February 18

February 18, 2007
Section: Local
Edition: Final
Page: B2

Students may pay the price for snow fun come test time
ALISON KEPNER
Staff By ALISON KEPNER

The News Journal

As TV meteorologists motion in front of blue screens and shoppers stock up on bread and milk, children's anticipation builds.

For them, a winter storm often means no school, a morning of sledding and snowball fights followed by an afternoon of hot chocolate, marshmallows and television.

But new research by a Maryland professor suggests it can mean something else: lower state test scores come spring.

Students make up snow days through lost vacation days or extended school years, but the catch-up days sometimes come after the Delaware Student Testing Program exams are held in March. That means although all students are in school the same number of days a year, those in a district with no snow days may have days to weeks of more learning when test day rolls around than those in a snow-prone district.

"I expect by the end of the year the kids learn about the same, but the test is occurring at different points in the year for some kids," said Dave Marcotte, associate professor of public policy at University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

The difference is important because much of schools' accountability under the federal No Child Left Behind law is tied to student test scores. If students who missed significant time because of a blizzard don't make progress on the tests, their school's accountability rating could suffer.

Marcotte looked at standardized test scores of Maryland third-, fifth- and eighth-graders over 12 years and annual snow accumulation.

In really heavy snow winters, the kids score about 2 [percent] to 3 percent lower than really light snow winters," said Marcotte, who published his findings in the August issue of Economics of Education Review.

Supported by a $34,000 grant from the Chicago-based Spencer Foundation, he now is comparing scores with actual closure days, using data from 1993 to the present.

"I'm finding that kids who miss one more day of school score about half a percent lower on tests," Marcotte said, noting the largest effect is evident in younger children.

His findings don't surprise Cheryl Moustafa. Her son Tarek, who attends Pleasantville Elementary in New Castle, had off Wednesday.

"The DSTP is always in March. The winter weather is always January, February with other days off like Presidents Day," she said. "They lose the important days in January and February."

Moustafa thinks state officials should move testing to April so students have more time to make up lost days.

"My son is a fifth-grader and this is the year that it counts," she said.

Changing test dates isn't as easy as it may sound.

"We have a window when our materials are locked in for scoring at our testing vendor," said Wendy Roberts, Delaware's director of assessment and analysis.

Moving that isn't simple, either. Officials need enough time for scoring and quality control. They want results back by late May so school leaders have three weeks to determine summer-school classes and notify parents.

State officials likely will change test dates when they implement new state tests now under development. The reading and math sections may move to early May, though writing will remain in March.

Results still would be available by late May but only because the tests would have fewer open-ended questions, Roberts said.

Even if the research exposes a problem, the solution isn't as simple as adjusting the testing date for the number of snow days. Such a change could benefit a student taking the test later who learns of exam questions.

Marcotte hopes his findings will convince officials to take into account missed days when using test scores to determine school ratings.

"If you are a principal for a school where your test [scores] don't go up, you suffer penalties," he said. "My suggestion is that the state be very careful about that decision."

Roberts questions how that would work.

"Your target and your status is, 'Is the kid proficient or not?' " she said. "I don't know how you would create any reasonable factor to take [snow days] into account."

Middletown mother Julie Trench isn't too worried about her third-grade son, whose school -- Silver Lake Elementary -- was closed Wednesday.

"I would have concerns about it if we had more snow days. Right now, we've only had one two-hour delay for fog and this day," she said. "If it was a blizzard year ... when we were missing weeks at a time, then I would be worried."

Contact Alison Kepner at 324-2965 or akepner@delawareonline.com.