But it's also questionable whether standardized tests, especially those that compare students with a national sample, mean as much as classroom grades. Juneau found that 59 percent of eighth-graders who got Ds in math nonetheless scored in the upper half of the California Achievement Test, and 43 percent of students with Fs did so. Those students may look proficient in a school rating system based on tests. Critics of school rating systems also say it's unfair to judge schools on what they can't control. Students' socioeconomic status is the strongest correlation with standardized tests scores nationally.
Kids bring more than lunch from home.
Students come with their parents' expectations, attitudes toward school and English-language skills. They are affected by their parents' alcoholism and drug abuse. They are distracted by hunger or damaged by child abuse and fetal alcohol syndrome, among other baggage. A school's program quality is only part of what determines test scores, said Cox, who has advised Alaska educators on how to interpret the state's new standards-based tests. Scores are affected by student turnover, English proficiency and family income, Cox said.