Arkansas' public school test-takers did their best work on the English portion of the 2019 ACT Aspire exams, but they struggled more on the reading, math and science sections given this past spring to about 292,000 students in grades three through 10.
Better than half of all students at each grade level scored at the desired "ready" or "exceeding ready" levels on the English tests, according to state, district and school Aspire results released Monday afternoon by the Arkansas Department of Education.
More than 78% of seventh-graders scored at the "ready" or "exceeding ready" levels, making them the top grade-level performers in the subject area.
In contrast -- with a few exceptions -- fewer than half of the test-takers on the state-mandated Aspire exams scored at the desired "ready" and "exceeding ready" levels on the reading, math and science tests. That was also true for English/language arts results that combine the English and reading results with a writing score.
The Arkansas Department of Education described the results -- considered preliminary until any school district requests for data corrections are considered -- as "relatively steady" as compared with the 2018 results.
"It is evident that we have areas that are showing growth along with areas that need improvement," Arkansas Department of Education Commissioner Johnny Key said in a statement released with the results.
2019 Aspire test results
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He also said the results are what the Education Department anticipated based on other school-level data.
"Growth ... takes time, and I am confident we are heading in the right direction," Key said. "Through continued collaboration, teacher excellence, and a culture of learning, our students' performance will improve, and we will lead the nation in student-focused education."
Students who scored at the "ready" and "exceeding ready" levels on the online test -- as opposed to the "close" and "in need of support" levels -- are considered to be on track for meeting benchmarks for the related subject academic subject areas on the ACT college entrance exam. The ACT college entrance exam is now given to virtually all 11th-graders in Arkansas at no expense to the students. High school students can take that college entrance exam multiple times into their 12th-grade year but usually at a financial cost.
In 2019, a total of 31,402 11th-graders took the free ACT college entrance test, which is slightly higher than the 2018 number. The 2018-2019 average composite score is 18.5, compared with 18.7 in 2017-2018. The test is scored on a 1 to 36 scale with 36 being the highest.
One of the purposes of the year-end, online Aspire exams, which have now been given in four consecutive years, is to hold schools responsible for student achievement. The latest test results, as well as a comparison of this year's results with past years' results, are a big component, but not the only one, in calculating a school district's federally required Every Student Succeeds Act score. That ESSA score is also a basis for the state's application of A to F letter grades to schools. Those calculations and letter grades will be determined by the Education Department and announced later this year.
The Aspire results are also the basis for millions of state dollars in rewards paid annually to schools that scored in the top 10% of schools in the state or showed significant year-to-year gains.
The Aspire test results are of particular interest this year in the Little Rock School District, as the district results are expected to play a role in when and how the state-controlled district might be returned to the direction of a locally elected school board.
The state took over the management of the capital city system in January 2015 because six schools had chronically low student literacy and math scores under the state's former school accountability system. Criteria set earlier this year by the Education Department for the district's return to local control includes both qualitative and quantitative measures.
The quantitative measures call for schools that have F letter grades to achieve an 80 or better growth indicator. Additionally, the F-graded schools must show that they have more students achieving at "close," ready, and "exceeds ready" than at the "needs support" level.
The Little Rock schools holding F letter grades from the state are Hall, McClellan and J.A. Fair high schools; Cloverdale Middle School; and Bale, Romine, Washington and Stephens elementary schools.
Superintendent Mike Poore and district spokesman Pamela Smith did not immediately respond Monday to emailed questions regarding the district's just-released test results.
Overall results for the Little Rock district in reading ranged from 25% at "ready" or better levels in the 10th grade to 41% at "ready" levels in the eighth grade. In math, the districtwide results ranged from 19.9% "ready" or better in the 10th grade to 51.2% "ready" or "exceeding ready" in the third grade.
In regard to the statewide 2019 Aspire results, the percentages of students scoring at "ready" and "exceeding ready" levels in the combined English/language arts subject area that includes writing improved in four grades when compared with the past year. The fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth grades showed higher percentages at "ready" or better levels as compared with the 2018 results, while the four other grades tested saw drops.
Math percentages at "ready" or "exceeding ready" levels improved in six grades -- three, four, seven, eight, nine and 10 -- and fell in two grades.
Science results on the 2019 test improved in six grades: second, fourth, seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th.
In releasing the results, Education Department leaders noted the ongoing work by the agency and districts to emphasize the use of phonics in teaching reading that is intended to generally replace the whole-language approach in which students memorize words and seek cues in learning to read.
Computer science instruction, the use of professional learning communities of teachers for lesson planning and assessing student work, along with a new teacher training program in math are other areas of emphasis in efforts to raise achievement.
Arkansas is currently the only state that mandates the Aspire exam as its school accountability test, but multiple districts in the nation use the test and there are national results for comparison. Arkansas had higher percentages of students scoring at "ready" or better levels in some grades and subjects than the national figures, but lower percentages in other grades and subjects.
For example, 39.2% of Arkansas seventh-grade test-takers achieved at "ready" or "exceeding ready" levels in reading compared with 41% nationally. But 53.16% of Arkansas eighth-graders achieved at "ready" or better levels, as compared with 50% nationally.
Spreadsheets of test results by school, district, state and nation for the 2018-19 school year, as well as past years, are available on the state Education Department's website: ArkansasEd.gov or at the following link: https://bit.ly/2NAHXTk.
A Section on 07/02/2019