Whenever any high school student hears the words “SAGE test,” all of our hearts skip a beat. The Student Assessment of Growth and Excellence, or SAGE test, is the new form of statewide testing for high school students. Last year was the first year of SAGE test administration, with tests given in the categories of Science, Mathematics, and English Language Arts. Seeing as last year was the first time the test was given, many of the teachers did not know what to expect, so they prepared the students in the best possible way, but no one expected the results to come back saying what they did.
When the SAGE results were returned a few weeks ago, people all over the state were shocked. As a whole, the proficiency levels of Utah students were not anywhere near what the CRT’s have said in years previous. In Language arts, only 42 percent of students were proficient, with 44 percent in science and an astounding 39 percent in mathematics. These numbers were much lower than anyone was expecting.
Seeing as this was the first year of the new form of testing, there are many reasons the scores were low that had nothing to do with the actual intelligence of the student bodies of Utah high schools. One of the first aspects that should be looked at is the actual percent of the students that were tested. Due to various conflicts, like concurrent enrollment classes or classes that have a name like ‘Business English’ rather than 11th grade English, there were students whose scores were filtered out of the collective. Another aspect that had a strange effect on the test was the fact that the SAGE test is what’s called an “Adaptive” test. This means that when the student gets an answer correct, the next question is harder; when the student answers a question incorrectly, he or she is then given an easier question. This makes the test seem harder to analyze because the difficulty of the test is not the same for each person.
Although the scores did seem strange and the test was not the most enjoyable to take, there were also a few positive things about the SAGE test, too. Recently, the Utah School Board announced that three states (Florida, Arizona, and Tennessee) are giving the state of Utah a combined 10 million dollars to use the SAGE system we developed because of what a good screening it produces of student’s proficiency levels. This money will be used to better develop the system for next year’s tests and train the teachers how to get used to the new system.
On the subject of SAGE tests, Mr Ford says, “This year will be better. Our teachers are learning, and we just need to teach what will be on the test. I have confidence we’ll figure it out and make it work.” So if the SAGE results have you stressed out or feeling un-proficient, don’t sweat it. This is a new system, and once the screened results are factored back in, Payson High School students are exactly where they should be. The biggest positive of a new test is that SAGE can only get better from here!