Texas County school superintendents are reviewing results from testing aimed at determining academic progress.
Pupils in grades 3 through 11 take tests each spring in communication arts, math, social studies and science. The federal government, under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, requires schools to make progress on the annual assessment via Adequate Yearly Progress – yearly proficiency goals for students.
This year, schools in Missouri were required to have 42.9 percent of students scoring proficient or higher in communication arts and 35.8 percent of students scoring proficient or higher in math to make AYP. Schools were also required to meet standards for graduation and attendance rates. The MAP scores and attendance/graduation rates are broken down by various student subgroups, including race, special needs students, low-income students and limited-English proficient (non-English speaking) students. However, a subgroup must contain at least 30 students to be subject to the federal requirements.
The Houston School District plans to challenge one aspect of the report – a graduation figure of only 76.6 percent – by Sept. 15. On Tuesday, Superintendent Clinton Waters said the district will question the number, saying it was not correct. The school received the figure without any data showing how it was calculated.
Statewide, students posted small to moderate gains in reading and math at all grade levels on this year’s state-required MAP tests, state education officials said last week.
“Overall, I am pleased with this year’s MAP results,” said Stan Johnson, assistant commissioner of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. “We see positive change in the percentage of students scoring at the ‘proficient’ or ‘advanced’ levels in nearly every subject and every grade. We also have moderate state-level gains in the middle grades (6-8), where our scores have been flat in recent years,” he said.
The rate of progress, however, is not fast enough in many schools to meet the “adequate yearly progress” (AYP) targets that are required under federal law. As a result, more public schools in the state will be identified this year as not meeting the ever-increasing AYP goals. More schools also will be identified as “needing improvement” or some other type of corrective action. Houston and Cabool are listed on the “needs improvement” list.
This year, about 190 school buildings that receive federal “Title I” funding will be identified as “needing improvement,” compared to 130 schools last year. As the benchmark rises, so will the number of districts listed.