Pandemic contributes to dip in school assessment scores

The number of Mt. Pleasant Community School District students performing at grade-level proficiency dipped in correlation to the start of the pandemic, according to assessment reports.

Katie Gavin, director of instruction for the Mt. Pleasant Community School District, said that while COVID-19 was the predominant factor in the dip, other factors played a part.

“Environmental factors is the way the Department of Education framed it as having an impact overall,” Gavin said. “Some of the numbers aren’t where we want them to be because of some other things, whether it be transition families, home situations, parents’ jobs. Those types of things play into how well kids do at school.”

The disruption to school due to the pandemic played a major part.

“Even though we had that option for families to be face-to-face every day possible, we still had kids who were out due to contact tracing within their home life, within the external factors as well,” Gavin said. “If you miss two weeks of school, that would be a factor. Our numbers aren’t exactly where we want them to be because of those things.”

She said that the Iowa Department of Education said that schools all over the state faced similar assessment dips.

“We are not an anomaly,” she said. “This is all over the state.”

Gavin explained that the elementary schools are just starting their second year with a new literacy curriculum.

“That’s a definite change, and we’re excited about that program,” she said. “But every student prior to last year had a different program. It takes time for implementation to be a factor.”

For the Formative Assessment for Teachers (FAST) in literacy, 75 percent of this year’s second-grade class were at grade-level proficiency in the kindergarten year in 2019-20. That dropped to 45 percent last year, their first-grade year.

This year’s sixth-graders went from 61 percent in 2019-20, their fourth-grade year, to 47 percent last year.

Gavin said the goal is to reach 80 percent.

“You can clearly see that some of these scores a couple years ago, they were making gains toward that 80 percent,” she said.

Last year was only the second year with a new elementary math curriculum.

“Not all of the students you see with data have had consistent programming their entire elementary years,” Gavin said. “We first of all have to make sure that our teachers have an understanding and are learning. Last year, that would have been one of our challenges.”

The elementary math assessment, known as iReady, showed classes made gains throughout last school year.

Of last year’s first-grade class, only 8 percent were at grade-level proficiency in the fall. By spring, they were at 47 percent.

In the winter of the 2019-20 school year, their kindergarten year, they were at 38 percent. There were no spring assessments that year due to schools shutting down at the start of the pandemic.

Last year’s second-graders were at 7 percent in the fall and made it to 55 percent in the spring.

In the winter of 2019-20, they were at 28 percent.

“We had significant growth across all grade levels from when they started,” Gavin said. “Last year’s kindergartners went from 23 percent all the way up to 71 percent.

“That’s amazing growth, and we want to keep building on those skill levels for them.”

Gavin said it could take a long time to get students caught up.

“It has to be about acceleration and continued growth and realizing it’s going to take some time to fill in those gaps,” she said. “It could take three years or longer.”

She noted studies on students who were impacted by Hurricane Katrina that showed that it can take years for students to catch up.

“It was taking years to regroup some of that if they lost any extensive time,” she said. “We have to use what we call accelerate learning, which is about using those practices that really are about intensifying instruction and focusing it.

“That’s why the assessments are so important. It helps teachers gauge what foundational skill is missing so I can get that student to mastery faster.”

In grades six through 11, students take Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessments.

The pandemic did not have a significant impact on MAP scores.

In literacy, 71 percent of this year’s eighth-graders achieved grade level proficiency in both their sixth- and seventh-grade years.

This year’s 10th-graders were at 70 percent in 2019-20, their eighth-grade year, and 74 percent last year.

“What we’re seeing is the higher the kids go in grades, the less detrimental it was to their scores and their learning, because they have more of those foundational skills mastered,” Gavin said.

Gavin said that district leadership will review the assessment information to put together a plan.

“The next step for us is to discuss this with our leadership team and with our School Improvement Advisory Committee to set those goals and work toward those,” she said. “It’s plugging along to see what we can do to support kids.”