SALT LAKE CITY — A legislative audit released Monday says the percentage of students in Utah who change their proficiency on statewide academic assessments is “problematically low.”
“There is a statewide gap between the performance of students who are in a group that traditionally struggles with academic proficiency and those who aren’t,” the audit said.
It suggests local education agencies and charter schools make efforts to identify students in need and intervene quickly at the first signs of difficulty.
Top-performing local education agencies share a common theme of data-driven decisions that inform “timely and consistent” interventions. Two school districts mentioned in the audit provide a shared dashboard allowing individual schools within the districts to have visible, usable student data. Another school district trains principals every month on how to use data to conduct root cause analyses for various low-performing student groups.
Still, there are challenges for many districts when it comes to data and student proficiency gaps that include “lack of access to timely data, disparate access to software programs and insufficient resources,” according to the audit.
“Although there have been improvements, multiple (local education agencies) mentioned that student data received from Utah’s State Board of Education has not been timely. For example, one school district reports building in lag time for state-owned program data, which could prolong introducing or adjusting targeted student interventions,” the audit says.
So, with the need for accurate, timely education data being a problem that has persisted over time, the audit recommends that the State School Board “review the cycle of student assessment data and identify opportunities to expedite the process, thereby improving the turnaround time to Utah local education agencies.”
“Making timely decisions based on accurate data is crucial because the data can inform educational improvements at the policy, state board and classroom level. Timely, accurate data provides quality information for administrators to evaluate the success of implemented initiatives based on student achievement,” the audit states.
The audit also recommends local education agencies collect and analyze data to determine gaps in student proficiency and implement programs designed to bridge those gaps.
Additionally, the audit said there’s a case to be made for school districts and charter schools to reevaluate the effectiveness of student intervention programs.
The audit applauds the efforts of districts and charter schools to maintain student proficiency but also raises concerns that nonproficient student groups, by and large, are not improving and varies significantly between local education agencies.
Data from the audit shows that with all subject areas selected, roughly 3 of 4 school districts netted losing more than 10% of their “proficient” students to the “not proficient” student group.
“Student interventions should aim to link the root cause of the problem to a specific, targeted intervention that directly addresses the underlying issue,” the audit states. “Additionally, timely and consistent interventions can significantly reduce the student proficiency gap by providing targeted support when students first show signs of difficulty.”
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