newsminer.com

FAIRBANKS - The state has never given a convincing reason why Alaska refused to join every other state except Texas in an effort to develop a common set of educational standards for our students.

Roughly translated, the official position has been “We don’t care how they do it Outside.”

But the latest Alaska scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress point to one of the unspoken issues that might be linked to our holdout status — Alaska’s definition of what constitutes adequate achievement on school tests is inadequate.

“The Nation’s Report Card: Mathematics 2009,” was released last week. Alaska is one of 40 states where students in fourth and eighth grades showed no progress in 2009, compared to 2007, on a national math test.

These tests are given to a sample of students in each state.

Our fourth-graders tested just below the national average in math, while our eighth-graders were about at the national average. The average scores in both cases in Alaska are higher now than in 1996, which is good.

On the national math test, 38 percent of our fourth-graders performed at or above the “proficient” level, while 33 percent of the eighth-graders achieved that level in math.

But here’s the problem: On the Alaska “standards-based assessment” test given to all students this year, a strong majority of our students earned “proficient” status in math, according to the state definition.

On the state test, 74 percent of the fourth-graders were ranked “proficient” or above in math, while 66 percent of eighth-graders reached that level.

There might be room to question the NAEP definition of “proficiency,” but there is a more compelling argument to challenge the weaker state version.

A discrepancy of nearly two-to-one between the state and the national results raises questions about whether we are fooling ourselves.

This is reason enough for Alaska to reverse its position and join 48 other states in trying to devise a system in which educational performance can be fairly compared across the country.

I asked Education Commissioner Larry LeDoux last week for a comment on this. When he gets back to me, I will share it here.

•••

MUSEUM DIRECTOR: The new director of the UA Museum, Carol Diebel, invites the public to drop by Tuesday from 5 to 7 p.m. to get acquainted.

The University of Alaska Museum of the North is hosting a reception to allow community members to meet Diebel and talk about the museum.

Drop by to say hello and share any thoughts about things you like, dislike or want too see changed at the museum.

Admission is free and light refreshments will be served.

•••

ON THE LOOSE: From the e-mail files last week: “I know that you may get some pretty weird stuff, so this one may be no different. Today, there was a coyote at the intersection of University Avenue and Davis Road. I wish that I would have had my camera. I know that we have had coyote sightings outside of town, but I don't remember one so close to town.

“It might be a good idea to remind people (and people with kids) about the dangers of trying to approach a coyote (possibly mistaken for a loose dog). I could see how someone could make that mistake. This one was on the side of the road trying to cross University Avenue and we stopped on the side of the road to watch it (from inside the car).”