Student Accountability
Last updated June 13, 2006
A revised student testing program was developed during 06-07 and submitted
to the state's budget writers for funds to implement it. Due to the $9.2 million
projected shortfall in revenue for next year, the new testing system is not being
funded. The current DSTP (Delaware Student Testing Program) is due to continue
until 2011.
Renamed the Delaware Comprehensive Assessment System (DCAS), there were even bids
from testing development companies at the Dept. of Education when the Joint Finance
Committee pulled the plug. As a result, the current DSTP will continue through the
2010 testing cycle.
Frequently Asked Questions about
student testing and acccountability
When did the state tests begin
to really count for students, i.e. for retention?
In 2002.
How about for graduation?
2004. Except that Governor Minner suspended the three-tier diploma system before
the end of the school year. She issued an
Executive Order
which directed the Dept. of Education to appoint a national panel of experts
to study and make recommendations about the effects - positive and negative - of
such a system. The experts said that the type of diploma system a state adopts is
a policy/education matter. They did say several times that basing a differentiated
diploma system on one test is not a good idea. Since then, Gov. Minner has once
again suspended the three-tier system in favor of a two-tiered system. Students
who recieve 4's and 5's on their state tests will be entitled to a Distinguished
Diploma. All others will receive the normal high school diploma.
A bill passed, however, in 2005 which
continues the single diploma effective in 2007. However, to receive it, a student
must either meet the standards on 10th grade DSTA tests or meet other standards-based
measures.
What about testing for Special
Education students?
The law says:
"Each local school district, through the individual student's Individualized Education
Program Team or 504 Team, shall determine what assessment the student will take,
as well as the student's matriculation or promotion status and necessary remedial
activities if the student's performance on the assessment is below standard, and
if the statewide assessment is administered, what accommodations and/or modifications
will be utilized. However, no student shall be denied the opportunity to take the
state assessments."
When will summer school be mandatory
for low-achieving students?
Mandatory summer school began in the summer of 2002.
Will multiple indicators be used
for student promotion and retention decisions?
Yes and no. Other indicators will only be used AFTER a student has taken the state
test twice. Then the district's Academic Review Committee can look at other indicators
to determine if the student has indeed mastered the standards.
There are five levels at which a
student may score on the state tests:
Well Below the Standard
Below the Standard
Meets the Standard
Proficient Student Performance (plaque, certificate, endorsement of student
transcript), and
Superior Student Performance (possible college scholarship, plaque, certificate,
endorsement of student transcript).
READING
A student who scores Below the Standard (or Level 2) on the grade 3, 5 or 8 state
Reading test will either attend summer school (beginning next year, not this summer)
and retake the test before going on to the next grade - OR - be promoted and complete
an Individual Improvement Plan; and take the test again. If Meets the Standard is
still not reached after this second attempt at the test, an Academic Review Committee
may use other evidence of the student's performance to determine if he/she has met
the standards. Parents and guardians have the right to appeal the contents of an
Individual Improvement Plan to the district's Academic Review Committee. In either
case, if the second test results are still not satisfcatory, the student is retained.
A student may only be retained for two years. A student who scores Well Below the
Standard (Level I) must attend summer school and pass the test. Promotion with an
Improvement Plan is not an option. If the test is not passed, an Academic Review
Committee may look at other indicators to decide if he/she does meet the reading
standard. Again, such a student can only be held back for two years. The good news
here comes from the recently passed bill which allows additional indicators besides
the state test to be used to evaluate a student who retakes the DSTP but still scores
below Level 3 - but only after summer school or an Improvement Plan is completed.
MATHEMATICS
The same consequences will apply to eighth grade students whose results are Below
or Well Below the Standard in the Mathematics Test.
ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENTS
The state shall identify and certify alternative reading and mathematics assessments
for those students who are unable to take the state assessment as it is currently
administered. Each district - through the individual student's Individualized Education
Program Team or 504 Team - is to determine what assessment the student will take,
as well as the student's graduation and/or promotion status.
ANNUAL ASSESSMENTS
The state is also to conduct ANNUAL testing in reading, writing and mathematics
in grades K through 10 in those grades currently not tested. A process called "work
sampling" will be used in grades K-2. These assessments began in 2001-2002.