Test Scores Delayed Another Week

Of course.

Last week, I wrote about this email from the SDE:

Schedule for Release of Test Scores

OK State Dept of Ed sent this bulletin at 08/14/2013 03:55 PM CDT

Superintendents and District Testing Coordinators

Please see the calendar below for a schedule for the release of test scores.

Test Scores Released	August 23
Districts have 30-day window to verify tests scores	August 29 to September 30
Districts have a 10-day window to review A-F Report Cards	October 10 to 23
SDE staff presents A-F Report Cards to SBE for approval	October 24 BOE meeting

 

As of last night, the timeframe has changed:

Testing Score Posting Schedule and OK Acuity Dual Announcement Letter

OK State Dept of Ed sent this bulletin at 08/21/2013 04:30 PM CDT

Superintendents and District Testing Coordinators

Please see the dates below for an updated schedule for the release of test scores.

Test Scores Released to the CTB Website	August 28
Scores Posted for Correction	August 30
Districts have 30-day window to verify tests scores	August 30 to September 30
Districts have a 10-day window to review A-F Report Cards	October 10 to 23
SDE staff presents A-F Report Cards	October 24 BOE meeting

Why does this matter? Reformers like to act as if schools have ignored test results in the past. This is far from true. Throughout most of Oklahoma, school has already started. Schools have made initial student placement decisions and begun remediation programs based upon preliminary data. As Tuesday’s press release about the testing disruption study made clear, though, the preliminary data is not something we can trust. In some cases, there were major discrepancies between the originally reported raw score and the one issued on the two week report by CTB. In cases in which this has happened, the higher of the two scores will be counted.

Not the more accurate score, the higher score.

And we’re just supposed to accept this. This is the way it’s going to be. If the testing company screws up, so be it. We’ll keep them around, slap them on the wrist, and pretend we punished them. If the scores are wrong, you don’t need to worry. We’ll just count the higher score. If everything runs late, that’s ok…as long as it’s not the school or district missing a deadline. If that happens, well, you don’t want to see what we’ll do if that happens.

We’ll have none of that.

The phrase double standard doesn’t even begin to describe this ongoing debacle.