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SALT LAKE CITY — The draft report card that will be a key part of Utah's new school accountability program got mixed reviews from state lawmakers Wednesday, with some saying the measures will be built on faulty data and others contending it's a vast improvement from the existing school grading system.
Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, said relying on end-of-level Student Assessment of Growth and Excellence test results as a main source of data to evaluate teachers and schools is "driving him crazy."
Since its implementation in 2014, there have been growing numbers of students opting out of SAGE testing. Moreover, teachers are prohibited from offering incentives to encourage test participation or using test results as part of students' course grades.
"It doesn’t count one iota for the students who take it except for the conscientious ones, and a lot of the conscientious ones, (their) parents have opted them out of taking it in the first place. So we’re holding schools accountable for a test that is flawed on its face, regardless of the amazing stuff you have done to ensure it’s the best measure possible," Stephenson said during a meeting of the Utah Legislature's Education Interim Committee.
"The fact that it doesn’t count for those who are taking it, why then would the Legislature make you count it for evaluating teachers and schools? This is making me crazy, if you didn’t think I was already," he said.
Stephenson said the report card may say more about neighborhoods' relative incomes, education attainment of parents and other socioeconomic factors than conditions in schools.
"We could almost predict which schools are going to score low," he said.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Sydnee Dickson told the committee that while setting standards with respect to the accountability program she had examined data that showed many students experiencing poverty were succeeding.
"There were data that spoke to high numbers of students living in poverty, and they were doing very well. Those were the schools I was curious about. I wanted to know what are they doing differently. I think we always have to fundamentally be thinking about principles of equity, quality education and rigor for all," she said.
Creating an accountability system that looks at growth "is much more amendable to the concerns that you have than just always looking at proficiency," Dickson said.
Whether students are experiencing poverty, learning English or have disabilities, "for accountability purposes, we should be held accountable for educating them well," she said.
Rep. Brad Last, R-Hurricane, said he does not agree that the SAGE testing program is faulty.
"I think the test itself is good. I think our approach to the test is faulty. That is another frustration that I have. There can be no encouragement or discouragement about taking the test or anything like that. We really have neutered the effectiveness of this whole program. Nevertheless, what we have here is far better" than the existing accountability system, Last said.
Others, including Sen. Jani Iwamoto, D-Holladay, questioned whether the data on race and ethnicity drilled down far enough. A single category for Asian/Pacific Islander students includes many subgroups, some high-performing and others who may be struggling.
"There's like 23 different groups of Asian/Pacific Islanders. If you say the Japanese-Americans are doing well, the Chinese-Americans. If you had this information, you'd see the Laotian group is doing really bad. I think these things are so important because you can focus your resources toward this population," Iwamoto said.
"Its all lumped together, and you don't get the specific information who you really need to target."
State education officials said the report card and accountability program are still a work in process, and they want feedback from lawmakers and other stakeholders to refine school report cards and other aspects of the program before its rollout.
Schools will not receive letter grades under the new accountability program envisioned in SB220 until the 2018-19 school year. Email: marjorie@deseretnews.com
