Posts from the "Testing" Category
June 23, 2008
NYC students post double-digit test gains; statisticians are dubious
No one was surprised when Chancellor Klein announced today that the city’s students posted dramatic gains on state test scores this year. Charting a clear trajectory of improvement has been fundamental to his reforms. This year, he announced, nearly 80 percent of 4th graders and 60 percent of 8th graders passed the state math test, and about 60 percent of 4th graders and 40 percent of 8th graders passed the state English test. Gains in the last six years, the DOE points out in its press release, range from about 15 points in 8th grade English to more than 30 points on math tests at all levels.
Even before the mayor made his announcement this afternoon, discussion had begun over whether this year’s test scores are a sign of victory, as the mayor believes, or of score inflation and manipulation. In today’s Sun, Elizabeth Green speaks to statisticians who warn that, for many reasons, large-scale score increases are not always to be believed.
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