MAP test scores rise, still low in all subjects

Although fewer Missouri students are scoring low, about two-thirds still are not making the grade in such basics as math, science and social studies.

Most students scored below their grade level in all five subjects of the standardized tests given under the Missouri Assessment Program, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said Tuesday.

Students in Cape Girardeau School District generally kept pace with or did slightly better than their peers statewide, but Dr. Dan Steska, superintendent, said programs recently implemented to improve MAP scores will pay dividends over the next few years.

They include expanding Reading Recovery, which is an intensive program for children falling behind in the subject, and training reading teachers in the most successful techniques. Steska said he hasn't had the opportunity to examine this year's results, but the numbers show not even a quarter of district eighth- and 10th-graders are proficient in math. The most marked improvement was in seventh-grade communication arts, from 39 percent of students scoring proficiently and above to 46 percent.

Jackson students generally far outpaced the rest of the state, but superintendent Dr. Ron Anderson said the district still is implementing and retaining programs aimed at raising scores. They include teaming, which links teachers' lesson plans so students are approaching the same subject from different angles in various classes.

Anderson hadn't analyzed Tuesday's data either, but results showed dramatic drops in seventh-grade communications arts and science scores.

Misleading numbers

While Jackson and Cape Girardeau both generally saw improvements over last year, educators warn that one-year comparisons of student achievement levels can be misleading because they don't reflect anomalies.

Perry County School District will release test scores this week, and Scott City scores were unavailable Tuesday.

Kent King, Missouri's commissioner of education and a former English teacher, said the state deserved a C-plus grade on the test results.

"I'm not ready to give us higher than that until we see improvement in the top two levels," King said. "We aren't where we need to be ... but we are making progress."

The tests are designed to show not only what students know but whether they can apply the knowledge.

500,000 tested

They were given last spring to about 500,000 students in all 524 school districts on the subjects of math, science, communication arts, social studies and health/physical education.

Students take tests only on certain subjects in each grade. For example, the math test is given to grades four, eight and 10 while the communication arts test is given to grades three, seven and 11.

Students are rated in one of five achievement levels. State officials want school districts to place students in the top two levels -- advanced or proficient -- and move them out of the bottom two levels.

The percentage of students scoring at the lowest two levels decreased in almost every subject at every grade level.

"We are moving the floor by moving students out" of the lower scoring areas," King said. "I think the improvements in proficient and advanced areas will come. I think it's a building thing."

Positive signs

King said there were positive signs in the high school scores. In grades 10 and 11, for example, the number of students in the bottom two levels decreased in all subject areas while the number scoring proficient increased in four of the five subjects.

Still, just 13 percent of 10th-graders scored proficient or above in math and just 15 percent of eighth graders met that mark.

Students in elementary school generally scored better on math and science tests than those in middle and high schools.

In science, for example, more than 45 percent of third-graders scored proficient or better. But just 14 percent of seventh-graders met that mark and only 9 percent of 10th-graders.

The differences between elementary and upper grades were smaller on the communications and social studies tests.

Last spring was the first time the health and physical education portion was mandatory. About 43 percent of fifth-grade students scored proficient or above while 39 percent of ninth-grade students scored at the two highest levels.

Managing editor Heidi Hall contributed to this report.