NSCAS test scores released, learning loss evident

Last year’s test scores have revealed, albeit with a number of analysis caveats, that Nebraska public school students’ academic achievement was indeed affected negatively by the pandemic.

Results from the 2020-2021 Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System (NSCAS) tests, which were released Monday, Dec. 6 showed a drop in overall proficiency in English language arts (four points) and math (six points) across the state, compared to the 2018-2019 year.

However, the results were released with a special guide for understanding them. For multiple reasons, including the unusual learning circumstances brought on by the pandemic, the results of these tests should not necessarily be compared directly with previous years’ results, the COVID-19 Special Report said.

Data in these charts were taken from the COVID-19 Special Report, NSCAS Special Report and the Nebraska Department of Education.

Still, educators and school administrations are using these results as a way to understand how to move forward amidst mass learning loss.

Administrators from Scottsbluff, which dropped seven points in ELA but stayed the same in math, and Gering, which dropped four points in ELA and eight points in math, both said the data released on Monday will help build a foundation for additional learning opportunities needed to address learning loss.

“Our teachers will be using it for school improvement. Right now, we have a lot of before and after school learning opportunities, trying to really address those kids that had that learning loss,” Mike Mason, SBPS director of curriculum and instruction, said. “We’re doing some interventions and providing supports, both in school and outside of school, and then looking towards summer — how do we expand what we’ve done in the past to really be more focused and intentional to address this?”

Kory Knight, GPS director of curriculum and assessment, said, “Because we have a lot of new information about areas where students need support, we’re able to target some of the skills and the needs that our students have in the whole child realm, not just academics, but as a whole child. Because if we’re lacking in other aspects of our whole child, then test scores are going to be affected.”

Most other Panhandle schools also saw drops of varying degrees, aside from Bridgeport Public Schools, which actually saw an increase of one point in ELA and no change in math. Again, though, there are a variety of reasons for why drawing these comparisons should be done cautiously.

“The test results, right now are so complex in nature as to why the test scores dipped, in our opinion, and it involves, first and foremost, the COVID situation and a lot of different things regarding learning loss and quarantines that were imposed on students, where they weren’t able to be in school,” Knight said. “Plus, we had had a hybrid learning situation going on and increased trauma due to the circumstances. And lastly, the test was modified in the midst of all of this. So the test — you really can’t compare. It’s like comparing apples to oranges right now.”

The COVID-19 Special Report provided additional reasoning, including the modified length of the assessment, large changes in enrollment and participation rates and unstable environment of quarantines and remote learning.

Prior to the pandemic, Nebraska schools were preparing to transition to a new “innovative through-year assessment model,” for the 2019-2020 school year. It was meant to be a pilot assessment, but when COVID hit, all assessments were canceled for the year.

The 2020-2021 assessments were based on the original plans for this new model, but shortened in order to preserve instruction time, making last year’s tests quite different from previous years.

What’s more, because of the fluctuating attendance rates due to quarantines and isolations, as well as lower enrollment, the participation in these assessments were much lower than in the past.

The report noted that homeschool applications across the stage surged by nearly 70% for the 2020-21 school year with an estimated 14,780 students homeschooled, which was up from 9,450 in 2019-2020. Participation in the tests for the students that were enrolled in public school was also spotty, with around 8,000 students who had not tested in either subject in 2020-21, compared to roughly 230 who were not tested in 2019-20.

“The NDE in consultation developed a COVID Waiver to track which students did not test due to ongoing and continued concern about exposure to COIVD-19,” the report said. “COVID waivers accounted for a large increase in the percentage of students that did not count as participants.”

Perhaps the largest consideration to be taken into account is the effect of the pandemic on the wellbeing of students — physically, mentally and emotionally.

According to the COVID-19 Special Report, standardized summative assessments work best when conducted in stable environments, and as Mason noted, “with COVID, it wasn’t very stable.”

Despite the fact that these assessments can’t be reliably compared to those in the past, it provides a foundation for testing, and instruction, in the future.

“I don’t think it’s going to be until next year that we really have a clear picture where testing will be back to normal,” Knight said. “The testing system that they developed for us at the state will be fluid; we’ll have the fall, winter spring.”

Both Scottsbluff and Gering, as well as many other Nebraska schools, will also be using other tests and data to inform their instruction in the coming months. As Knight said, growth is the biggest thing to focus on.

“We know that the NSCAS summative test is one test on one day at one time, and there’s a lot of factors that go into play with that,” she said. “You can’t you can’t take one test and on one day, and expect to know everything. We do all kinds of assessing throughout the school year based on the needs of our students. This one (NSCAS) is important, and it’s what gets reported but we’re testing growth.

“Growth is very important to us. So, we may have students that that don’t reach proficiency, but if they’re on a on a growth path, an upward trajectory, we know that we’re gaining skills with our students as well. So, we really like to focus on the growth aspect rather than that summative score at the end of the year.”

At the end of the day, regardless of what specific conclusions can be drawn from the data, the biggest takeaway for educators across the state is that students need support, and local schools are confident that they can eventually get their students back to where they were pre-pandemic.

“The research is saying that it’ll take about three years to catch kids up from COVID,” Mason said. “...One of the takeaways is that we’ve got students that definitely need extra support, and we need to provide those opportunities and encourage families to take advantage of it before school, after school, during the summer. We definitely have a lot of room for growth.”

*Originally published in the Star-Herald on Dec. 11, 2021.