Accustomed to their students scoring highly on standardized tests, Wrangell parents may be unsure what to make of results for the new Alaska Measures of Progress (AMP) exam, due for release before the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
First administered in schools across the state earlier this spring, AMP was selected by the Legislature in 2012 to replace its previous Standards Based Assessments test. The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (EED) reports around 72,300 students took part in last year’s examination.
The AMP is administered to students between the third and tenth grades, in the areas of math and English language arts. According to the state rubric, individual scores are assessed in four levels, with scores ranging between a low of 620 and a high of 780. At the top is Level 4, between 727-780, followed by Level 3 at 700-726, Level 2 at 686-699, and Level 1 at 620-685. Levels 2 and 1 are considered to be only partially meeting state standards.
In the district summary report, how each class in the Wrangell School District ranked compared to peers around the state varied. Last year’s fourth graders, for example, scored very well in mathematics, with 78 percent of students ranked in the top two levels. By comparison, only 39 percent of Alaskan fourth graders as a whole achieved at the same level.
Yet the same class scored quite differently in language arts, with 50 percent of students earning Level 2 scores and a further 36 percent scoring at the bottom level. Scores at the state level were not much better, with 60 percent of Alaskan fourth graders ranking in the bottom two levels. For the most part, the majority of statewide scores across all grades tended to fall below target in both math and language.
Looking at the median scores – or the middle number in an ordered list – Wrangell students appeared to be aligning more closely to the target 700 score in both areas of study, and to be scoring better than their peers in nearly all cases.
Between math and language arts, classes are further broken down into sub-scores covering major components of the test. In English, these are writing and reading, with the latter further broken down into reading literature and reading informational texts. In mathematics, sub-scores are given for concepts and procedures, problem solving, communicating and reasoning, and modeling and data analysis.
In a media release from Oct. 9, the EED stressed results would not be comparable to former assessments, as AMP would feature more difficult questions and a different scoring system. The 2015 results were to serve as a baseline for the AMP, the first of a five-year commitment with Achievement & Assessment Institute of the University of Kansas, which designed and administers the test.
EED information officer Eric Fry explained the higher standards were adopted back in 2012 in order to improve Alaskans’ post-graduation prospects. Surveys at the time found roughly 20 percent of Alaskans applying for military service after high school were unable to pass the written exam. And after college placement tests, half of Alaskan students required some form of remedial courses at university.
“Districts across the state are seeing a drop in scores this year,” noted Wrangell Public Schools superintendent Patrick Mayer. While he explained the scores do not indicate any student is less capable, the scaling model is completely different from previous tests.
Teachers last week received reports of their classes’ results, and the school district is awaiting receipt of individual reports to distribute to parents. Mayer hopes to have the results out in local postal boxes before the Thanksgiving break.
Reception of the new tests by various school districts has been mixed. Delay in getting the scores out to districts has caused frustration, as have the lower scores. The Alaska Superintendents Association has called for implementation of AMP in the coming spring to be delayed for further evaluation, and in Wrangell, Mayer said the data received has proven more difficult for teachers to use to inform their instruction than the SBA. The use of student learning data as a factor in math and language arts teachers’ evaluations has since been postponed to the 2016-17 school year, allowing districts more time to decide how to address the standard accurately and fairly.
Mayer said a full report will be presented to Wrangell’s School Board and the wider public in January, once the district’s report card to the public has been released. At that time, parents will have an opportunity to discuss the new tests with the administration in greater depth.
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