Sisters students shine on tests

There is a general impression -- fortunately, accurate -- that Sisters students do well on state assessments, the annual tests administered by the Oregon Department of Education. Moreover, Karen Withrow, a high school science teacher who also serves as the district's assessment coordinator, says that the performance of local students is improving over time.

Anyone who taps into the district's website (www.outlawnet.com) will find this summary of the latest results: "On the 2003 Oregon Statewide Assessments, Sisters school district students met (or) exceeded the state standards in every assessment at each grade level at a rate higher than the state average. The district is particularly proud of exceeding the state average by at least 10 percent at all grade levels in reading and math."

State tests in reading and math are given to students in grades 3, 5, 8 and 10 every spring. The results are graded on a scale of 150 to 300. The state "standard" for each grade level is expressed in terms of a desired score. For example, in reading the standard for Grade 3 in 2003 was a score of 201. The standard for Grade 5 was 215.

In 2003, 95 percent of Sisters third graders met or exceeded the standard in reading. In the state as a whole, 83 percent of third graders did so.

The reading results for the three other grades tested were as follows, with the Sisters percentage first and the statewide percentage second: fifth grade, 92 and 76 percent; eighth grade, 72 and 60 percent; 10th grade, 68 and 52 percent.

The math tests results for all four grades, again with the Sisters percentage first, were: third grade, 88 and 78 percent; fifth grade, 87 and 76 percent; eighth grade, 71 and 59 percent; and 10th grade, 54 and 44 percent.

The website statement quoted above refers to the fact that at each grade level the proportion of Sisters students meeting or beating the state standard was at least 10 points above the statewide percentage.

Withrow has looked at scores over the eight years that statewide assessments have been used. In reports to the school board she has noted that in each of the four grade levels tested, the proportion of Sisters students meeting or exceeding the state standard has increased fairly steadily since 1996.

In reading, for example, 80 percent of Sisters third graders met or exceeded the state standard in 1996. In 2003, 95 percent did so. Over the same years, the proportion of students who "passed" the test in Grade 5 went from 76 percent to 92 percent; in Grade 8, from 58 percent to 72 percent; and in Grade 10, from 62 percent to 68 percent.

During the same time span, math test results improved as follows: Grade 3 went from 54 percent passing to 88 percent; Grade 5, from 60 percent to 87 percent; Grade 8, from 54 percent to 71 percent; and Grade 10, from 34 percent to 60 percent.

The proportion of students passing the tests in any given year tends to decrease with grade level. That is, a higher percentage of third graders than 10th graders typically meet or exceed the state standard. This is true throughout the state, Withrow says.

Why?

"There are a couple of reasons we can think of for this," Withrow explained. "One might be that kids are dumber (as they get older), but I don't think that's so. Or we could say teachers are getting worse and worse, and I don't think that's happening either. What I really think happens here is that tests gets harder and the standard to pass also gets higher" in the higher grade levels.

Sisters also outshines most of the rest of the state in the proportion of graduating seniors who receive a state Certificate of Initial Mastery (CIM). Although not required for graduation, a CIM is a performance-based indicator of the acquisition of knowledge and skill.

While only 29 percent of graduating seniors across the state received a CIM in 2002-03, according to the Department of Education, 63 percent of Sisters' graduates did so.