Love ’em or loathe ’em, they count

It’s a Colorado ritual hailed by some and loathed by others. A summertime moment when the state unloads hundreds of thousands of standardized test scores on the public.

The sheer glut of numbers is intimidating, yet parents plunge into them in search of their children’s schools. Many educators wait with trepidation, wondering if the scores will elicit pats on the back or finger-pointing.

This year’s Colorado Student Assessment Program results, which were released Tuesday, will prompt some of each.

Statewide, students appear to be struggling most in science and higher-level math. Fewer than half of students in fifthand 10th-grade science scored proficient or advanced, and just more than half of eighth-graders got those scores. In ninthand 10th-grade math, only about a third of students scored proficient or advanced. Reading continues to be one of students’ strongest subjects overall.

Schools in the Pikes Peak region’s 17 districts earned some of the best and worst scores in the state. The region’s most affluent areas remained home to the highest-performing districts. Lewis-Palmer School District 38, in the Tri-Lakes area, Academy School District 20, in northern Colorado Springs, and Cheyenne Mountain School District 12, in the Broadmoor area, achieved the highest scores overall, far exceeding state averages.

All three perfect scores earned in the region came from Cheyenne Mountain.

But fewer than 20 percent of students at many schools in the region tested proficient or advanced.

CSAP is praised for raising achievement and blamed for sterilizing education. The scores are used as a tool by some, as a label by others.

The 2007 results mark the 10-year anniversary of Colorado’s standardized testing program. Love it or hate it, one thing is certain after a decade: This annual drill has redefined Colorado public education.

“Schools stand or fall based on CSAPs,” said Dave Grosche, superintendent in the rural Edison School District 54JT. “I’m amazed looking back 10 years what this has done.”

CSAP began in 1997 when fourth-graders were tested in reading and writing. It capped an effort at the time to measure and strengthen literacy. The test is now given in four

subjects across eight grade levels.

And the stakes are high.

The results determine a school’s standing under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. They decide a school’s rank on state-issued report cards.

Earlier this year, the region’s largest district, Colorado Springs School District 11, decided to close one of its middle schools in part because of a history of low scores.

Educators say 10 years of CSAP have ushered in a culture of accountability and data crunching. The test preceded No Child Left Behind and many other assessments now commonly used.

Schools use CSAP data to hone their curricula. Many educators credit CSAP for educational gains realized by constantly looking at what works and what doesn’t.

Others say a data-driven culture has stifled the creativity of teaching to the moment and comes at the expense of the arts and other subjects.

Falcon School District 49 teacher Alyce Dalzell is a 29-year education veteran with 17 of those years in Colorado. She concedes that there’s less spontaneity in teaching since CSAP but said teachers now have a clear idea of what students should know and when they should know it. Before, it was easy for a new teacher to become distracted from those benchmarks.

“Kids should have to demonstrate knowledge on the things you ask them to know and be able to do,” said Mike Miles, superintendent in Harrison School District 2.

It was up to school districts to define what students should know before CSAP, and those decisions were largely based on textbooks alone, said Academy School District 20 Assistant Superintendent Maggie Lopez.

Today, volumes of CSAP data help direct resources to the most-needed areas. CSAP is just one of the assessment tools many districts use today, but it was the first and remains one of the largest.

Still, even those who rely heavily on CSAP and praise its reforms concede that people sometimes place undue weight on the scores. Teachers and administrators are quick to point out that CSAP is a snapshot, yet they say they are often judged as if it’s the only measure of success or failure.

Miles, in Harrison, says CSAP has been used at times to “vilify” public education.

The public nature of CSAP testing has created new pressures on teachers and students, some say.

“I would say overall, I think people, educators, feel it’s a tougher profession in 2007 than it was in 1997,” Miles said.

Dalzell said that she and many teachers look forward to what CSAP results reveal about their teaching, but that there’s a fear in some schools and districts about what administrators or school board members will do with the scores.

For Grosche, in Edison: “There’s more to a school than just the CSAP.”

Educators predict the next 10 years of CSAP will bring new discussions about what students should know, what tests ask them, and how scores are used. As CSAP changes, they say, so will the schools.

A DECADE OF CSAP 1997

2 Number of CSAP tests (fourth-grade reading and writing)

14,204 Number of students in the Pikes Peak region taking at least one CSAP test

51,691 Number of students statewide taking at least one CSAP test

A DECADE OF CSAP 2007

27 Number of CSAP tests (third- through 10thgrade reading, writing and math, plus fifth-, eighth- and 10th-grade science)

63,290 Number of students in the Pikes Peak region taking at least one CSAP test

455,699 Number of students statewide taking at least one CSAP test