Trending – West Virginia Statewide Assessment results show ‘modest gains’
By Richard Duncan, Ph.D.
Among the many traditions celebrated at the start of the school year, the annual release of statewide assessment results may seem like a rather dull one. This is especially true in West Virginia, where the results are rarely celebrated because, frankly, they’re rarely very good.
This year’s results are no different, with modest gains attributed perhaps to efforts under the recently passed Third Grade Success Act to bolster achievement in grades K – 3 and beyond. Of course, in only its first year of implementation, the bulk of the tangible improvements made by the Act were to place teacher’s aides in all 1st Grade classrooms and target additional support and interventions for struggling Kindergarten students, neither of which participate in the statewide summative assessment.
Test score metrics can be both ‘constructive and destructive’
Of course, like so many other metrics in our data-driven world, statewide assessment results can be both constructive and destructive in the appropriate hands. What starts as each student’s performance on a test meant to judge his/her mastery of an array of content standards becomes a rating for each classroom, each grade level, each school, and even each system in reading, mathematics, and science. Whether or not this is appropriate, it has become a key part of our perception of our schools and the expectations we might place on our teachers and students for the coming school year.
In West Virginia, the statewide assessment takes one of two forms. In 3rd through 8th Grades, it is known as the West Virginia General Summative Assessment, a mixed battery of online questioning in writing, reading, mathematics, and (in grades 5 and 8) science. In 11th Grade, by state law, students are given a college-readiness exam, currently the SAT School Day provided by the College Board.
In theory, these two measures give a sense of the academic achievements of students all across the state regardless of their backgrounds, their schools’ environments, or their counties’ resources. The same assessment is given to students in counties without excess levies as in those with an excess levy, to students with higher socio-economic roots and those in lower income households, and to students in old buildings, new buildings — and even in no buildings, as is the case for virtual school students. Only those considered significantly disabled and placed on a “modified” diploma track are given a separate exam, but those results are still factored into school and county ratings.
If these assessments are fair, then, we should be able to draw conclusions about various demographic and other factors effect student outcomes, at least within the limits of analysis of large data sets. (We can discuss trends, then, not try and predict individual student outcomes.)
Data is ‘puzzling’
But a careful review of the data from this and past years’ WVGSA and SAT School Day administrations should puzzle anyone who thinks they understand how schools in West Virginia work. Put simply, the largest, wealthiest, and most well-equipped districts do not universally lead, nor do those at the opposite end of each category universally struggle.
Take my county: Roane. Over the past two years, Roane County students have significantly improved in both reading and mathematics, so much so that only one other county – Ohio County – has posted more combined improvement in these two areas. Roane County lacks an excess levy. Our students ride buses for upwards of an hour each way each day from the far reaches of the county to attend one county high school and a multi-county vocational center next door in Jackson County. And until the recent infusion of federal dollars in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we struggled to meet even basic needs without specialized programs or outside grant funding.
Students in Ohio County face a very different world than those in Roane County. Wheeling Park High School is well-regarded as one of the top in the state, while Roane County High School is known only in certain circles – FFA and football, for instance. Yet Roane County students posted the 15th best performance in reading and 29th best in mathematics this year, compared to 9th and 10th for Wheeling Park. On the full scale of 111 schools, Roane County and Wheeling Park are not far apart at all in test scores, but the communities they serve couldn’t be more different in this state.
One conclusion could be that, while resources and opportunities afforded to students in more densely populated areas and/or those areas with healthier economies might enhance those students’ school experience and lead to different career outcomes, the fundamental standards taught in each of our schools is the same, and so the differences between us may not show up in the standardized assessments.
‘Romanticizing standardized assessments?’
Now this may seem to be an attempt to romanticize standardized assessments but remember that these assessments are just a tool to measure a particular metric. They are designed to assess how students have mastered standards, not what opportunities they may have outside of these core subjects. If they are doing that well, then that’s all we can expect of them. They are not meant to be a holistic view of any school or county, but instead a baseline measurement.
If we can agree on that, then the implications may be far more serious than rankings and comparisons. Since 2019, the last year assessed before the COVID-19 pandemic, only 14 counties out of West Virginia’s 55 have managed to “recover” in both reading and mathematics — meaning their mastery level, as a county, is now at or above their mark from 2019. Roane County is one of those 14, as is Ohio County. The list is a mixture of “haves” and “have nots,” with larger counties like Putnam, Raleigh, and Cabell on the list, but others like Kanawha, Berkeley, and Monongalia are not. Smaller counties like Roane, Wirt, and Ritchie are on the list, but others like Clay, Gilmer, and Mingo are not.
“If counties have not reached their levels from 2019. . .”
If counties have not reached their levels from 2019 – let alone surpassed them in the five years since, especially given the significant federal funding provided through the ESSER program – then one must question whether resources really are the solution to what seems to be more a fundamentals problem. Again, no one should argue that students in places that have resources don’t have different and arguably better opportunities than those without. But if we’re just looking to ensure that each and every student has a solid education in reading, writing, and mathematics, it would appear that our focus should be on something more fundamental than dollars and cents.
Duncan is Roane County Schools Superintendent.
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9x UFC Champion Bumps into His Childhood Bully Two Decades Later
What happens when we hold on to grudges.
Wikimedia Commons
George was a scrawny boy in an unfortunate and recurring nightmare. On this day, he was walking down the bus aisle to find a seat. Behind him, an older and larger classmate lurked.
Suddenly, he pulled George’s pants down to his ankles. There was a cacophony of laughter as George rushed to pull his pants up — turning to see his crush starting at him dead-faced.
In another instance, the bully threw George’s head into the wall and pinned him down into his seat like a feral animal. And if this wasn’t enough, the bully was handsome and athletic. Moreover, the person ruining George’s life was popular and beloved by all girls.
The bully was unrelenting and things eventually came full circle. Fearing he’d be seen as weak, George never tattled on the bully. He stoically took the abuse. However, during one drive home, the bully punched him in the face, nearly knocking him out. It gave him a swollen black eye. His parents freaked out and forced him to reveal what had been happening. They now understood his depression and bad grades.
George’s father resolved he would speak with the bully’s dad. He drove to their house. The two met and spoke of the matter. George’s father urged the man to talk with his kid.
It didn’t work. George was small, but he’d always been a fighter and full of pride.
He kept fighting back and lost every time. Eventually, the bully got tired of picking on him and moved on to an easier target. Yet it wasn’t the last time the bully saw George.
Two decades later — a surprise run-in
George has now been a UFC champion for years, handing beatdowns to world-class wrestlers and elite kickboxers. By the end of this run, he would defend his title nine times and be considered by some — the greatest MMA fighter of all time.
He is on billboards all over Canada and renowned for his athleticism, throwing Van Dam-Esque high kicks and lunging superman punches. George sat in his car and turned the keys to go run errands. Suddenly, a tall and disheveled man knocked on his window. George rolled down his window and heard, “Do you have any spare change?”
It was the bully. The bully recognized George and his face drained. George turned off his car and got out. He struck up a conversation with the man. They spoke for 15 minutes, talking about life and how things had been. The former bully had fallen on hard times. He was unemployed and living on the streets.
There was a time when this bully had so much power over George — when George wanted nothing more than to kick his ass. And here, fate handed him this opportune moment. Their power dynamic had been reversed.
Instead of laying down a beating, George handed him $100 and said, “You are full of potential. Go, man. Do well in your life. You deserve more than this.”
One year goes by
George drove to visit his parents. As he walked into his house, his dad said, “A man came to visit you.” It turned out to be his bully. He’d stopped by to thank George for giving him the money and talking to him. It changed his life. That’s when George’s father told GSP something he’d never mentioned before.
When his father went to visit that bully’s dad all those years ago, he noticed the dad drinking hard liquor.
And when he left, he heard the father yelling at and hitting the bully. The bully was crying out for his dad to stop. The bully had learned to communicate only through aggression and violence. And as is often the case, he repeated the behavior he saw at home.
People forget that bullies aren’t created in a vacuum. It took me a long time to realize my own bullies came from similar dysfunctional homes and that they didn’t know how to reconcile their own feelings.
They couldn’t fix their pain, so they projected it on others. It was the only currency they knew. Anyone who follows MMA knows that George St. Pierre is the nicest guy in the sport. He never badmouths people or curses at them. He became this way because bullies drove him to pursue martial arts and learn respect. George said, “At the time, I wanted to kill him. He was a terrible person. It wasn’t until later I realized — like most people — he was good on the inside.”
George’s story exemplifies the power of forgiveness over vengeance. When we choose to forgive, we choose to be free.
When we latch onto grudges, we poison ourselves from within. We become vindictive, bitter people. We become no better than the abused bully. We spread our pain rather than heal it.
It’s as Confucius said, “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.” One for your intended. The other for yourself.
Corny as it sounds, the best revenge is to stay kind, succeed, and enjoy your life.
Editor’s Note: A work colleague who recently attended a high school reunion forwarded this article. He is a public school administrator who stated, ‘This information about the ‘causes’ of bullying is all too real. We, in public education, deal with this situation throughout the school year.”
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