Legislating Lower Standards for Missouri’s Children?

A version of the following commentary appeared in the Springfield News-Leader.

Missouri lawmakers are considering a change to the performance levels the state uses to categorize students based on end-of-year test scores. Currently, Missouri categorizes students into one of four performance levels. From lowest to highest, these are: (1) below basic, (2) basic, (3) proficient, and (4) advanced. I believe the meaning of these categories is self-evident, as it should be.

A proposed change in House Bill 607 would add a fifth performance level, called “grade level,” which would fall below the “proficient” category and above the “basic” category.

Wait, what? What does testing at a “proficient” level mean, if not testing at “grade level?” And how can a student test at grade level but not be proficient? Digging a little deeper, the bill defines a student as “proficient” if the student can: “Demonstrate mastery over all appropriate grade-level standards and has introductory-level knowledge for the next grade or level of education.” When I think of what the word “proficient” is intended to communicate, this sounds about right.

But what, then, does the new “grade level” category mean? According to the bill, it also means that the student: “Demonstrates mastery over appropriate grade-level subject matter.” However, it goes onto indicate that a grade level student: “May be ready, with appropriate reinforcement, for the next grade or level of education.” This means that a student could be classified as testing at grade level on end-of-year assessments, even if he or she is not fully ready for the next grade. This does not sound like “grade level” performance to me, and I suspect many Missourians would agree.

This matters for two reasons. First, in case you haven’t been paying attention to national education headlines recently, student learning has been declining for about a decade now, and the decline has accelerated since the COVID pandemic. Missouri is no exception to the national trend. In the face of disappointing academic outcomes, it is important to maintain clear and rigorous standards. We should continue to demand the best from Missouri children. This watered-down version of “grade level” performance seems like a step in the wrong direction, like an implicit acceptance of the fact that our children are learning less in school than their counterparts from a decade ago.

Second, consider when schools and districts report out to the public on student performance. With this new category, they’ll be able to report on the share of students who are performing at “grade level” or higher, but this will not mean what most people will think it means. If I hadn’t read the language of the bill myself, I certainly would not understand it. The definition of “grade level” in the bill, as quoted above, is more appropriately communicated by the term “basic,” which is already a performance category. I want our schools to report on student performance in a transparent manner, rather than obfuscating it.

At first glance, how the state chooses to report out on student test performance may not seem like a big deal. But the more I think about it, the more this bothers me. I cannot think of a single positive rationale for doing this. It is certainly not aspirational. I don’t think it is a stretch to call it dishonest.

I hope the lawmakers in Jefferson City reject this change in the interest of maintaining high standards for our children, and promoting transparency in Missouri government.