per-page text from our chubby little hands, “You are reading now! You don’t need pictures!”

That’s back when teachers TAUGHT. Mrs. P. suggested that I check out *The Boxcar Children*, and got me hooked on that series. From that year on, I have never been without a foot-high stack of books by my bed. I wonder how many of today’s barely-literate little savages will be able to say that, decades down the road. It’s not their fault; I’m certainly not saying that, but oh, my, *ou sont les instructeurs d’antan*...

Unknown said...

Of course the past rate went up. Surely no one though otherwise. If they don't go up jobs are on the line (well, maybe not).

Anonymous said...

Funding is on the line, so they threaten select teachers/staff that their jobs might be cut. So, you'd better play ball or else - now, "revise" those scores as a glaring superintendent or administrator stares down at them.

Anonymous said...

The 2nd time around students who obtained a "good-cause" exemption must re-test. Their numbers were included in the percentages that failed the first time. Most "good-cause" exemptions are given to special education students. After that testing though, the students who qualify for the "good-cause" exemption are removed from the percentages of failures, because they are passed-on to 4th grade. It's confusing that's for sure.

As I see it much of the blame for failing numbers lies at the feet of administrators. Teacher's are not allowed to "fail"a students. We are told that the rate of failures (percentages of students who fail) in a school district is one of the components of administrators evaluation. So, students are routinely passed-on. In the district I'm currently teaching in, the superintendent asked for a list of all potential failures at the elementary school. All failures were denied.

The state provides low-performing schools with Reading Interventionist. The interventionist does on-going professional development with the K-3 reading teachers. The micro-management is unreal and I believe ineffective.

The beat goes on....


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