Last updated on 2020-07-15
Really? Yankton School District kids stayed home all spring to help prevent the spread of coronavirus and still posted better test scores than last year?
In June, YSD tested some students from grades 1-7 to gauge the success of the distance learning program’s implemented during this spring’s school shutdown caused by the growing SARS-CoV-2 global pandemic.
The results of those tests were shared with the school board Monday by Nicole Valnes, elementary technology integrationist and curriculum director.
“Our Spring 2019-2020 scores exceeded our scores from 2018-2019 and we also exceeded the national score by grade level,” she said. “With our kids being out of the classroom for fourth quarter, there were a lot of projections of learning loss. We are very happy that in Yankton our students didn’t have the learning loss that had been projected nationally” [Cora Van Olson, “YSD Presents Reopening Plans to School Board,” Yankton Press and Dakotan, 2020.07.13].
If Yankton’s test results are valid, every principal and teacher in South Dakota should be ringing Yankton’s phone, asking what special sauce Yankton put in its distance learning program this spring, and figuring out how to implement the key elements of that apparently successful venture in their own inevitable learn-at-home options this fall.
Exactly which test did these students take? There was no statewide assessment last spring due to the shutdown.
Open book test?
Indeed, J, to make comparisons to last year, they had to be using the same instrument. Schools can’t get the statewide test on their own, can they?
They probably used NWEA MAPS test which is a nationally -normed benchmarking tool used by many school districts. This tool is purchased by districts. State tests don’t start until grade 3.
How could they proctor the tests? I wonder if Yankton had a program in place prior to COVID-19 that ensured every student had a computer and online access? That would seem to be a critical component for such an exemplary result.
In April, NWEA was predicting steep learning losses due to the shutdowns and wider achievement/ability gaps in students when they come back in the fall.