Local students near state average on test scores

Published 12:00 am Monday, August 18, 2003

[8/15/03]Students in public schools in Vicksburg are in the same range as students statewide who showed improvement in subject testing during the spring.

Scores released this morning by the state Department of Education, “show us some areas we are pleased with and some areas we need to work on,” said the new superintendent of the Vicksburg Warren School District, James Price.

“It appears as though we’re very close to the state average,” Price said. “We want to be at the top, of course.”

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The detailed tests are a major component of reforms approved in Mississippi in advance of similar requirements in the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Under the law, schools get more money, but pay a penalty if progress is not shown. The public is provided detailed school-to-school comparisons.

Price said improvement between this year’s and last year’s scores could not be accurately determined because students who took the test last year in the second grade would be scored in the third grade this year.

Statewide, there was improvement in almost every category on the Mississippi Curriculum Test and Subject Area Testing Program that will be used in September to grade schools and districts under the new federal and state standards.

“It is true that we are improving and that’s always encouraging,” said state Superintendent of Education Henry Johnson. “What this accountability system provides is a powerful tool to meet and exceed the expectations of parents and the broader community.”

Whether the state meets the standards of the new No Child Left Behind law is still to be seen, Johnson said.

This is the first year that schools and districts will be held accountable under the federal law that measures student performances in math and reading/language arts.

The average score in Mississippi on the curriculum tests, given from second to eighth grade, improved in every category except sixth-grade reading. Also, the percentage of students not meeting minimum grade requirements dropped in every category. In high school, more students who took subject tests in four areas passed.

One area that continued to lag behind despite improvement, was seventh- and eighth-grade math. While nearly 90 percent of students showed math proficiency in second grade, by eighth grade, 52 percent of those tested had only basic skills or less.

High school students were given tests in English, U.S. history, biology and algebra. Eighth-graders enrolled in algebra were tested in that subject as well. In addition to scores becoming part of school-by-school grading, each student must pass each subject-area test to receive a diploma.

The top scores in the subject area tests were at Warren Central High School and the eighth-graders who took the algebra test at Warren Central Junior High.

The average score across the state in the algebra test was 339.5; Warren Junior’s average score was 390.3

The state average in the history test was 363; for Warren Central, 367.7

In biology, the state score was 350.8; for Warren Central 353.3 And in English, Warren Central tied the state with 328.9.

The Vicksburg Warren School District average score in algebra dropped from 360.6 to 348.3. The district’s scores in history lost only a tenth of a point. In biology, the district’s average rose about three points, and in English, the district gained 2.1 points.

Price said the test results will be used to improve teacher’s instruction. But more importantly, he said, educators were awaiting the school and district’s accreditation.

“We are anxiously awaiting the release of our scores after they have been statistically assessed so they can show individual, class, school and district progress,” he said.

Associate State Superintendent Susan Rucker said that hundreds of Mississippi’s schools won’t meet the new standards of No Child Left Behind.

“With adequate yearly progress, we’re looking at nine different subgroups’ … achievement level in reading and math,” she said.

The subgroups include racial categories, along with students with economic disadantages, learning disabilities or limited English proficiency.

For each group, 95 percent must be tested, or the school won’t make adequate yearly progress, Rucker said. A growth index and graduation rates are also taken into account, she said.

Rucker said she didn’t expect as many schools to fall short under state standards, which measure a school’s overall score, and take progress into account.

State sanctions for low-perfoming schools that receive a level 1 rating and are designated as a priority include dismissing a teacher or principal or capping the superintendent’s salary in the second year. In the third year, a superintendent or school board members can be dismissed or subject to recall.

Federal sanctions for schools not meeting adequate yearly progress under No Child Left Behind offer the option to move to other students schools in the district in the first year, by the fifth year alternate governance will be implemented.