Media Center
Consequence of cuts
Salt Lake Tribune, 09/03/2010
Even if Utah accepts federal money, schools may only see half of it
Deseret News, 09/03/2010
Attorneys say Utah can’t block $101M in school aid
Salt Lake Tribune, 09/02/2010
Utah will get new school testing system
Salt Lake Tribune, 09/02/2010
Tough course
Salt Lake Tribune, 08/31/2010
FAST FACT:
The proportion of Utah public school 4th graders who scored at the highest two levels in mathematics on national assessment tests increased by 94% between 1992 and 2005.
Utah students average, test results show
February 05, 2010
Lisa Schencker, Salt Lake Tribune
When it comes to reading, language arts and math, Utah students are smack in the middle compared with other students across the nation, according to results of a test given earlier this school year.
Utah third-graders ranked, overall, right near the national average for third-graders nationwide in those three subjects on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills given this past fall. Fifth-graders ranked three points higher than the national norm for fifth-graders and eighth-graders performed five points above the national norm for eighth-graders.
"We recognize we need to continue to work hard and need to improve," said state Superintendent Larry Shumway. "As a state, we want to be better."
Still, Shumway said there also is reason to be proud. Results mostly either remained the same as last school year or increased slightly. He said that is an accomplishment, given recent cuts to education funding and Utah's changing demographics.
This, however, could be one of the last rounds of results from the Iowa test for Utah students. A bill that would end Iowa testing in Utah, SB16, has so far gained broad support from lawmakers. The Senate and a House committee passed the bill with no dissenting votes. It now moves to the House floor.
The bill is a step toward adopting recommendations of the Governor's Blue Ribbon Panel on Assessment, which recommended the state drop Iowa tests and the Utah Basic Skills Competency Test and put in place computer adaptive tests, among other changes.
Shumway said scrapping the Iowa test would save Utah money and testing time. He said giving the test now costs the state between $1 million and $2 million a year.
The Iowa is, however, now one of the only tests Utah students take that compares them against students nationwide. But Shumway said the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which is given to samples of students in the state periodically, would still show how Utah students stack up.