While Fayette County students increased their average SAT score for the second consecutive year, blew way past the state average, and outpaced the national average, school officials are thinking of adding an expensive international ranking to the mix that would require more student testing.
“I know there is the sense that we test too much and we would have to deal with that if we decide to do this,” School Superintendent Joseph Barrow told school board members when he introduced the possibility.
As information on state and national rankings continues to come in, though, school board members have wondered how well Fayette students can compete internationally.
Recently released SAT, or Scholastic Aptitude Test, scores show Fayette students rank fourth in the Atlanta area and sixth in the state, but still increased their average composite score by seven percentage points over the 2013 average score. The 2014 average SAT composite score in Fayette County is 1561 as compared to the state average of 1445 and 1497 for the national average.
In response to the board, Barrow recently presented the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, as a possible tool for international comparison.
The PISA measures the reading, math and science skills of 15-year-old students and is coordinated by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an organization comprised of industrialized nations, according to the Institute of Education Sciences. The PISA test also measures problem-solving abilities.
“I wanted you to just see there are some metrics out there,” Barrow said of the PISA.
The test calls for a random sampling of 85 15-year-old students from each of the county’s high schools. Each group of 85 would cost $11,500 to test, Barrow said. “But the information they would give you is pretty rich. If we’re just testing for the sake of testing, we’re wasting our time,” he added. “We need to assess where students are and use the information to drive instruction.”
The two-hour PISA test would be administered every three years.
“We assess our students to death,” board member and District 5 candidate Leonard Presberg said. He asked to see the middle and high school testing schedule before agreeing to add another test.
However, Presberg agrees that the PISA test could provide valuable information to officials about the success of existing programs or even the need to nix some or add new programs.
Board members have asked high school principals to consider the test and weigh in with their opinions before moving forward with the project.
