Department of Education responds to Sgouros post

Tom Sgouros’ as a graduation requirement caused quite a stir yesterday.  As such, RIDE spokesman Elliot Krieger sent me this email yesterday afternoon:

Commissioner Gist has been forthright about the changes in our interpretation guide regarding the use of NECAP. She has developed a prepared statement that she has used in several presentations, and we have presented this statement to some in the media who have asked for her comment on this point. For example, I know we provided this statement to a TV reporter in late January – probably to others, but I don’t have a complete list. Here is the statement; the context is significant, not the highlighted passages only:

The NECAP assessment is designed to measure whether students have attained the knowledge and skills expected at each grade level, that is, whether students have met grade-level standards.

We use the results of the NECAP assessments for several purposes, including communication with parents, guiding instruction for individual students and groups of students, evaluation of educators, classification of schools, and accountability for schools and districts – as well as in determining readiness for graduation.

Nothing in the design, construction, or administration of the NECAP assessments prevents them from being used in the process of making decisions about educational programs and referrals, promotion, and graduation. Confusion about this point arose because of some language in the initial interpretation guide that all NECAP states used. That language said:

NECAP results are intended to evaluate how well students and schools are achieving the learning targets contained in the Grade Level Expectations. NECAP was designed primarily to provide detailed school-level results and accurate summary information about individual students. NECAP was not designed to provide, in isolation, detailed student-level diagnostic information for formulating individual instructional plans. However, NECAP results can be used, along with other measures, to identify students’ strengths and weaknesses. NECAP is only one indicator of student performance and should not be used for referring students to special education or for making promotion and/or graduation decisions. (Highlights added)

Clearly, the point of this passage, in context, is that single-administration NECAP results alone should not be used for making graduation decisions.

We have since clarified the language in this passage to accurately describe the proper use of the NECAP assessments, and this language is in our current guide:

Use of NECAP Student-Level Results NECAP results are intended to evaluate how well students and schools are achieving the learning targets contained in the Grade Level and Grade Span Expectations. NECAP was designed primarily to provide detailed school-level results and accurate summary information about individual students. NECAP was not designed to provide, in isolation, detailed student-level diagnostic information for formulating individual instructional plans. However, NECAP results can be used, along with other measures, to identify students’ strengths and weaknesses. NECAP is only one indicator of student performance and results of a single NECAP test administration should not be used for referring students to special education or for making promotion and/or graduation decisions. (Highlight added)

Neither the first version of the guide nor the clarification referred to test construction, design, or administration, but rather to the philosophy about the use of test results.