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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Seven more schools have been added to the 34 previously reported as having failed to meet new minimum proficiency standards.
This was the first time Utah schools have been graded as either passing or needing assistance through the Utah Performance Assessment System for Students -- U-PASS.
It was reported last week that 93 percent of the 540 schools that had been graded were judged to have passed, but 65 schools appealed their reports, primarily on technical grounds.
The tests were for elementary, middle and junior high schools. High schools were not part of the accountability program this year, but will be next year as graduation rates are figured in the evaluations.
The schools that passed either had at least 75 percent of their students deemed proficient in language arts, math and science or had a substantial number of students making considerable progress toward proficiency.
Christine Wahlquist, Davis School District research and assessment director, said she is confident in the state's test result data, even though she appealed results for 55 schools in her district.
"We've pretty well got everything worked out," she said.
Creating a testing and reporting system as intricate as U-PASS's is bound to be difficult, especially the first time it is tried, Wahlquist said. And the stakes are high - for students and for schools.
"(The testing and scoring process) sounds easier than it is," Wahlquist said. "There are a whole lot of points where the conveyor belt has to stop, and things have to be corrected."
Wahlquist filed appeals for 55 schools in the Davis School District because of discrepancies between state and district data. She said that for 53 of those, her concerns have been allayed.
Wahlquist has known for some time that three schools in Davis District did not meet proficiency standards -- North Davis Junior High, Fremont Elementary and Bountiful Elementary.
She isn't sure why two more have been listed as failing.
Judy Park, state director of assessment, said that while the final bugs were being worked out of the formulas that generate U-PASS reports, a tiny programming alteration was made.
"Sometime between the beginning of March and the time we posted results, something happened that caused seven schools (statewide) to switch from passing to failing," Park said. "We had done a little tweaking, but it was so minimal that we didn't think it would affect the final outcome. But some schools that were right on the bubble were pushed over the line."
Park encouraged the districts to appeal when the status change was recognized. "That is only fair," she said.
She said schools on the appeal list will remain there for this year, even if districts come to agree with the state about the outcomes.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
