Julian Betts Provides Comments On Benefits Of Mandated Testing
Study finds math test program results in gains
10/12/2011
Karen Kucher,
The San Diego Union-Tribune
A math testing program used in San Diego that gives teachers prompt feedback on individual students can bring about significant gains in student achievement, according to a nonprofit think tank.
The Public Policy Institute of California report studied seven years of San Diego Unified School District data and found that the testing program led to gains that would increase a median student at the 50th percentile to the 57th percentile a year later.
Tests from the Mathematics Diagnostic Testing Project were administered to middle and high school students in city schools in varying grade levels from 1999 through 2008 under a mandatory program instituted by former Superintendent Alan Bersin. Tests were taken in May or June and results were used to place students in math classes for the following year and identify struggling students for summer school consideration.
Researchers believe the district's mandatory testing, which began in 1999, also caused math teachers at schools to work together on overcoming deficiencies that were identified, said Julian Betts, an economics professor at University of California San Diego and a Bren fellow at the institute who is a co-author of the report, which was issued this week.
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Much of Julian Betts' research has focused on the economic analysis of education. He has written extensively on the link between student outcomes and measures of public school spending including class size, teachers' salaries, and teachers' level of education. More recently, he has examined the role that standards and expectations play in student achievement.
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