HSPA test scores decline at Allentown High School

ALLENTOWN - Although High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA) test scores at Allentown High School did not improve this year, one school official said the overall data may be misleading.

Maybeth Conway, the assistant superintendent and curriculum director in the Upper Freehold Regional School District, told the Board of Education at its June 7 meeting that if the test scores of special education and limited English proficiency students are factored out of the data, scores in some cases have actually improved.

"The perception that performance is going down is inaccurate if you disaggregate the data," she said. "With the nondisabled population, scores are on the way up. The teachers' efforts have paid off."

Conway said she was "a little startled and disappointed" when she initially got this year's HSPA results, as she felt that not much progress had been made since last year. She researched patterns in the scoring results and considered both special education and general education students. Conway said virtually all 11th-graders take the HSPA.

In 2003, according to Conway's data, 9.1 percent of students taking the HSPA language arts test and 9.5 percent taking the HSPA math test were special education or limited English proficiency students.

In 2006, Conway said, 15.5 percent of students taking the HSPA language arts test and 15.2 percent of students taking the HSPA math test were special education or limited English students.

Since the federal "No Child Left Behind" legislation passed in 2001, special education and limited English students are counted in the school's total HSPA score, according to Conway.

In 2003, 91.8 percent of all AHS students passed the language arts section of the HSPA, and 79.1 percent passed the math portion. In 2006, 87.4 percent of AHS students passed language arts and 82.2 percent passed math, according to Conway.

However, if considering only the general education population at AHS, 97 percent of students passed the language arts section in 2003 and 96.2 passed in 2006. In math, 84.9 percent of the general education population passed in 2003 and 91.6 passed this year, according to Conway.

Conway said that in 2003, 48 students took the Advanced Placement (AP) math HSPA, while 37 students took the AP language arts HSPA. This year, 74 students took the advanced placement math HSPA, and 55 students took the advanced placement language arts test.

Conway said she did not have the data to compare the state scores and the school's district factor group (DFG) as that information won't be available until the fall.

As for the HSPA scores, Conway said there is not a significant difference in this year's scores over last year's when strictly general education students are considered. A larger percentage of the student population, she said, now consists of disabled learners.