|  |
 |
|
'Reading First' Flunks the Test, Part Three |
Bill Hudson | 5/8/08
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In Parts One and Two, we have been looking at the somewhat controversial Colorado Reading First program, a highly standardized — and well-funded — instructional method aimed at combating low reading test scores in the elementary grades.
On the national level, the $6 billion Reading First program is under investigation on charges of corruption in the selection of vendors. The expensive national program has also failed to show any benefits to the schools using it, according the first big study of reading achievement that compared Reading First schools with schools who don’t use the program.
CSAP test scores for Pagosa Springs Elementary School third graders, who have been taught under the Colorado Reading First program for three years, this week showed the worst reading test scores for any third grade in Pagosa history, according the Colorado Board of Education (CBE).
Though I readily admit to having no expertise in analyzing test scores, I yesterday proposed for possible explanations for the third grade’s low test scores.
Option One: The teachers at Pagosa Springs Elementary School did a terrible job with this particular group of third graders, and the school really ought to be disciplined — or at least given $150,000 to try and fix what’s wrong.
Option Two: Any given group of third grade students has an organic intelligence level, and it doesn’t really matter what system you use to teach them, they are going to turn out basically the same anyway.
Option Three: The whole standards-based, test-score driven system is a big, sad joke and the scores really mean nothing at all.
Option Four: All of the above.
 As it turns out, the Pagosa Springs Elementary School has chosen to continue using the Colorado Reading First program for at least another year. Although the program is unpopular with some teachers there, it’s hard to turn down the $216,000 coming from the state of Colorado to fund the program. The elementary school has been especially hard hit by declining enrollment over the past three years, and the Reading First money will help keep some “reading specialists” on board for at least one more year, despite pending budget cuts in other areas — such as the school library.
I had the pleasure yesterday of speaking with Archuleta County School District Assistant Superintendent Bill Esterbrook about the poor third grade scores. Esterbrook, who formerly served as principal of Pagosa Springs High School, has become the district’s expert on test scores and curriculum — and is in fact consulting with other area school districts in the area of curriculum development.
Esterbrook speaks with great enthusiasm about the usefulness of test scores in tracking student progress throughout the district, and in our interview, seemed unsurprised by the low scores shown by our third graders — though he did show concern about the scores.
“You would like each group of kids to do better than the last group — but we know that’s not going to be possible. When our 2007 group of third graders started using the Colorado Reading First program in second grade, 75% of those students were already at grade level for oral reading fluency. The 2008 group of third graders started in first grade with Reading First, but only 59% of them were reading at grade level.”
The implication is, the 2007 group had a head start. The 2007 group had scored 83 on their third grade reading CSAPs. This year’s group scored 73 — 10% lower than the average for the past five years.
Esterbrook notes that the district uses several other tests, besides the CSAP tests, to track student progress. He says that one problem with the CSAP test — a problem which he suggested might limit its accuracy — is that third graders are required to write their answers to the reading comprehension test. Thus the test is not only a test of reading comprehension, but also of writing ability.
Of course, this would be true of all third graders throughout Colorado, so I did not fully understand how this detail would affect the overall validity of the test in terms of state-wide scoring.
At any rate, I was left with the impression that Esterbrook felt the recent CSAP scores did not accurately reflect the benefits of the well-funded Colorado Reading First program at the Pagosa Springs Elementary School.
I went back to the CBE report, as it appeared this week in the Denver Post, and looked for evidence of Esterbrook’s theory that any particular group of third graders come into the CSAP process with its own innate starting position. In other words, if this year’s group of third grader — about 100 students — had an unusually low number of talented readers back in first grade, then it would tend to get low reading scores all the way through 12th grade. At least, that's how I interpreted Esterbrook’s comments.
If you look at the following CBE chart, you can track classes from third grade into fourth grade. The 2003 third grade class becomes the 2004 fourth grade class, and so on. If you look at the general pattern, you can see that a class that does unusually well in third grade tends to do well also in fourth grade, a year later. The PINK highlighting tracks one particularly talented group of readers from third grade in 2003 into fourth grade in 2004.
But this is not always the case. Note the BLUE highlighted Math scores for the 2006 group of third graders — the lowest of any year — and compare their relatively higher 2007 scores when they hit fourth grade — the highest of any year. An anomaly? An especially talented fourth grade teacher that year?
Continued…
Comparing third and fourth grade scores state-wide, Esterbrook notes that scores tend to decline significantly in fourth grade, not only in Pagosa but in many other communities. Esterbrook suggests that this decline reflects a much more rigorous test in fourth grade, and an overall need to improve reading instruction — state-wide — to accommodate the additional testing areas.
For comparison purposes, I decided to check out the third grade reading scores for neighboring Bayfield School District. Their third grade readingscores over the past three years show an even more precipitous decline than our Pagosa scores.
I called Bayfield and was able to speak with Karen Rodberg, the administrator in charge of reading programs. She said the district has not been able to determine why their scores have dropped so rapidly over the past three years. Continued…
When I mentioned the Colorado Reading First grants here in Pagosa, Rodberg noted that Bayfield has not benefited from any CRF grants so far, but added eagerly:
“I would just love to use the funds for all the great things, all the great comprehensive reading programs. Now that we have sustained a decline — we also went down from 81 to 75 in our third grade reading scores — we are considering changing the jobs of two of our Title I teachers, to have them work, perhaps, as peer coaches.”
Maybe Bayfield will qualify for Colorado Reading First as well, now that their scores have dropped. Assuming Congress doesn’t cut the program completely, due to its poor scores on the national political level. |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|