Superintendent addresses the AK STAR participation

In September, the results for the AK STAR assessment for the 2024-2025 school year were released on the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development (DEED) results webpage. Results indicate that most Alaska students were not proficient in core subjects like English language arts, math, and science for the 2023-24 school year, similar to the previous year.

The AK STAR Assessment is used to measure progress in English Language Arts (ELA) and Math, and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District (MSBSD) currently leads “Big 5” school districts across the state, with nine schools, including Shaw Elementary, American Charter, and Trapper Creek Elementary schools, to name a few, with 50% or more proficient or advanced in ELA. In the mathematics category, 12 schools were 50% or more proficient or advanced.

“We’ve been outpacing the state average over time,” MSBSD Superintendent Dr. Randy Trani told the school board during the September 17 meeting. “We’re getting better faster than everybody else, and that’s because all of our schools are making proficient gains on one of the hardest tests in the nation.”

Dr. Trani reported that there was also a high number of schools that were right on the cusp of meeting the 50% or higher proficient or advanced mark. “I hope that next year I can share the same slide and add a second column of schools.”

He said upon closer examination of the assessment results at the grade level. Here is a breakdown of the ELA by grade level:

3rd-5th grade 47% proficient or advanced

6th-8th grade 39% proficient or advanced

9th grade 35% proficient or advanced

While the math had similar results:

3rd-5th grade 47% proficient or advanced

6th-8th grade 39% proficient or advanced

9th grade 20% proficient or advanced

“One of my hypotheses that I know is impacting that 20% number is that our very top students don’t take the test in math,” said Dr. Trani, saying that when a student performs above average, they often do not participate in the AK STAR assessment. “We aren’t doing ourselves a service by not testing those students, and we need to work on that.”

Dr. Trani points to the participation percentages for the AK STAR by grade, with the highest number of students participating at 85% in 3rd and 5th grade, and dipping to 68% of 9th grade students taking the assessments.

“We just have fewer and fewer kids taking it.”

He added that some of the small schools do not publish the scores so as to not highlight the one or two students who may fall below the proficient mark.

Dr. Trani zeroed in on 3rd grade student participation of the AK STAR, and based on his research, said that only 4% of students in brick and mortar (Charter and Non Charter schools) were not tested, while conversely, 86% of students in correspondence schools were not tested. “I’m not sure what’s happening in our correspondence schools,: he said, adding that he didn’t have a big enough sample set, but of the 14% that did take the AK STAR, those third graders “did okay.”

When he looked at high school, where there was a drop in participation, Su Valley and Palmer High both had 100% participation, while the Mat-Su Central School only had 2% participation rate. “We have a migration of students from our brick and mortar to our correspondence schools as they get older. There’s far more seniors enrolled at MSCS than in kindergarten.”

Dr. Trani said he does not know how to fix the disparity, but thinks that not having all of the students taking the AK STAR impacts the average scores.

“It’s kind of a quandary that we’re in this dilemma because if we try to mandate it, we will find ourselves running contrary to statutes,” said MSBSD school board member Tom Bergey. “My suggestion here is to offer some type of incentivization program to encourage the families of our correspondence students to come in and take the test.” Bergey acknowledged that some view an incentive program can be poorly received, but creativity is needed to close the gap.

School board member Ole Larson echoed those sentiments, adding that perhaps the lack of participation is due in part to cultural differences in the homeschool environment versus brick and mortar schools, and that changing the culture may boost participation.