By Harold Reutter
harold.reutter@theindependent.com

But she's sure about one thing: High-stakes testing is coming to Nebraska.

However, Steve Burkholder, assistant superintendent for student learning for the Grand Island public schools, believes there are high stakes and then there are high stakes when it comes to testing students.

Burkholder said he doesn't believe Nebraska will have high-stakes testing compared to other states. He sits on one of the committees that's preparing for the change to the new system.

For years, Nebraska has had a unique system that allows each school district to develop its own assessments for reading and math.

As a result, Brown said, Northwest administered numerous assessments in reading and math throughout the school year.

She said the district reported five or six assessment results, which determined whether it met "adequate yearly progress," or AYP, standards under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Now, Brown said, LB1157 mandates that there will be a statewide assessment for reading starting in 2009-10, a statewide test for math in 2010-11 and a statewide science test in 2011-12, with reports issued for third through eighth grades and one high school grade (The Nebraska State Report Card now only gives results for fourth, eighth and 11th grades).

Having a statewide assessment in those subjects will allow a rank ordering of all Nebraska school districts from first place to last place, Brown said.

"I think that (rank ordering) is the major point in this law," Brown said.

"I don't know how fair or accurate that is," she added, noting that student achievement may vary by district simply because of school demographics.

She also said she's not sure that the point of education should be how well one school district ranks against another based on a single test.

Brown anticipates the tests or assessments will be given to all Nebraska students on a single day or within a designated window of one or two weeks. She said tests will be administered sometime during second semester.

Comparisons will happen, Burkholder says

Burkholder agreed with Brown that there will be a limited window for students to take the test and that the public will be able to compare school districts. But he still doesn't believe that will constitute truly high-stakes testing.

All Nebraska school districts make their students take the same writing test, Burkholder said, and nobody seems bothered by that practice.

Even under the current system, he said, the public checks on whether their school "did better" than neighboring schools, even though individually created tests make such comparisons invalid.

"If we're going to be compared, I'd rather have it done on tests that are comparable," Burkholder said.

He said the Grand Island public schools do "formative" assessments to guide teaching during the year but have relied on a single "summative" test to show how well students have mastered material. That summative test is the only one reported to the state.

Burkholder believes that will make it easier for Grand Island to transition to a single statewide test for reading, math and science.

Some states have high-stakes testing in which the only things students at some struggling schools do is study reading and math, Burkholder acknowledged.

Music, art, recess, family and consumer science, and even topics such as social studies and history get shoved aside in a classic case of narrowing the curriculum, he said.

Burkholder said that phenomenon happens mostly in states that adopt punitive measures, such as threats to close schools if students do not score high enough on tests.

Some states have linked high school graduation to passing a single statewide test, he said.

Faced with a school closing or students not graduating, the only important thing in low-performing schools is kids passing the test, he said. Nothing else matters.

Burkholder doesn't think Nebraska will take such a punitive approach with its own schools and students. People may be able to compare schools, but that's still not high stakes compared to the practice in other states.

He acknowledged that is a minority viewpoint among most Nebraska teachers and educators.

Tests should be performance-based

Brown and Burkholder have closer but not identical views on what kinds of tests will be developed and exactly what they will measure when it comes to Nebraska's curriculum standards.

Brown wonders whether some of Nebraska's statewide curriculum standards, painstakingly developed for each grade, will just be ignored because they are not on one of the three statewide tests.

For example, Brown wonders how a test will measure reading fluency, which is most easily judged when a student reads aloud and a teacher can hear how smoothly the sentences are read.

She also wonders how speaking will be measured as part of Nebraska's curriculum standards.

Burkholder agrees that speaking will not be assessed as part as part of a statewide test. He also agrees that things that get assessed tend to get emphasized by teachers.

However, he believes a multiple-choice reading comprehension test will give some idea about reading fluency. That's because there is a high correlation between the ability to read fluidly and the ability to comprehend the material, Burkholder said.

Burkholder has more concerns about the math and science tests.

He doesn't believe multiple-choice tests in math and science will be able to assess higher-order skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving.

Like the Nebraska six-trait writing test, math and science tests need to have a performance-based aspect, Burkholder said.

In writing, students must actually write something to demonstrate their ability to 1) come up with ideas or content, 2) organize their ideas, 3) use good word choice to precisely convey their ideas, 4) write in fluid sentences, 5) use the proper conventions (spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.) and 6) develop a "voice" that is lively and has a personal flavor.

Burkholder said six-trait writing requires some subjectivity in scoring. But with enough training, different people can examine the same piece of writing and come up with consistent scores.

Burkholder said he would prefer performance-based aspects on the math and science tests that also would require some subjectivity by scorers. Just like writing, Burkholder said, people could get enough training to make even subjective scoring very consistent.

"That's not going to be easy or inexpensive," Burkholder said.

He predicted an "interesting conversation" perhaps rising to the level of a battle over whether Nebraska uses an easier, less expensive multiple-choice test or whether it takes the harder path of having performance-based math and science tests that show what students can do, not just what they know.

Again, Burkholder agrees with Brown. The most important thing about the new tests shouldn't be the ability to rank schools or how easy the tests are to score.

Like Brown, Burkholder said state tests should make sure schools are preparing students to succeed in life.

Heineman calls test law 'a new era'

Gov. Dave Heineman has praised LB1157 for introducing a new system that requires a specific and uniform testing plan for Nebraska's K-12 school districts.

"This bill is the dawning of a new era in education assessment for Nebraska," Heineman said. "It is an opportunity to focus on educational excellence and academic accountability and will help showcase academic excellence by Nebraska students in comparison to other states."

Under LB1157, the governor will appoint a technical advisory committee of national testing experts to advise state leaders including the Legislature, State Board of Education and the Department of Education on the development of statewide assessments and a statewide testing plan.

State Sen. Ron Raikes, chairman of the Legislature's Education Committee, said, "We can and should have a system where districts appropriately use local assessment without the burden placed on teachers to become assessment experts. Teachers can take the positive experience of understanding and using assessment data to improve instruction."

Heineman said, "LB1157 will provide Nebraska the opportunity to highlight schools with long-term and consistent academic success and share their success story with every Nebraska school."