Reading, math scores comparable

By Trisha Marczak (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Math and Reading scores of Minnesota students are up from last year, but school districts around the state — including Fergus Falls — still have some work to do. The Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments II (MCA-II) tests in reading and math were administered this spring to some 556,000 students in grades three through 11. And while test results did show higher levels of competency compared to last year, the Department of Education is encouraging individual districts to analyze data and work on methods of performance improvement to meet federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) guidelines by 2014.

Students’ performances were measured based on four achievement levels: Does Not Meet Standards, Partially Meets Standards, Meets the Standards or Exceeds the Standards.

Current NCLB guidelines require that all students be proficient in math and reading by 2014. A proficient rating is given to a students who meet or exceed standards on the MCA-II.

For nearly all districts around the state, that’s going to require some serious work. This year, 45.9 percent of eleventh grade students, state-wide, did not meet math standards and 19.7 percent partially met standards. That’s 65.6 percent of students, overall, who did not test at math levels that could soon be required by NCLB. And Fergus Falls numbers were comparable — 69.5 percent of eleventh grade students’ math test scores were not adequate for 2014 standards.

Students who would first come under the 2014 guidelines are 2007-08 fifth graders. Statewide, 66 percent of fifth graders meet 2014 expectations in Math, while 73.4 percent meet projected reading expectations. Within the Fergus Falls District, 63.4 percent of fifth grade students met projected NCLB standards for math, while 76.3 percent did so for reading.

Third grade students across the state proved the highest percentage of proficiency, with 81.4 percent meeting or exceeding math standards. Fergus Falls third grade students scored higher than the state average with 82.4 percent of students proving proficiency in math.

The biggest increase, state-wide, came in tenth grade reading. Tenth grade students in Fergus Falls tested well above the state’s average with scores averaging at 1059.3 compared with the state average of 1055.8. The Department of Education attributes the increase to recent reading graduation requirements for tenth grade students. Graduation requirements for math will be given to eleventh grade students, starting the 2008-09 school year.

MCA-II tests are used as tools for schools to determine points of possible improvement, and are also used by the Department of Education to label schools’ performances based on a breakdown of student populations. The Fergus Falls school district has two categories of students where testing is closely examined; special needs and economically disadvantaged (free and reduced lunch) students.

Last year, the district did not meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standards for math in middle school special education. Math scores for the Area Learning Center did not meet standards, either. As a result, the entire district was put on the list of schools throughout the state that did not meet AYP standards.

“Here’s the frustration of schools,” said superintendent Jerry Ness. “Those two areas put the whole district on the list for not meeting adequate yearly progress.”

When a school does not meet AYP, federal government Title I dollars are required to be re-allocated to fund tutoring and training of teachers in categories that did not meet standards.

The Minnesota Department of Education will reveal in August the list of schools that did not meet AYP standards.