This is true transparency!
Nationally Normed Test Scores From Beginning of Accountability Law 1979 in Table Form
A fact that no one in this entire educational debate has noted is that the tests scores the first years the Arkansas accountability system was implemented are higher than they are now. The scores for 1984-85 on the nationally normed tests were 61% in 4th grade; 57% in 7th Grade and 51% in 10th Grade. After the largest tax increase in state history in 1983 and increased funding from 1.4 billion in 1995 to 2.8 billion in 2001, the scores had decreased significantly to 51% in 5th grade, 51% in 7th grade, and 49% in 10th grade on the nationally normed tests. The averages for tests from 1995-2003 indicate a consistent pattern with 2001 scores: 51% in 5th grade; 50% in 7th grade; and 48% in 10th grade.
|
Year |
5th Grade |
7th Grade |
10th Grade |
|
2003 SAT-9 Spring |
57% |
57% |
48% |
|
2002 No Test |
No Test This Year |
No Test This Year |
No Test This Year |
|
2001 SAT-9 Fall |
51% |
51% |
49% |
|
2000 SAT-9 Fall |
50% |
50% |
48 |
|
1999 SAT-9 Fall |
48% |
49% |
47% |
|
1998 SAT-9Fall |
47% |
48% |
47% |
|
1997 SAT-9 Fall |
47% |
48% |
47% |
|
1996 SAT-9 Fall |
46% |
47% |
46% |
|
1995 SAT-9 ? Fall |
55% |
54% |
52% |
|
1995 Spring SAT-8 |
50% |
50% |
49% |
|
1994 Spring SAT-8 |
52% |
51% |
50% |
|
1993 Spring SAT-8 |
51% |
49% |
52% |
|
1992 SAT-8 Spring |
52 |
51 |
49 |
|
1991 MAT 6 Spring |
65 |
60 |
57 |
|
1990 MAT 6 Spring |
67 |
61 |
58 |
|
1989 MAT 6 Spring |
67 |
60 |
56 |
|
1988 MAT-6 Spring |
66 |
59 |
55 |
|
1987 MAT 6 Spring |
66 |
58 |
54 |
|
1986 MAT6 Spring |
66 |
58 |
54 |
|
1985 MAT 6 Spring |
64 |
54 |
53 |
|
1984 SRA Spring |
61 |
57 |
51 |
You probably won’t see a table like this unless you compile it yourself. It is unbelievable that Arkansas set up an accountability system, and these scores have never been posted in a full picture or printed in a newspaper in full. To get the scores for 1988-1995 we had to go to Little Rock to get them. They literally refused to send them to us by fax or mail. In 1995 the ADE wouldn’t even give us that year’s scores by phone or mail. Their excuse was that the report generated about 900 pages and they could not send all of that. I have noted this in my files and that I talked to a Janie Welch and to Ernie Huff and both refused to send them to me, Dec. 28, 1995.
I was told by Donna Wolfe in Testing that the 2003 scores could not be compared to other scores unless they were equated because they were compared to a different sampling.