When a score is just a number

So in the midst of this year's WIDA-ACCESS administration, WIDA decided to raise the stakes and change the scoring system so that students had to answer more questions correctly to make gains in their scores compared to last year. As reported here by the Baltimore Sun, about half as many students exited as were expected to under the old scoring method. We even got permission to lower the cut score needed to exit, but even with that concession, ELLs simply did not score high enough to exit. We felt the pain as other districts around the state did; only 7 students out of 430 at the high school exited, compared with 17 last year. Granted, the huge influx of new enrollees who are just starting to learn English will need a few years before they have developed enough English skills to pass the test. But when is a score really reflective of a student's abilities, and when is it just a number? When is it a valid data point, and when does it unnecessarily complicate the already gargantuan task of getting students to graduation?

I have no disagreement with the reason why WIDA decided to score differently; students need strong English skills to become college and career ready under Common Core State Standards. It's certain that with such a rigorous (some might say "jacked up" or "roided out") standardized testing regiment for high school students, strong English skills (especially literacy) are essential. But not passing WIDA does not mean that students are not developing the skills they need to succeed. Case in point: of 30 graduating seniors this year, not one exited ESOL services by passing this year's WIDA. Yet their classroom teachers would attest to the knowledge and skills they acquired in their content classes, and they certainly demonstrated the proficiency they needed to show by passing PARCC and HSA exams and completing Bridge projects. A graduating senior who only scored a 3.5 on the WIDA may not be wholly "college and career ready," but they have become proficient enough in English to make it through mainstream high school coursework, and that's incredible progress that isn't measured by the score.

Data driven instruction means that we use information from assessments to plan instruction to meet students' needs. In this year's WIDA score controversy, the data is being used more as a gatekeeper. Non-passing scores mean students need to spend more time in developmental English classes. Yes and no. Of course students benefit from ESOL instruction, sheltered content classes, and accommodations in mainstream classrooms. But we can't keep kids in the ESOL bubble on the basis of one score. Students need to be integrated with mainstream kids and teachers in general ed classes. Besides, we don't have enough ELL teachers at my high school to teach sheltered versions of all 25 graduation requirement classes. We don't offer ELL Algebra 2, or ELL English 12, and there's no reason we need to. If the entire school staff takes ownership of the students' education and is trained in how to reach them through their instruction, such as with SIOP, ELLs can and will achieve in mainstream classes. We do students a disservice by keeping them segregated in ESOL classes for far too long. A lower-than-expected WIDA score does not mean that we "keep" the kids in our classes if they are meeting with success in our classes already. They need to move up and onward towards graduation.

Another concern is that testing conditions do not allow students to truly shine. Crammed into computer labs with random students and teachers, not the ones they know from their classes, students tell us they feel awkward in testing sessions. Many newcomers don't have the computer literacy to navigate a computer-based test. Other more advanced students find the recorded speaking tasks weirdly impersonal compared to how we used to administer and score that part one-on-one. Oh and when a storm in the Midwest knocks out the servers so that your students on the East Coast get booted out mid-test, that kind of puts a damper on their morale.

Is the WIDA-ACCESS score truly reflecting what our kids can do? It is one snapshot from one day - one still photograph from among a year's worth of footage. Should educators and administrators make scheduling and staffing decisions based solely around this number? No, but many do. I applaud administrations that listen to the classroom teachers who can provide dozens of data points (grades, assessments, work samples, anecdotal evidence) that weighs far more than one flawed test score.

Will exit numbers rise next year as we adjust to the new scoring? Or will students flatline again? We'll see. In the meantime, I'll spend some of the summer watching my box set of The Prisoner, starring Patrick McGoohan. No person is just a number.