Testing results please educators

"Catholic schools in the Diocese did an outstanding job with the fourth grade language arts exam," said Thomas Fitzgerald, assistant superintendent for administrative services.

"I'm pleased with the scores," he added. "It was the first time taking the test and the first year of a new curriculum."

Scoring

Overall, 67 percent of Albany diocesan Catholic school students scored in levels three and four, while 33 percent scored in levels one and two.

For comparison, 53 percent of non-public school students in the state scored in levels three and four, while 46 percent scored in levels one and two. In the state's public schools, 48 percent scored in levels three and four while 52 percent scored in levels one and two.

Skewed reporting

The media "reported for both the public schools and the non-public schools inaccurately," he charged. "Levels one and two are not failure, nor are levels three and four passing," but some press reports referred to "pass" and "fail."

The performance levels, he said, were not created to indicate passing or failing. Rather, they were created to help teachers identify students who need extra help in order to meet the state's new rigorous curriculum standards and high school graduation requirements.

The state Education Department agreed. "This certainly was not a pass/fail test," said Bill Hirschen, a spokesperson for the Education Department. "It was an achievement test."

Simplistic reports

"Journalists wanted to make it palatable," she said. "To reduce it to that [level] made it simplistic."

But the test was far from simplistic. Given over a three-day period in January, it required students to write essays and take notes on passages read aloud, as well as answer questions on the passages.

Successful

"The praise doesn't go to one teacher," she said. "We have an excellent teaching staff."

Children were prepared for the exam throughout the year. Students did a lot of writing assignments as well as reading and listening comprehension. "Our teachers read to our children," she said. "Our children are used to listening."

Parents' role

Parental involvement is key for all students whether they are in public or non-public schools, according to the State Education Department.

"Participation of parents is vital," Mr. Hirschen said. "There is a greater chance at experiencing success. A higher degree of parental involvement leads to better test results."

Snow days

"This doesn't reflect what the children could do," said principal Sister Kathleen Pritty, RSM. "Some of these kids do better."

At St. Joseph/St. John's, students had less than ideal testing conditions. The test was administered to all schools during the same week in January. For students in Rensselaer, that week was filled with two snow days and a snow delay, leaving students with two-and-a-half days to complete the test.

"It's a wonderful test," Sister Kathleen said, "but the kids had a terrible testing experience."

An independent panel that analyzed and examined the administration of the test recommended that the State Ed Department study alternative test dates in order to avoid testing students in periods when severe weather might occur.

Late start

The change in the curriculum had some parents at St. Joseph/St. John's concerned, the principal said. The new curriculum focuses on writing. While spelling and grammar are important, they are no longer the focus of the curriculum. Sister Kathleen said parents wondered why students weren't diagramming sentences.

She wonders what effect the parental attitudes about the curriculum had on the support given to the students at home as they worked on school assignments.

The principal is confident students will do better next year because "now everybody knows what were dealing with."

Not a failure

"It was unfair and disheartening for them," Sister Kathleen said.

She said the release of the school's marks to the public was unfortunate. "The state was wrong to release the marks," she said. "We didn't have time to prepare in-house."

Sister Carol agreed. "I feel we were betrayed," she said. "We were told by State Ed we could voluntarily make results known."

Releasing info

"We have always made non-public scores available to the media and to individuals," he said. "What is new is the amount of attention given by the media."

He said there were 12 requests from newspapers across the state as well as from the Associated Press for non-public school scores. The news agencies had to request the scores for the specific schools they were interested in, he said. "No press release was sent out for the non-public schools," said Mr. Hirschen.

Apples and oranges

Educators say the scores can't be compared. "The Education Department has made no effort to compare public and non-public," Mr. Hirschen said. "There's a difference. It's comparing apples to oranges. We didn't compare."

Sister Carol said the success of Catholic schools can't be measured by tests. "To use test scores to rate a religious school is to see part of the picture," she said. "How do you measure spiritual growth? How do you measure moral development?"

While public schools were required to take the test, non-public schools could voluntarily administer the test. Dr. Fitzgerald said the schools of the Albany Diocese chose to take the test because it could serve as an important tool.

"We voluntarily chose to take the test so we would have additional information for the classroom teachers and parents," he said. "The original purpose of the test is being turned around on both public and non-public schools."

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