Fall, 2002, No. 13 National Network of Partnership Schools
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Improving Families and Communities to Help Improve Standardized Test Scores
Over the past several years, standardized state tests have consumed a great deal of educators' and policy makers' attention. President Bush, by signing the No Child Left Behind Act, has ensured that these tests will receive increasing attention. Students will soon take annual standardized achievement tests from grades 3 through 8. Performance on these exams will have consequences for students, families, schools, and communities.
Students' scores on mandated standardized tests should provide informative feedback on children's learning, as well as serve as one indicator of a school's success or failure to teach its students. More often than not, student achievement test performance is used as the sole indicator of school quality. The result is that schools are under great pressure to improve achievement test scores. Many school members of the National Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS) have recognized the importance of including families and the community as resources to improve student performance on state mandated standardized tests.
Selected Member Activities 1In Wichita, KS, Lincoln Elementary School conducted an eight-night series of informational meetings to help families of second-graders understand what students are asked to accomplish on state assessments. Families who attended these meetings received portfolios with practice reading tests and resources, writing prompts and writing samples, and practice math tests and problems. Providing families the information and materials needed to support their children's learning helped the school reach an over 90% passing rate on the state's reading, writing, and math tests.
In Cleveland, OH, James Ford Rhodes High School drew upon community ties and resources to help its students pass the required proficiency exams. The school organized a one-on-one after-school tutoring program for its ninth grade students. Organizers asked education majors at a local university, retired educators, grandparents, and Rhodes High School alumni to volunteer as tutors. Connecting students with these community members seemed successful, as evidenced by increases in the percentage of students who passed the state's reading, writing, and math proficiency exams.
Research-Based Evidence
NNPS Focus on Results studies support efforts such as these, and suggests that activities that encourage parents to help their children learn math skills at home can be an effective means to improve student performance on standardized math tests. Specifically, analyses showed that if schools provide families with math games and resources to use at home, or assign homework that requires student-parent interactions about math concepts, student performance on standardized math achievement tests improved. 2
Other NNPS research analyzed data from Baltimore City elementary schools and found an important connection between partnership program characteristics and standardized achievement test scores. After controlling for student mobility, poverty level, and school size, analyses showed that schools doing more to overcome the challenges of school, family, and community partnerships had a greater percentage of students scoring satisfactory or above in almost all subjects of the state's standardized achievement tests. 3
The high stakes attached to student performance on mandated standardized achievement tests have forced most schools to consider every resource available to encourage student achievement. Activities from all six types of involvement can be implemented to help students perform well in different subjects. Informational meetings can help family members understand the exams; community members and organizations can help tutor students to increase their achievement on tests; and coursework can be structured so that family members help students practice and discuss important academic skills. Comprehensive school, family, and community partnership programs can help schools meet the challenge of improving students' scores on standardized tests.
1 Read more about these and other examples in NNPS' Promising Partnership Practices-2002.
2 Research paper. Sheldon, S. B. & Epstein, J. L. (2002) Involvement Counts: Family and Community Partnerships and Math Achievement. Baltimore: Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed At-Risk. Submitted for publication.
3 Research paper. Sheldon, S. B. (2002). Linking School-Family-Community Partnerships in Urban Elementary Schools to Student Achievement on State Tests. Baltimore: Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed At-Risk. Submitted for publication.
