Fewer students pass as State Board of Education defines standardized test scores

BRADENTON -- The State Board of Education set passing scores for state standardized tests based on Education Commissioner Pam Stewart's recommendations Wednesday, and adopted a new formula for calculating school grades based in part on those test scores.

The range of passing and failing scores will give parents and teachers more context to raw data and percentile rankings previously released by the state. The scores place students in levels ranging from one as the lowest to five as the highest. The new score ranges were necessary this year after students took new tests last spring.

A third-party firm hired by the state determined the new tests are valid for making group-level decisions. Alpine Testing Solutions of Orem, Utah, said the tests administered by American Institutes for Research are valid for teacher evaluations, overall school scores and setting achievement levels, but cautioned against solely using individual scores to determine whether a student is promoted to the next grade, needs remedial coursework or graduates high school because students statewide had difficulty completing some online exams.

After a lengthy process, which included multiple panels and different formulas, the State Board of Education acted on the recommendations by setting the raw grades for all levels of scores, all while acknowledging this is a transition year.

"Those steps were important for us to take and go through in order to be able to come forward with recommendations for this board," Stewart said.

The decision allows the state and districts to see how students scored on the controversial new exams taken for the first time in spring 2015.

The scores sets the bar for future tests. Standards and exams typically have a lifespan of seven to 10 years.

"If we proceed cautiously, we do everybody a good service," Chairwoman Marva Johnson said. "We leave the opportunity to make a better decision based on all of the data."

The exams, based on new state standards, replace the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests, and are called Florida Standards Assessments. The new FSAs are a modification of the Common Core standards, which are more difficult than previous state standards.

While level three is a passing score, board members said they wanted to make clear it is considered a "satisfactory" grade but does not mean the student is "proficient" in the subject. Newly designed student report cards will indicate what each level means.

A level one score is "inadequate," level two is "below satisfactory," level three is "satisfactory," level four is "proficient" and level five is "mastery" of subject matter.

The board also approved a new formula for setting school grades, A through F, for each school in a district. Final 2014-15 school grades are being calculated and will be released Feb. 9, according to the Florida Department of Education.

At a September State Board of Education meeting, members indicated they want tougher standards than Stewart proposed. Ultimately, the state board voted 6-1, with vocal opponent vice chairman John Padget voting against, to approve Stewart's recommendation.

"My vote will reflect my personal, deeply held conviction," he said. "I have to vote my conscience."

A number of school superintendents surged commissioners to trust the process Stewart had used and to vote in favor of her recommendations to help restore trust in the system.

Since the recommendations came out in the fall, the district devised preliminary level numbers and school grades late last year following the proposed recommendations Stewart laid out, said Cynthia Saunders, deputy superintendent of instruction.

"It was all simulated and temporary," she said.

Those numbers are now formalized and, as expected, fewer students passed statewide.

Meghin Delaney, education reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7081. Follow her on Twitter@MeghinDelaney.

This story was originally published January 6, 2016 at 8:08 PM with the headline "Fewer students pass as State Board of Education defines standardized test scores ."