High School Test Score Gains Lag Behind Earlier Grades

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Achievement at Advanced Level Declines in Many States

While high school scores on state English language arts and math tests have risen since 2002 in most states, new data show smaller proportions of states making gains in high school compared with 4th and 8th grades. The data, published in the Center on Education Policy’s new report, also show a striking lack of progress and widening gaps at the advanced level in many states.

CEP’s report, State Test Score Trends Through 2008-09, Part 5: Progress Lags in High School, Especially for Advanced Achievers, is based on state test results from 40 states and the District of Columbia. States were included if they had at least three consecutive years of test data through school year 2008-09 for the high school grade assessed for the No Child Left Behind Act, generally grade 10 or 11.

High school students in more than three-fourths of the states analyzed made gains in average test scores and percentages of students scoring proficient, the study found. But compared with grades 4 and 8, a smaller share of states made gains and a larger share showed declines. In addition, high school gains tended to be smaller than gains in grades 4 and 8.

“These trends show that progress in raising achievement is lagging in high school, so these students may not be adequately prepared for life after graduation,” said Jennifer McMurrer, CEP research associate and co-author of the study. “The data can’t tell us why, but we can speculate about contributing factors, such as institutions and instruction that aren’t meeting the needs of high school students, low student motivation, and fewer resources for remediation at high school compared with the earlier grades.”

The study also reveals a lack of progress among high school students at the advanced achievement level. Although the percentage of high school students reaching the advanced level has increased since 2002 in a majority of the states analyzed, one-third or more of these states showed declines at the advanced level for high school students. Declines at this level were more prevalent at high school than at grades 4 and 8.

Progress has also lagged at the advanced level for major groups of high school students, including racial/ethnic minority students, low-income students, and boys and girls. In a large majority of the states analyzed, all of these groups made gains in both average test scores and percentages scoring proficient. But fewer states posted gains

for subgroups at the advanced performance level. In English language arts, the percentage of students reaching the advanced level declined in one-third to one-half of the states analyzed for all groups except Asian Americans.

“We’re not sure what’s behind these troubling declines at the advanced level,” said Nancy Kober, CEP consultant and co-author of the study. “Clearly, some students aren’t taking challenging courses like algebra and geometry early enough. High achievers may also be getting less attention amid the intense focus on bringing students to proficiency. It’s also possible that they are more motivated to score well on the SAT or AP tests, which have more impact on their future, than on state tests.”

Moreover, achievement gaps have often widened at the advanced level in high school, in contrast to a broad trend of narrowing gaps for high school students at the proficient level and in average test scores. Gaps in the percentage of high school students reaching the advanced level widened more often than they narrowed, especially in math. The African American-white gap in advanced high school achievement widened in two-thirds of the states analyzed, and the Latino-white gap widened in three-fifths of these states.

“These trends show a need to rethink high school education,” said Jack Jennings, CEP’s president and CEO. “The adoption by 44 states of common academic standards for high schools affords us the opportunity to do that.”

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LGBTQ-identified Students At Higher Risk than Straight-identified Students

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New research findings reported in “Inequities in Educational and Psychological Outcomes Between LGBTQ and Straight Students in Middle and High School” highlights differences between LGBTQ- and straight-identified youth in health outcomes and educational equity. The research appears in the October 2011 issue of Educational Researcher.

University of Illinois scholars Joseph P. Robinson and Dorothy L Espelage, who conducted the research, found that “youths who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ) are at a greater risk of suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts, victimization by peers, and elevated levels of unexcused absences from school.”

Their rigorous analysis of LGBTQ subgroups showed that bisexual youths appear “to be particularly at risk.” They also found that gaps in school belongingness and unexcused absences “are significantly greater in middle school, which suggests heightened early risk for LGBTQ-identified students.”

From a policy perspective, Robinson and Espelage believe that their study lays the groundwork “for new research in the development, implementation, and effectiveness of programs and policies, aimed at improving the educational experiences of LGBTQ youth.”

For their research, Robinson and Espelage surveyed a large, population-based anonymous sample of more than 13,000 students spanning middle to high school in 30 schools in Dane County, Wisconsin. This sample was unique and more likely reflects “the full spectrum of LQBTQ students,” they said, because it included middle school students, not just high school students, and students who identified themselves as transgender. “The sample recruitment methods did not specifically target sexual minority students,” they added.

Schools have opportunities from an equity and opportunity-to-learn perspective to help LGBTQ students who have lower levels of belongingness and higher levels of truancy, particularly in middle school, the researchers suggested. Early intervention may be crucial. In addition, they wrote that “incorporating discussions about sexual orientation and sexual identity in bullying prevention programs may contribute to safer environments and more positive outcomes for LGBTQ youth.”

In the journal article, Robinson and Espelage cited other pertinent research findings about bullying that have been reported within the past five years. For instance, they wrote “that a large percentage of bullying among students involves the use of homophobic teasing and slurs” and that “the pervasiveness of antigay language in schools suggests that most school environments are hostile of LGBT students.” Despite increasing interest, they noted that “very little is known about the rates of cyber-bullying among LGBT.”

At the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Robinson, Assistant Professor of quantitative and evaluative research methodologies, focuses his research on causal inference and quasi-experimental designs, policy analysis and program evaluation, and issues related to educational equity and access. Espelage, Professor of Educational Psychology, concentrates her research on bullying and peer victimization, homophobic teasing, and sexual harassment among adolescents.

Through this study, which “goes beyond prior studies in identifying heterogeneity and differential developmental trends,” the University of Illinois researchers hope to raise awareness of educational inequities related to LGBTQ and to pave the way “for interventions aimed at improving psychological and educational outcomes for these students.”

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Peer Review: Getting Serious About Teacher Support and Evaluation

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For this study, SRI International and J. Koppich & Associates examined the peer assistance and review (PAR) programs in the Poway and San Juan school districts in California. This is not the first study of these exemplary programs. Indeed, one of the reasons they selected the PAR programs at these sites was because of their reputations for excellence. Given the current tumultuous policy environment, the authors believed a fresh look at these programs was in order.

Policymakers Are Looking For Effective Solutions for Evaluating Teachers

Teacher effectiveness and evaluation are topics in high policy relief. Policymakers continue to seek means to appropriately support and gauge the efficacy of teachers‘ classroom practice and strategies to ensure that successful teachers are in the classroom. How to accomplish this is an ongoing policy and practice dilemma. The authorsbelieved that an intensive examination of these programs might point toward possible solutions.

Both Poway and San Juan gave the authors extraordinary access to their programs and participants. Most important, the unions and the districts provided the authors with redacted files that documented the support and evaluation work of the Consulting Teachers and the progress of participating teachers. In addition, the districts provided the authors with the principals‘ evaluations of the participating teachers so that we could compare traditional evaluation methods with peer review.

Peer Assistance and Review Programs Provide Rigorous Evaluation and Support

All this led the authors to two key conclusions about the work of the Consulting Teachers, those carefully selected experienced teachers who provide intensive support and conduct the evaluations of teachers in PAR:

* Peer support and evaluation can and should coexist. The experience of Poway and San Juan illustrates that integrating support and evaluation can be a more effective approach to improving instructional practice than isolating one from the other.
* The programs in Poway and San Juan clearly show that PAR is a rigorous alternative to traditional forms of teacher evaluation and development. In an era when policymakers are calling for better teacher evaluation, our research shows that peer review is far superior to principals‘ evaluations in terms of rigor and comprehensiveness. Equally important, peer review offers a possible solution to the lack of capacity of the current system to both provide adequate teacher support and conduct thorough performance evaluations.
* Governance Boards Lead to Better Collaboration between Districts and Unions
* While we were not surprised by the quality of the Consulting Teachers‘ work, we were surprised about the central role of the programs‘ Governance Boards. The Governance Boards not only ensured that the Consulting Teachers‘ evaluation of participating teachers were based on solid evidence, but also that the Consulting Teachers‘ focus was on improving instruction. Most surprisingly, the Governance Boards turned out to be problem solving forums where district officials and union leaders collaboratively addressed routine operational and policy problems.
* Finally, we found that these districts built their PAR work on strong foundations of labor-management cooperation. More than simple collaborative efforts, the partnerships developed through PAR enabled union and management together to make high-stakes decisions about teacher practice and evaluation.

Recommendations for State Policymakers, Districts and Unions

This study points to some important policy and practice changes for the state, and districts and their local unions to consider. These changes could lead to markedly improved opportunities to ensure effective teachers in California classrooms.

* The state should eliminate current statutory barriers to comprehensive PAR programs. At present, the Education Code section on PAR (Section 44500) allows the program for only tenured teachers. This policy could be broadened to enable support and evaluation for all teachers to come under PAR.
* Local districts and unions interested in the PAR model should reexamine their teacher evaluation policies. This reexamination should have an eye toward implementing the kinds of in-depth support and evaluation that are the hallmarks of these exemplary programs in Poway and San Juan. Districts and unions can work to refine their practices around individualized support for beginning and struggling tenured teachers and look to experienced teachers to expand the pool of professionals available to do this work. They can use what they learn about new ways to support and appraise beginning and underperforming tenured teachers to rethink their evaluation systems for all teachers.
* Local districts and their unions should use lessons learned from the work of the Poway and San Juan Governance Boards to improve labor-management collaboration. They can work to form cooperative union-management partnerships authorized to make decisions about high-stakes matters. Such partnerships would imbue these labor-management relationships with a “share the wealth, share the pain” significance that could render tough choices fair, credible, and workable.

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