Schools in region see pupils’ test scores rise

School districts in Benton and Washington counties saw growth over a five-year period on the state Benchmark Exam, but educators and community members must continue efforts to ensure that all children receive a quality education, officials say.

“When we look at the poverty rate in our community, we’re starting to see that grow,” said Kim Davis, director of education and workforce development for the Northwest Arkansas Council, a nonprofit organization concerned with improving the region’s economic development, education, health and infrastructure.

“We’re going to have a very good conversation with our business community and social-services providers on what’s the best approach to help students get the best-quality education and take advantage of the qualityof education being offered here,” Davis said.

The 2013 Northwest Arkansas Report Card released Thursday offers a glimpse at the performance of school districts across Benton and Washington counties, including the long-term growth in the rates of students earning proficient scores on the Benchmark Exam in math and literacy. Children in the third through eighth grades take the Benchmark Exam each spring.

Among the 1 5 public school districts in the region, the average rate of proficiency on the Benchmark Exam in literacy grew from 68.8 percent in 2007-08 to 81 percent in 2012-13, an increase of 12.2 percentage points. The average rate of proficiency on the Benchmark Exam in math grew from 74 percent in 2007-08 to 77.9 percent in 2012-13, an increase of about3.93 percentage points.

The report card shows a similar trend with two of the region’s charter schools. The rates of proficiency in literacy for Benton County School of the Arts grew from 79 percent in 2007-08 to 88 percent in 2012-13, and in math from 74 percent in 2007-08 to 82 percent in 2012-13.

Haas Hall’s youngest students are in the eighthgrade, and the report card shows that 100 percent of eighth-graders there earned proficient scores in 2011-12 and in 2012-13 in math and literacy.

The report card does not include Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy, whichopened this school year to students in kindergarten through eighth grades.

Graduation rates for the Class of 2012 were above 80 percent for all districts in Northwest Arkansas, though four school districts - Decatur, Springdale, Rogers and Gentry - had graduation rates below the state graduation rate of 84.1 percent, according to the report card.

Northwest Arkansas schools tend to outperform those in the state overall, but the report card shows that there is room for improvement, said Gary Ritter, director of the Office of Education Policy.

Bentonville School District is among the highest-achieving districts in the state, but the graduation rate for the Class of 2012 was 86 percent. That means 14 percent of the district’s students who entered ninth grade did not finish high school on time.

“There are lots of opportunities for improvement,” Ritter said. “We need to look at those gaps.”

The report card is published annually by the Office of Education Policy at the University of Arkansas through a partnership with the Northwest Arkansas Council.

The quality of education in the region has a direct link to the region’s economy, Davis said. When families consider moving, such as for a new job, they want to know about the schools their children will attend. Business executives often look closely at the proportion of the population that has graduated from high school and earned bachelor’s degrees.

The council hopes to increase the number of adults in Northwest Arkansas who have bachelor’s degrees to 30 percent, Davis said. In the metropolitan area, an estimated 28.1 percent of adults ages 25 and older have at least bachelor’s degrees, according to the 2012 American Community Survey by the U.S. Census.

Springdale School District officials are working to improve graduation rates and the performance of children who are learning to speak English, said Marsha Jones, associate superintendent for the district. Springdale was among five districts nationwide named in December as a recipient of a Race to the Top district grant by the U.S. Department of Education.

The district’s grant of $25.88 million includes money the district plans to put toward providing equal access to technology for all students, Jones said. The district also will use grant money to help parents become more involved and knowledgeable about what their children need before they enter college.

“Parent engagement with their students’ academic lives is critical to having successful students,” Jones said.