CB School outperforms Colorado test averages

Exceeding state averages

by Olivia Lueckemeyer

While many debate the utility of state-mandated assessments, scores often attest to a school’s caliber. Recently released test scores for the Gunnison School District demonstrate that the Crested Butte Community School is exceeding state averages in its curriculum and instruction.

The Gunnison Watershed School District administered its first rounds of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) test last spring. The assessment, which administrators claim is meant to measure how well schools are covering common core standards, is administered to grades three to 11 and covers both English language arts and math content areas.

In all grade levels but two, CBCS met or exceeded state averages. Director of curriculum, instruction and assessments Marta Smith spoke to the dedication of CBCS educators when explaining the high scores.

“The great thing about Crested Butte is there is never complacency,” Smith said. “I believe the staff and administration at the community school are continually striving to do better.”

Only the third and fifth grade levels in Crested Butte scored below the state average in the math content area. For third graders, Smith attributed this to several factors, such as a lack of experience with standardized testing, especially those tests administered electronically.

“Those scores are a product of having never done anything like this before,” Smith said. “We were not surprised by this, considering the lack of keyboard skills at that grade level.”

According to Smith, teachers did not feel that the third grade math scores were fully indicative of the students’ abilities. Many pointed to a young child’s inability to stay focused in a highly controlled environment. However, elementary school principal Sally Hensley and Smith have made changes to improve the math program by revising curriculum.

“We did some updating of the math curriculum with money from Fund 26 because some teachers were questioning whether or not the everyday math program was tired and needed rejuvenating,” Smith said. “There is some deep thinking at those grade levels about what we want to do to keep moving forward.”

 

Scores in Gunnison, which together with Crested Butte formulated a district average, were below the state average for the majority of grade levels in the math content area. This is due to Gunnison demographics, which include a significant number of English Language Learners (ELL) and Free and Reduced Meal (FARM) students. To compare, FARM students make up only 8 percent of the CBES student population, while they account for 44 percent of the Gunnison County Elementary School’s students.

“The difference in scores has to do with students who are in many cases not exposed to reading, math and writing because of their socioeconomic status,” Smith said.

Interestingly, Crested Butte scores in both content areas generally improved as the grades increased. Smith attributed this to secondary school principal Stephanie Niemi, who encourages students to keep with the CBCS tradition of scoring high on standardized tests.

“I believe wholeheartedly that Stephanie Niemi and the teachers in the secondary school really impressed upon the students that the Crested Butte student body has consistently performed well on standardized tests,” Smith said. “We must attribute how well the students did to the staff pushing them to do their best.”

English Language Arts content area demonstrated much higher scores in both Gunnison and Crested Butte. At CBCS, grade levels three through 11 exceeded state averages, in most cases by 20 points or more. In Gunnison, grade levels six through ten also surpassed the state norm. This contributed to the district’s overall scores exceeding state averages in every grade except third and fifth.

“Crested Butte knocked it out of the park in language arts—that’s awesome and we need to acknowledge that,” Smith said.

While the PARCC test goes a long way to reflect a school’s performance, its benefit to the individual student is constantly questioned. Results from the assessment take months to receive, at which point students have already moved on to the next grade level, rendering the results useless in addressing individual needs.

In an effort to put a positive spin on the situation, Smith explained that instead of using the results to influence instruction of an individual student, the district observes groups of students and questions whether the results are telling them something they don’t already know.

“The usefulness is to substantiate what we already know or what we don’t know,” Smith said. “It will be rare for us to be able to drill down to the point where this will change the trajectory of instruction for an individual kid.”

Smith was also quick to point out the district’s hesitance to rely solely on one data point. The PARCC results are just one piece of the puzzle in determining what the district must do to improve curriculum and instruction.

“We talk all the time about triangulating data. We never make district or building-wide decisions based on one data point, because it’s not in the state’s interest,” Smith said. “We always want to make sure we are looking at multiple data points and determining next steps based on what a body of evidence tells us.”

Ultimately, Smith describes the PARCC assessment as “fairly irrelevant.” The slow turnaround of results significantly dampers any effect it may have in addressing individual needs. The results will be most useful, Smith says, as each building develops its annual Unified Improvement Plan (UIP).

“We are not surprised by any of these scores and we believe this will just be one part of the story when we develop our UIP,” Smith said. “We already understand our students, and we understand the work it takes to get them where they need to be.”