DODDS-Europe official: A number of factors contribute to high test scores
By David Josar, Stars
and Stripes
Ohman |
There is no simple answer as to why test scores vary widely from one
school to another at the Department of Defense Dependents Schools in Europe, according to
its top administrator.
“You can’t just pin it on one thing,” said deputy
director Diana Ohman, explaining why standardized scores fluctuate. “There are so
many factors.”
The scores, though, are often the most common measuring stick of
success used by parents and lawmakers. In the States, more and more school districts lose
government funding if their pupils don’t meet certain test criteria, and President
Bush is pushing for school accountability linked to scores.
Low tests scores at a particular school don’t mean educators
there are doing a poor job, Ohman said. 
“A parent trying to evaluate a school shouldn’t just focus
on whether they have high scores or low scores,” she said.
Still, Ohman, a former secretary of state for Wyoming, can quickly
rattle off a list of things that make a difference in student performance.
Schools that have a stable, experienced staff tend to do better
than a school that has high staff turnover, she said.
High parental and community involvement at a school also tend to
result in better performance, she said.
“If parents are very, very involved, we’ll see that
reflected in our scores,” she said. “That’s a big key.”
Ohman, whose official title is Department of Defense Education
Activity deputy director DODDS-Europe, doesn’t dismiss parent criticisms about
inequity. She acknowledges that some communities, such as those prone to high numbers of
deployments, may struggle more in educating their young people than areas with a more
stable population.
Nor is she insensitive to worries that long-distance learning
programs cheat students out of interacting with teachers and students. In long-distance
learning, students take classes taught by other DODDS teachers via the Internet or
teleconferencing.
There is a trade-off with long-distance learning, she said. Although
there isn’t the normal student-teacher relationship, many courses simply
wouldn’t be held at some of the smaller, isolated schools without these classes, she
said.
“It’s another tool to help us offer to our students
something that we would not otherwise have because we wouldn’t have the staff,”
she said.
Schools could staff the advanced classes that are taught via long
distance learning, but that would mean instructors would be taken away from more popular
programs. “We have to make choices,” she said.
DODDS-Europe is moving ahead with several plans to boost education
quality.
Already, full-day kindergarten has been implemented, and teachers are
being added to ensure that there is roughly one teacher for every 18 students in first,
second and third grades.
Ohman, who marked her two-year anniversary in the job this month,
said DODDS-Europe is working to improve its “reading recognition program” that
will target students in kindergarten and first grade who need help learning to read. She
said children with problems will receive more one-on-one instruction.
Still, she says, despite the hurdles that DODDS-Europe faces teaching
children, there are other advantages that test scores don’t measure.
“We’re not giving [students] a narrow focus. We give them a
much broader focus because of the fact we’re in Europe,” she said.
Teachers may face limited resources, but they also can use Europe as
an extended classroom, she said.
“It’s a pretty unique opportunity,” she said.
“I can’t tell you quality at every school is exactly the
same at every school, but quality overall is good.”
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