By RONNIE ELLIS
FRANKFORT — The state’s public schools accountability testing system, CATS, may have run out of lives as key lawmakers appear close to a compromise on its replacement.
The Republican controlled Senate has passed Senate Bill 1, which would replace the time consuming, controversial testing system with a simpler, less expensive multiple choice test. But they’ve done that in past sessions only to see it go nowhere in the Democratic controlled House. But the landscape has changed in the House with the selection of Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, as Speaker, and he’s been more willing to discuss changes to the testing system.
Senate Majority Floor Leader Dan Kelly, R-Springfield, said there’s “been a sea change in attitudes about the need to make adjustments in the test.”
Rep. Harry Moberly, D-Richmond, concedes it’s time to adjust the test, but he doesn’t want to rely solely on a multiple choice test – especially what is known as a norm-referenced test. Such tests compare student performance to that of students from across the country – as opposed to criterion or standards based tests, which measure how much a student knows against established standards of knowledge.
Sharron Oxendine, president of the Kentucky Education Association, said many teachers prefer a multiple choice, “norm-reference” test, but KEA wants to retain a standards based component to any new test.
She said norm reference tests are fine for comparison purposes but they don’t help with assessment because they don’t measure what students specifically know. And such tests, she pointed out, are designed so that half of all students score at the 50th percentile or below. So schools can never place most of their students at the proficiency level on such tests.
Moberly is working on a bill that would add multiple choice questions and that will provide parents comparative data about how students are measuring up against others. But his bill would also retain open response questions and performance standards although those standards would be fewer and more defined than the CATS test.
That dove tails with what the Senate wants – more focused and deeper teaching on fewer, more defined content areas. Oxendine agrees, saying students should have a deeper understanding and knowledge of a narrower set of concepts.
Moberly is also insisting there be more alignment of what is taught in high schools with what higher education expects of enrolling students upon graduation from high school.
Robert King, president of the Council on Postsec-ondary Education, the policy setting body for the state’s public colleges and universities, said there is growing recognition that public schools need to adopt internationally competitive learning standards. He and Kelly said the universities must work together to make sure public school graduates are prepared for college work.
“Higher education should help K through 12 understand and adopt those standards and help develop the assessment for them,” King said. Kelly said universities are “reaching out and starting a dialogue with school districts,” helping them prepare their students for college level work.
Nearly everyone said discussions between Senate leaders, including Kelly and Sen. Ken Winters, R-Murray, who sponsored SB 1, and House members over their differences are going well.
Rep. Carl Rollins, D-Midway, chairs the House Education Committee. He said Thursday, “We’re real close to an agreement. I’m very optimistic.”
Included in discussions about how to re-craft the state’s testing system have been school board members, superintendents and Oxendine and KEA. Rollins said for the most part, all the parties “are pretty much on the same page.”
He said the new test will likely combine multiple multiple choice and open response questions, will be less time consuming, less expensive and will provide ranking data of student performance. Writing portfolios will continue but won’t be part of the assessment, Rollins said.
Kelly said there remain some questions about how to assess open response questions but he thinks new testing technology may make that easier.
Moberly said discussions between the two chambers have been good – “Everybody believes we’re all talking in good faith.” But he said the devil will be in the details.
Rollins said he believes an agreement will be reached which will focus on new standards for accountability. After those are determined, a test to measure performance must be designed and be ready to administer in the 2011-2012 school year. The CATS test, he said, would continue in use until that time.
Ronnie Ellis writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. Reach him at rellis@cnhi.com.
