News > Today
Reading proficiency
By KAYLA MATZKE, News-Record Writer kmatzke@gillettenewsrecord.net
eachers bristle when test scores are the only factor in measuring success — particularly when it’s PAWS, the statewide test developed after the No Child Left Behind Act mandated statewide assessments.
Lindy Sorenson, instructional facilitator at Campbell County High School, said the school’s reading proficiency score can’t be used solely to determine the success of the students’ reading skills.
“It’s not that cut and dried,” Sorenson said.
In fact, Campbell County High School’s score is not that horrible, she said. It’s right in there with the rest of the state.
And it was the first year that CCHS wasn’t slapped by the state for failing to meet any of its Adequate Yearly Progress goals — a cause for celebration, she said. The only area of concern was its dropout rate.
Part of the problem with the PAWS test is that the exams really aren’t geared toward improvement. Questions that 90 percent of the students get right are discarded and new ones substituted.
“At what point are we at 100 percent? We’re never able to reach the top and it’s all under a big veil of secrecy,” Sorenson said. “That’s what we’re working with.”
According to Paintbrush Elementary Principal Dave Olsen, the PAWS test is a single snapshot of where students are at in the core subjects. It doesn’t show improvement.
“That’s not a growth model test,” Olsen said.
It doesn’t help that there is no incentive for students to perform well on PAWS, teacher Kevin Tennant said. That fact can skew results.
Since PAWS was instituted in 2005, there has been little change in CCHS’s range of reading scores. Sixty-nine percent in 2006-2007 was the highest amount of proficiency among students.
Perhaps the most shocking figure from this year’s PAWS results is the number of students who are considered “advanced” in reading, a slim 5.64 percent.
But the percentage is not an accurate picture of the skills among CCHS students, Sorenson said.
The reason the school doesn’t have more kids in the advanced bracket is that CCHS doesn’t retest students after they’ve taken PAWS once. If it did, the percent in the “advanced” category would be much higher since students would have another whole year of instruction, she said.
“(If re-tested) I think we’d get a more accurate picture of the top half,” she said.
The state only requires that schools test students once at the high school level.
And for a big school like CCHS, one round of testing is all it can fit in.
“We don’t have time to retest kids,” Sorenson said. “We don’t want PAWS to drive our year.”
But if not PAWS, how else can schools be measured on how well their students are reading?
Sorenson believes there isn’t just one sort of test or solution that would be better than the mandated assessment tests.
“I don’t think that there is one thing that you can always use for kids as an indicator,” Sorenson said. “Kids are all different. Obviously educators have been struggling with that forever. We are constantly working on improving.”
2008-2009 PAWS scores
Percent of juniors reading at advanced level
- Riverton High School — 19.86
- Laramie High School — 25.60
- Star Valley High School — 24.71
- Kelly Walsh High School — 12.23
- Natrona County High School — 15.38
- Campbell County High School — 5.64
- East High School — 15.00
- Sheridan High School — 18.27
- Central High School — 17.06
- Evanston High School — 12.79
- Green River High School — 16.17
- Rock Springs High School — 9.92
Percent of juniors reading at proficient and advanced level
- Riverton High School — 78.77
- Laramie High School — 75.20
- Star Valley High School — 74.71
- Kelly Walsh High School — 71.47
- Natrona High School — 68.97
- Campbell County High School — 68.33
- East High School — 65.63
- Sheridan High School — 62.02
- Central High School — 61.61
- Evanston High School — 59.88
- Green River High School — 55.69
- Rock Springs High School — 46.18
Lindy Sorenson, instructional facilitator at Campbell County High School, said the school’s reading proficiency score can’t be used solely to determine the success of the students’ reading skills.
“It’s not that cut and dried,” Sorenson said.
In fact, Campbell County High School’s score is not that horrible, she said. It’s right in there with the rest of the state.
And it was the first year that CCHS wasn’t slapped by the state for failing to meet any of its Adequate Yearly Progress goals — a cause for celebration, she said. The only area of concern was its dropout rate.
Part of the problem with the PAWS test is that the exams really aren’t geared toward improvement. Questions that 90 percent of the students get right are discarded and new ones substituted.
“At what point are we at 100 percent? We’re never able to reach the top and it’s all under a big veil of secrecy,” Sorenson said. “That’s what we’re working with.”
According to Paintbrush Elementary Principal Dave Olsen, the PAWS test is a single snapshot of where students are at in the core subjects. It doesn’t show improvement.
“That’s not a growth model test,” Olsen said.
It doesn’t help that there is no incentive for students to perform well on PAWS, teacher Kevin Tennant said. That fact can skew results.
Since PAWS was instituted in 2005, there has been little change in CCHS’s range of reading scores. Sixty-nine percent in 2006-2007 was the highest amount of proficiency among students.
Perhaps the most shocking figure from this year’s PAWS results is the number of students who are considered “advanced” in reading, a slim 5.64 percent.
But the percentage is not an accurate picture of the skills among CCHS students, Sorenson said.
The reason the school doesn’t have more kids in the advanced bracket is that CCHS doesn’t retest students after they’ve taken PAWS once. If it did, the percent in the “advanced” category would be much higher since students would have another whole year of instruction, she said.
“(If re-tested) I think we’d get a more accurate picture of the top half,” she said.
The state only requires that schools test students once at the high school level.
And for a big school like CCHS, one round of testing is all it can fit in.
“We don’t have time to retest kids,” Sorenson said. “We don’t want PAWS to drive our year.”
But if not PAWS, how else can schools be measured on how well their students are reading?
Sorenson believes there isn’t just one sort of test or solution that would be better than the mandated assessment tests.
“I don’t think that there is one thing that you can always use for kids as an indicator,” Sorenson said. “Kids are all different. Obviously educators have been struggling with that forever. We are constantly working on improving.”
2008-2009 PAWS scores
Percent of juniors reading at advanced level
- Riverton High School — 19.86
- Laramie High School — 25.60
- Star Valley High School — 24.71
- Kelly Walsh High School — 12.23
- Natrona County High School — 15.38
- Campbell County High School — 5.64
- East High School — 15.00
- Sheridan High School — 18.27
- Central High School — 17.06
- Evanston High School — 12.79
- Green River High School — 16.17
- Rock Springs High School — 9.92
Percent of juniors reading at proficient and advanced level
- Riverton High School — 78.77
- Laramie High School — 75.20
- Star Valley High School — 74.71
- Kelly Walsh High School — 71.47
- Natrona High School — 68.97
- Campbell County High School — 68.33
- East High School — 65.63
- Sheridan High School — 62.02
- Central High School — 61.61
- Evanston High School — 59.88
- Green River High School — 55.69
- Rock Springs High School — 46.18
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