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Colorado students scored dismally in new science and social studies test results released Monday, a sobering development as the state enters a new era of standards and tests meant to be more demanding.
Just 17 percent of Colorado fourth- and seventh-graders scored “strong” or “distinguished” in the state’s first social studies tests. That means those students are on track to be ready for college and a career.
In science, 34 percent of fifth-graders and 32 percent of eighth-graders hit those marks in assessments given last spring.
The results are a test run for advocates of tougher standards and tests. Those supporters will face a similar situation — and possible backlash — after a larger round of tests this spring based on the politically divisive Common Core standards in math and language arts.
In portraying the social studies and science results, state officials were careful to emphasize two points — that the standards and tests are unique to Colorado, and low scores were anticipated.
“These new expectations and these scores are not an indication our students know less than they used to know,” said Joyce Zurkowski, executive director of assessment for the Colorado Department of Education. “It is instead a reflection of the increased expectations of our students.”
The science results cannot be compared to previous scores from the Transitional Colorado Assessment Program, or TCAP, and its predecessor, CSAP, Zurkowski said.
Colorado adopted new science and social studies standards in 2009. Districts were required to put them fully in place by the 2013-14 school year.
To measure students’ mastery, the education department, educators and publishing giant Pearson Inc. developed new online tests, the Colorado Measures of Academic Success, or CMAS.
The racial achievement gaps were stark in the results released Monday. In fifth-grade science, 13 percent of black and 15 percent of Latino students were strong or distinguished, compared with 46 percent of white students.
High-performing charter schools and district-run schools in affluent areas scored highly.
Districts in poor rural areas and close-in Denver suburbs posted the lowest scores. On average, just 6 percent of students in Commerce City-based Adams County School District 14 scored strong or distinguished on the tests.
In Denver Public Schools, 11 percent of fourth-graders and 12 percent of seventh-graders scored strong or distinguished in social studies. Twenty percent of fifth-graders and 22 percent of eight-graders did so in science.
Find your school’s results at co.chalkbeat.org
“The results are not where we want them to be long-term,” said Alyssa Whitehead-Bust, DPS’s chief academic and innovation officer, adding they were not a surprise.
“We obviously feel we have the opportunity to really grow and ensure deeper levels of command for students.”
Kerrie Dallman, president of the Colorado Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, said the social studies scores reflect a narrowing of curriculum to focus on writing, reading, math and science — subjects from past state tests.
“I would call it a perverse incentive that has resulted from years of too much focus placed on TCAP and CSAP results,” she said.
Under a 2010 state law, student academic growth will be one component of teacher evaluations starting in 2015-16.
Dallman acknowledged the low scores on the new tests provide plenty of room for growth. But she said using the scores for professional development and helping students will improve results more than using them to hold teachers accountable.
Jack Daly, a social studies teacher at Hi-Plains High School in Seibert, said the new tests should appeal to teachers.
Past “regurgitation tests” rewarded memorization, said Daly, who contributed to developing the social studies assessment.
For instance, a past test may have asked, “What year did Columbus sail and what were the names of his three ships?” Daly said. The new tests might ask a student to review Columbus’ diary entries and consult maps in providing evidence for an answer.
The social studies scores “are shocking but not surprising,” Daly said. “These are difficult tests. These are tests asking different things of our students than we have in the past.”
Eric Gorski: 303-954-1971, egorski@denverpost.com or twitter.com/egorski
