To Understand Indiana School Letter Grades, You May Need a Doctorate Degree...

School letter grade rankings are now published for Indiana Schools and School Districts.  Our school, Silver Creek Elementary, received a grade of "B".  This grade follows six years of "A" (exemplary academic progress) for our school.

I would like to quickly tell our stakeholders why Silver Creek Elementary dropped from an A grade to a B grade, but I cannot.  The Indiana system of previous school letter grades had a six year history.  In each of those years, I could have quickly explained why we earned an "A".  The new letter grade system is not quick nor easy to understand or explain.  The new system requires several computer logarithms for the computations.

As I have written in the past, all Indiana school rankings are based only upon a few hours of ISTEP testing.  So, the letter grade is not a measure of quality learning; the letter grade is a measure of test performance.  I have earlier blog posts that explain why quality learning  can never be determined by one test.  Quality learning can only be measured by multiple assessment, which are completed by a team of human beings (not by test scoring machines).  You will find those earlier posts on this blog site.

I want to share my background in educational assessment to add validity to my post.  I have served as an Indiana school principal for 37 years and I have worked with educational assessment during each of those years.  I have taught educational assessment at two major universities in Indiana for over 20 years.  I have taught both bachelor degree students and master degree students.  I am still teaching at the universities.

In this first "post-letter-grade" blog post, I would like to explain the difference between a criterion-referenced test (CRT) and a norm-referenced-test (NRT).  Comparing a CRT to a NRT is not like comparing apples to oranges.  Comparing CRT t NRT is like comparing apples to elephants.  And, you know what?  One should never confuse an apple with an elephant, and certainly should never confused a CRT with an NRT.  But, in Indiana that is exactly what has happened.  State officials talk about CRT and NRT as the same and that is just wrong.

A Criterion Referenced Test compares the score of an individual to a standard of success.  As an example, if 100 runners were in a 5K race, the standard of success could be set by the coach as a 27:00 minute (or better) finish.  In this scenario, all 100 runners could succeed, could get an A.  The runners know they are running to beat 27:00 (the goal set by the coach).  Some runners may not beat this time, but that is up to their individual performance.

A Norm Referenced Test compares the score on an individual to the performance of other people who took the test.  As an example, if 100 runners were in a 5K race,  the standard of success will be how many runners did you beat.  The time you ran is not scored, only how many runners you beat is scored.  The standard of success could be set by the coach as finish above average in the race.  In this scenario, only 50 runners could succeed, could met the goal, because "average" is the 50th percentile rank.  Any runner, who is 51st place or worse, did not succeed.  The 51-75 runners may have fantastic finish time, under 26:00, but they fail.  The time does not matter; what matters is how many did you beat.

The six years of the old Indiana School Letter Grades were calculated as a CRT.  Each school knew the pass score of the ISTEP and worked to make sure students met or exceeded the score.  At Silver Creek Elementary, our students passed ISTEP in the mid-80 percent range.  We were ranked as "A" for six years.  Under this system, every Indiana school could earn the A rank, 100% could meet the standard.

The new Indiana school ranking grades were calculated as a NRT.  Each school still knows the pass score of the ISTEP, but the new letter grade is based on a student's improvement in ISTEP scores as compared to other Indiana students.  Under this Norm Referenced Growth System, it is impossible for all Indiana schools to succeed.  Under the new NRT letter grades, Indiana has to have failures.  Failing is built into the system by definition.

Specifically, a student in Indiana can achieve Pass+ on the ISTEP but be marked by Indiana as a "loser" in growth.  The passing student is compared to other passing students and some of those students have to be listed as "failures" in growth.  Why?  Because the growth letter grade model is NRT, the state will draw a winners-losers line at some percentage of the students.  The line may be at 50%, or 30%, or 10%; but, it has to be drawn somewhere.  Some percentage of high scoring students have to be ranked as losers because students are being compared to students.  So, some school may have over 85-95% of students pass the ISTEP, but the school may be ranked at C, D, or F.  Local school superintendents know the flaws and are trying to get the system changed.

Every classroom test that you took as a student was CRT.  Every test we give in the classrooms at Silver Creek Elementary are CRT.  We want every single student to have the opportunity to succeed depending on his/her work and performance.  Failure is not built into the student grading system at Silver Creek Elementary.  I wish I could say the same for Indiana, but I cannot.

Looking at CRT versus NRT is only the first stage of understanding the new state system for school letter grades.  My next blog post will cover standard error of measurement.  I will explain why a test score is never the truth, but only a brief snapshot of performance.   Until next time,

Dr. David E. Losey, Ed.D.