0.2 Reading and math differences between hispanic students and  (Page 9/10)

Though the gap remained constant between these groups of students, increases in TAKS Reading and Math scores were present. Increases in achievement on the TAKS tests can be elucidated by teachers and other school personnel (e.g., special education teachers, literacy specialists, literacy coaches, math coaches) who were teaching students to the test (Assaf, 2006; Diamond, 2007; McNeil, 2000; Smith, 1991; Valenzuela, 2000). In other words, school personnel were teaching students testing strategies; thus, students could be superficially increasing their test scores; and, thus, the achievement gap could unrealistically become narrower between White students and non-White students (Carnoy, Loeb,&Smith, 2001; Haladyna, Nolen,&Hass, 1991; Shepard, 1990).

A recommendation for best practice would be to re-norm or to change the state-mandated test on a regular basis (e.g., every 2-3 years). The practice of changing the test (such as the Scholastic Assessment Test or American College Testing) on a regular basis or re-norming would decrease the opportunities for school personnel to teach students the test and to keep schools from reporting artificially high test scores. Clearly, what is occurring in Texas schools, and in schools across the nation, is the appearance of a diminishing achievement gap. Yet the lessoning of the achievement gap is an illusion that is fueled by school personnel teaching to standardized tests (Donato&de Onis, 1994; Haney, 2006; Harrison, 2006; Linton&Kestor, 2003).

Linton and Kester (2003) examined the achievement gap between White and minority students in Texas, using TAAS and NAEP test results for 8th grade students. The researchers concluded that the test results were misleading due to the inflated scores that were being reported and the inevitable creation of a “possible glass ceiling effect” (p. 2). Linton and Kester (2003) contended that test scores were negatively skewed for both White students and non-White students. For this investigation and the Rojas-LeBouef and Slate (2011b), test results demonstrated the same increase and shift in passing rates for Hispanic students, students with LEP, and White students. As Hispanic students and students with LEP increased their passing rates, so did White students on the TAKS Reading and Math tests. Therefore, a shift of scores occurred, and the passing rates for Hispanic students, students with LEP, and White students became negatively skewed.

Haney (2006) concluded high stakes testing has created an atmosphere of “mania to make test scores average[s] appear to increase” (p. 12). He argued that Florida, Texas, New York, and Alabama had generated fraudulent scores to generate an illusion of accountability. Moreover, Haney (2006) contended that states and school districts were encouraging high school students to drop out of school to give the appearance of state compliancy to the NCLB Act.

Another recommendation is that state education agencies need to emphasize programs that work effectively instead of using programs that are simply recycled from one school district to another school district. According to Brady (2003), most interventions that are implemented under the NCLB Act are accountability systems that have already been applied by most school districts since the 1980s. Some suggestions for best practices are merely recycled teaching techniques that have been used by educators for years (Brady, 2003).