MSAs shorter, but not easier, school officials say

Nationwide comparison questions were pulled from state tests

‘‘We used the comparative tests to inform parents of how students were doing nationally, and also to inform the state how our children were doing nationally,” said William Reinhard, a spokesman for the Maryland State Department of Education. ‘‘But we learned it was not a big enough sample to really give an accurate reading of how the kids are doing. It became superfluous, so about a year and a half ago we made the decision not to use the test in 2008.”

The remaining questions were the main part of the MSAs — which are given to students in grades three through eight to rank their knowledge in math and reading — and focused on subjects specified in Maryland’s curriculum, education officials said.

‘‘The difficulty was absolutely the same,” said Ronald A. Peiffer, deputy state superintendent of academic policy. ‘‘If dropping this portion of the test would have made it easier, then you would have seen an uptick in the results, but we didn’t see that.”

State testing experts analyzed the results to make sure they were within the expected range, Peiffer said. ‘‘They were about what you would expect,” he said. ‘‘We absolutely stand by the results.”

In results posted last week, schools across the state made significant improvements. The gains extended to Prince George’s, where student performance at all grade levels increased.

Students made double-digit gains overall in several categories, including a 15 percent gain in fifth-grade reading to 77.1 percent, and a 12 percent gain in seventh-grade reading to 69.7 percent this year.

Though county students’ scores have been on the rise every year since the tests began in 2003, overall scores in Prince George’s continue to rank second-to-last in the state, beating only Baltimore city.

Peiffer said the state only used the baseline tests initially to make sure assessments were in line with other state tests. Since then, every state has developed its own assessment to meet national No Child Left Behind education benchmarks.

The state does not use the questions in Maryland’s High School Assessment tests, which every child must pass before graduating.

But some wonder if shortening the test-taking period may have skewed results.

‘‘I was pleased and then I read that the test was shortened and slightly tweaked and was like, ‘Hmm, no wonder across the board we had great gains,’” said Patricia B. O’Neill of Bethesda, a former president of the Maryland Association of Boards of Education.

O’Neill, a Montgomery school board member, said the possible elimination of ‘‘test fatigue” may have changed results.

‘‘I’m not questioning the appropriateness of shortening the test,” she said, but ‘‘you’re not comparing apples to apples anymore.”

Edward Roke, Prince George’s County testing director, acknowledged that shortening the test helps focus children.

‘‘It was a real problem,” he said. ‘‘Last year, they spent two-and-a-half hours, and that’s just in engaged testing time.”

Prince George’s schools Superintendent John E. Deasy and school board Chairwoman Verjeana Jacobs did not respond by press time.

Kristen Ruiz, PTA president at Bond Mill Elementary School in Laurel and Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Beltsville, said she doubts the shorter test had much of an effect on students, though she is pleased any time students can spend less of their time on testing instead of learning.

‘‘I think that whether the test is longer or shorter, they’re going to test well depending on how well they are taught in the school,” Ruiz said.

Staff Writers Marcus Moore and Megan King contributed to this story. E-mail Daniel Valentine at dvalentine@gazette.net.