N.J. raises bar for pupil test scores

New Jersey made it harder yesterday for public school students to prove their proficiency on state exams -- a change that could cause more schools to run afoul of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

The action by the state Board of Education, which approved raising the scores for reading and math tests in grades 5 through 8, highlights how remarkably low the threshold for the scores had been. Students scoring as low as 33 percent correct had been deemed proficient.

The change raised the so-called "cut scores" for proficiency to at least 50 percent in the four affected grades, and also raised the requirements to be considered "advanced proficient."

The new cut scores will be used to grade tests given last spring. Officials said similar moves are envisioned in the coming years for other grades' tests, including the state's high school exit exam. Some of those tests still have cut scores in the 30s.

"What we don't want to do is mask our weaknesses," said state Education Commissioner Lucille Davy. "The incentive may be to have the lowest standard we can, but that doesn't serve the kids."

Davy stressed that student performance still appeared to improve last spring in most of the tests. But with the changes, passing rates are likely to drop in a majority of tests, markedly in some cases, she said.

In sixth grade, for example, state estimates show the language arts passing rate would have risen from 76 percent to 80 percent this year using the old cut scores, but instead will drop to 54 percent.

For parents and teachers, it could be a jolt to see a child no longer deemed proficient or advanced, and officials acknowledged that the onus will be on the state and districts to explain the change in the coming months as final scores go out.

"Parents will need to understand we have raised the standards and their children may need more help," said deputy commissioner Willa Spicer. "There are parents who will be surprised."

In New Jersey and many other states, cut scores have been set notoriously low with the advent of increased testing, and especially No Child Left Behind, which requires schools to reach proficiency targets in reading and math or face possible sanctions.

To provide districts some short-term protection against the predicted drop in passage rates, state officials plan to reduce the proficiency requirements considered by No Child -- but set by the state.

State board members yesterday were largely supportive of the change, but some voiced concern about how schools and teachers will react, noting it may further drive a "test prep" trend over which some educators are agonizing.

The detailed process of setting the cut scores had been quietly churning forward for almost a year with the advent of new, longer tests in grades 5 through 8.

"I know that when you start the year, you have a certain standard ... and to change the standard at the very end is not the way to do it," said member Kathleen Dietz, the lone dissenting vote. "There needs to be some warning."

But all agreed the benchmark needed to be raised for students and schools, with one member citing his own fifth-grade child who took the tests last year.

"I realize this could impact where he's placed," said Arcelio Aponte, the board's vice president. "But as a parent, I'd want to know if he's not responding correctly."