Student test results a mixed bag

Scores down in algebra I, up a bit in geometry, biology

— Arkansas students produced a mix of results on the state’s End-of-Course Exams in math and science last spring, with nearly all eighthgrade test-takers showing mastery of algebra I concepts and other test-takers making gains in geometry.

But ninth-grade algebra I results dropped when compared with 2011 results, and a majority of biology test-takers failed to hit the desired proficient mark.

The Arkansas Research Center posted the 2012 Endof-Course results on its QuickLooks website, which is accessible under the “Testing” heading on the Arkansas Department of Education’s website: www.arkansased. org.

The End-of-Course results in algebra and geometry — along with results from the Arkansas Benchmark Exams administered in math and literacy in grades three through eight — will now be used in the state’s newly revamped accountability system.

That system will identify schools later this fall as either “achieving” or “needs improvement.”

Ninety-five percent of the state’s 10,400 eighth-grade Algebra I test-takers scored at proficient on the 2012 test, down slightly from 96 percent in 2011. Eighth-graders who take algebra are considered advanced in their math skills.

Students who take Algebra I in ninth grade are considered more likely to struggle with math and, on average, do not score as well on the state exam as do eighth graders.

Sixty-six percent of the 25,000 ninth-grade Algebra I test-takers scored at proficient or better, down from 69 percent in 2011.

Seventy-six percent of 32,000 geometry test-takers achieved at a proficient or better level, up from 73 percent a year ago.

“We are proud of our students’ performance on these tests and of our teachers for their preparation and continued efforts in the classroom,” Arkansas Education Commissioner Tom Kimbrell said about the exams through a spokesman.

“These results reflect the outstanding work of our teachers and administrators, as well as the dedication of our students and parents,” he said.

While two-thirds or more of test-takers scored at proficient or better on the math exams, only 43 percent of End-of-Course biology testtakers scored at proficient — up from 41 percent a year ago and 36 percent two years ago.

Biology is the newest End-of-Course Exam, and the results are not used by the Arkansas Department of Education to identify academically troubled schools. The results of the biology test don’t carry the same consequences for the schools that the algebra and geometry results carry.

Vickie Logan, a biology teacher at Little Rock’s Parkview Math and Science Magnet High School and recipient of the 2012 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Teaching, on Friday rued the statewide results on the science exam.

“Math and science need to be stressed at the lower grades,” Logan said. “We can’t save students when they get to high school if they have no foundation, if they are not enthusiastic about it, and it hasn’t been exciting for them and something they are able to master.”

She said teachers in the lower grades — particularly in middle schools — are not always comfortable teaching math and science. That’s when scores drop.

Logan calculated that 68 percent of her students scored at proficient or better on the biology exam, while 40 percent of Parkview testtakers overall scored at proficient on the test this year. In previous years, Parkview students outperformed the state averages.

In her school’s science magnet program, the biology course and the state test are treated as “high stakes.” They must be passed for a student to proceed in the science program, she said.

In her classroom, there are no shortcuts to the hard work, including “old-fashioned memory work” that is necessary for students’ success, she added.

“I teach science best when I can talk science to my students. They can’t understand science if they don’t know the terms. In every single unit we do, there are a certain number of terms I expect them to know. So at the end of the year, that test does not throw my students. They know the lingo.”

Arkansas’ new school accountability system was recently approved by the U.S. Department of Education as an alternative to meeting the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2002. The law called for all students to achieve at grade level on state math and literacy exams by 2013-14.

The school accountability system calls for each of Arkansas’ more than 1,000 public schools to annually increase the percentages of students who score at proficient levels on the state tests.

The goal is to cut in half — by the end of the 2016-17 school year — the gap between the three-year average of students proficient in 2009-11 and 100 percent proficiency.

Take for example a school in which an average 76 percent of students scored at proficient or better in 2009-11.

That school would have to cut the 24-point gap between 76 percent and 100 percent by at least half, or by 12 points, by 2017 at a rate of at least 2 points a year for six years.

The annual achievement goals vary among schools because of their different average achievement rates in 2011.

A school’s overall student body must meet or exceed the annual achievement goals for both math and literacy to be classified by the state as an “achieving” school, and so must the school’s subgroup of students most at risk of failing. That subgroup is made up of all special-education students, poor students and students who are non-native-English-language learners.

Schools categorized as “achieving” will be subject to less state Department of Education monitoring than those schools categorized as needing improvement.

Schools subject to the greatest Education Department involvement are those within the “needs improvement” category that are the lowest 5 percent of achieving schools, which are “priority” schools.

Also getting extra state attention are schools with the greatest achievement disparity between students at risk of failing and those not at risk, which are “focus” schools.

End-of-Course Exam results for the state, school districts and individual schools are available under the “Scores, Growth and Proficiency” link on the Arkansas Research Center’s Quick-Looks website: http://arc. arkansas.gov/quicklooks.

In Pulaski County, 93 percent of Little Rock School District students, 97 percent of North Little Rock School District students and 91 percent of Pulaski County Special School District students scored at proficient or better levels on the eighth-grade Algebra I exam.

Forty-f ive percent of Little Rock School District students, 58 percent of North Little Rock School District students and 48 percent of Pulaski County Special district students scored at proficient or better in ninth-grade Algebra I.

Fifty-four percent of Little Rock School District students, 63 percent of North Little Rock School District students and 62 percent of Pulaski County Special district students scored at proficient or better in geometry.

Thirty percent of Little Rock School District students, 35 percent of North Little Rock School District students and 24 percent of Pulaski County Special district students scored at proficient or better in biology.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 07/29/2012

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