LITTLE ROCK — The percentages of Arkansas students scoring at proficient and advanced levels on state exams in Algebra I, geometry, biology and 11thgrade literacy improved this year compared with spring 2010, according to results released Thursday by the state Department of Education.
The results of the exams carry consequences for schools and school districts, which can end up on the state’s improvement list. Also, students must pass the algebra exam to be eligible to graduate starting in 2013.
Seventy-eight percent of the more than 33,000 End-of-Course Algebra I test-takers scored at proficient or better levels this year, up 2 points from the previous year.
Seventy-three percent of the 31,000 geometry test-takers did the same, which was a 4 percentage-point gain over the spring 2010 results.
On the literacy test, which is taken at the end of a student’s junior year, 65 percent of test-takers scored at proficient or better levels, up 5points over 2010 results.
Within that same category, the percentage of students scoring at the advanced level jumped from 2 percent in 2010 to 16 percent this year. That occurred in the wake of a recent review and adjustment of the standards for advanced work by the department and the Arkansas Board of Education.
Forty-one percent of students who took the biology test scored at proficient or better levels, up from 36 percent, but still leaving more than half of all students who took the test achieving at a below-proficient level.
A proficient score on state tests indicates that a student has mastered the skills and concepts in a course. This is the 11th year that Arkansas students have taken the state exams in math and literacy.
“We are continuing to see growth, and that’s good,” said Gayle Potter, the Arkansas Department of Education’s director of curriculum, assessment and research. “We have a very mature system, and a lot of times you don’t see continuous growth in mature testing systems. I think the growth is due to the very hard work that has gone on and the serious way our educators, our kids and our parents take this business. I’m very pleased.”
Potter said the state’s enduring test system has been beneficial for students because it has allowed for continuity in curriculum, instruction and remediation programs.
“It’s been good generally, and we’ve seen that reflected in the national accolades that our state has received,” Potter said, pointing to the January 2011 national Quality Counts report that rated Arkansas’ testing and accountability program as one of the top 10 in the nation.
In the 11-year history of the Arkansas End-of-Course Exams, the state’s students have improved by more than 40 points on the junior-class literacy test and by more than 50 percentage points on the math tests. In 2001, only 19 percent of geometry test-takers, 20 percent of Algebra I test-takers, and 22 percent of literacy test-takers achieved at proficient or advanced levels.
Gary Ritter, who holds the 21st Century Endowed Chair in Education Policy at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, attributed the gains over time to teachers and students becoming accustomed to the testing program.
“The growth we are showing is likely the combination of kids learning more stuff and kids becoming more comfortable taking the exams,” Ritter said. “The way to check whether students are learning is to check how well our scores have been going up on this assessment along with other assessments that our students take,” like the National Assessment of Educational Progress and national tests like the Iowa Test of Basic Skills or Stanford Achievement Test.
“It seems to me that we are growing at a higher rate on the state exams than on other exams, but we are seeing growth on the other assessments, too,” he said. “That’s why my take is that the growth we are witnessing is due to kids getting more comfortable with the exams and to teachers teaching to our standards, which is fine. And there is probably a bit of narrow teaching to the test going on.”
As for the relatively low achievement levels this year on the 5-year-old End of Course biology test, Potter said Thursday that science education in general must be addressed. She said more challenging national science standards are in the works and should help.
“In our state we are very interested in bringing in hightech jobs,” she said. “Science education is critical to that. We can’t give it short shrift.”
The results from the Endof-Course math exams and the 11-grade literacy exams - along with the previously announced results from the state Benchmark Exams given in grades three through eight - are used to calculate whether public schools meet yearly minimum state achievement standards as required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
Schools and school districts that fail to meet the state achievement standards for two or more years are put on the state’s improvement list and must offer students tutoring and opportunities to transfer to higher-performing schools.
Over time, schools that continue to fall below state achievement requirements may be required to hire improvement consultants and specialists, or replace the principal and the majority of a school’s faculty.
The Education Department will release the list of schools that did not meet minimum state standards, which is also known as not making adequate yearly progress, in the fall.
Student scores on the exams are posted on high school transcripts. And students who don’t score at proficient levels must participate in remediation to get graduation credit for the related course.
Most significantly, this year’s 10th-graders and those students who follow must “pass” the End of Course Algebra I test to receive credit for their algebra course and be eligible for high school graduation in 2013 and in subsequent years. Algebra is a required course for graduation. Students have multiple opportunities to retake the test.
The minimum passing score of 159, set by the Arkansas Board of Education last year, is a lower score than what is required to achieve at a proficient level on the algebra test. But the score is intended to indicate that a student has enough content knowledge to pass the course.
This year 91 percent, or 30,673 test-takers, passed the algebra test on their first try, Susan Gray, assistant assessment program manager for the state, said. An additional 373 passed on either their second or third attempt.
A total 2,772 did not meet the passing score, most of those on their first attempt. But about 500 who failed were taking the test for a second or third time, Gray said.
After a third failed attempt on the algebra test, students must take a state-provided online tutorial program and practice tests and, ultimately, an online state test. To date, only 19 students have reached that level of testing. Fifteen passed the exam, and four have not.
The vast majority of Arkansas students take the End-of-Course Exams in the spring, more than 30,000 per test. A far smaller number - 700 to 1,000 students per test - take the exams in January, sometimes after they have completed what is traditionally a one-year course in just one semester because of their college-style class schedule.
While the spring test-takers showed gains, the midyear test-takers saw achievement levels decline - dramatically in Algebra I and geometry - as compared with last year.
State Department of Education officials suggested that the volatile results are a reflection of the relatively small number of test-takers, for which the high or low results from a few students can have a greater effect on the overall result for the group.
There also could be a greater proportion of academically struggling students taking the test at midyear, Potter said. Students who take a summer school course may take the midyear exam, as might students who have moved to the state.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 08/05/2011