CONCERNS REMAIN OVER FLORIDA STANDARDS ASSESSMENT

The Florida Department of Education this morning addressed the results of the Florida Standards Assessment Validity Study in a conference call with the media.  While an optimistic view of the results was presented by FLDOE, numerous questions about the results have been circulating, raising doubts that FSA scores can be effectively utilized to calculate school grades and teacher evaluations. To address these inquiries, Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho met with media representatives this afternoon to provide additional perspective on the validity study.  Among the points discussed:

• Many of the test items reviewed by the study were not aligned to Florida Standards. For example, a full third of the items on the Grade 3 English Language Arts assessment did not match the Florida Standards. In effect, the actual assessment fell woefully short of assessing Florida Standards, in fact it assessed standards in Utah, where the assessment was created. 
• The researchers recommended that the FLDOE phase out the FSA items originally developed for use in Utah and replace them with items written to specifically target Florida’s standards.
• The report concluded that test scores should not be used as a sole determinant in decisions regarding individual students, such as the prevention of advancement to the next grade, graduation eligibility, or placement into a remedial course.
• The researchers noted that the number of students for whom critical decisions will need to be made based on their FSA scores is significant.
• While the use of group-aggregated scores has been sanctioned, many cases may exist where high percentages of students in a given classroom or school were impacted by test administration issues. As such, the validity of some aggregated results may still be in question.
• The inclusion of technology enhanced items, prior to full consideration of computer capacity and students’ interaction with the format, was premature.
• The validity study, conducted by Alpine/edCount, cited systemic difficulty during the first administration of the new assessment.  The Executive Summary states:

“The spring 2015 FSA administration was problematic. Problems were encountered on just about every aspect of the administration, from the initial training and preparation to the delivery of the tests themselves. Information from district administrators indicate serious systematic issues impacting a significant number of students, while statewide data estimates the impact to be closer to 1 to 5% for each test. The precise magnitude of the problems is difficult to gauge with 100% accuracy, but the evaluation team can reasonably state that the spring 2015 administration of the FSA did not meet the normal rigor and standardization expected with a high-stakes assessment program like the FSA.”
 
Several conclusions can be drawn from the evidence presented in the validity study:

• Average scores are still suspect in classes, schools, and/or Districts where high numbers of students experienced technical difficulties. 

• It is impossible to determine the extent to which Miami-Dade students and schools have been affected by the Computer-Based Testing (CBT) administration irregularities.  

• We do know that Miami-Dade was a direct target of the cyber-attack cited in the report.

• Given these uncertainties, specifically to schools in M-DCPS, it would be irresponsible for the state to use the Spring 2015 FSA data to make high stakes accountability decisions, such as teacher evaluations or school grades.

• Current plans for the calculation of school grades call for the exclusive use of these results as proficiency scores, without consideration of individual student growth. The lack of the learning gains components this year, which have traditionally served as the hallmark of Florida’s school grading system, would further jeopardize the validity of a school’s letter grade.

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15-DGD/039/JJS

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