A notable increase in the performance of Utah students in SAGE testing is a reason for optimism but not celebration. Like a sports team that increases its scoring ability but still fails to win most of its games, students in Utah are doing better but are not up to an acceptable level of proficiency.

Still, it’s good to see an upward arrow on the Student Assessment of Growth and Excellence charts, particularly in the fields of math and science. This year, 44.1 percent of students were considered proficient in English language arts, compared with 42.2 percent last year. In science, the number increased by 2.6 percentage points to 46.8 percent. There were even larger percentage increases in the areas of secondary math and chemistry. The higher math scores are due somewhat to the fact that more students have been taking preparatory courses tailored to the SAGE criteria, and as more are exposed to the curriculum, scores tend to rise.

They need to continue to rise, and that means educators and lawmakers must continue to place an emphasis on allocating resources to improve instruction across the board, in all subjects and among all school districts. Test scores by themselves are an imperfect gauge of an education system’s overall performance, but the SAGE criteria at least offer a consistent benchmark, which is tied to the proficiency needed to continue in higher education.

As it stands, the scoring may be on the rise, but fewer than half of Utah high school students have reached that level of proficiency. It has been our position that the test scores should be used as a tool to guide investment and innovation in instructional practices. We have also been concerned about the disparity in scoring among schools in different districts. There should not be wide gaps in the proficiency of college-bound students due to demography or geography.

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In short, this year’s report on SAGE testing is an indication of some progress on the pathway to excellence in public education, which the scores also show is a goal that remains a good distance away.

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