PSS to draw up a local version of SAT9

The Public School System has disclosed plans to create a CNMI-wide annual assessment patterned after the nationwide Stanford Achievement Test-9th Edition aimed at putting tabs on the average norm of students based on local standards.

Education Commissioner Rita H. Inos yesterday said one of PSS’ main thrusts this academic year is to look at the local validity and reliability of standards by setting benchmarks across all grade levels.

SAT9, a nationally-normed evaluation for students, does not really speak of the “real picture” in terms of standards in areas outside the U.S. mainland, according to the commissioner.

“It really doesn’t care about our standards here but it does care about the standards of the western part of the nation,” she said.
“So this assessment will help us match and correlate with what the SAT9 is saying and what the CNMI assessment is saying.

She also added that a locally-designed assessment will then create a clearer picture of students’ learning growth in core subject areas such as Mathematics, Reading, Social Studies, and Science.

Primarily, PSS is looking at improving students’ Reading skills, as latest SAT9 scores recorded low in this area.

“We want to know what we’re doing in the teaching of reading and the learning of reading as a result of this assessment,” said Dr. Inos.

The proposed assessment is targeting all public schools in the CNMI.
It is expected to capture CNMI students’ standards by establishing average norms across all grade levels.

PSS students in the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 8th, 10th, and 11th grades last month took the SAT9, only the third time for PSS to conduct such an assessment.

Meanwhile, last year’s SAT9 results were actually an improvement to the previous year’s national assessment.

Establishing contrast, PSS employed Cohort Analysis by looking at two grades, i.e., comparing data from two grade levels i.e. 3rd graders who are now 4th graders in the current school year.

The 1999 SAT9 data show that in the areas of Reading, Math, Language, Spelling, Science, Social Science, and Basic Battery, there is positive growth compared to 1998 SAT9 results.

Dr. Inos said the results are not far behind the national standards and that the CNMI school system encounters the same educational issues that U.S. mainland public schools face.

Comparing CNMI SAT9 District results with that of the California State report, Dr. Inos pointed out that for the 2nd grade level, there is only a 12 percentile difference in the field of Reading.

CNMI 2nd graders are on the 27th percentile as compared to California students who are at the 39th percentile in Reading.

The commissioner further noted that CNMI students rank higher than California Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students, again using 2nd grade students on both schools as a frame of reference.

Reports show that 2nd grade LEP students are at the 22nd percentile in Spelling with CNMI students at the 34th percentile. (MM)