Scores from the 2011 Colorado Student Assessment Program released Wednesday show mixed results for student achievement efforts in Montezuma-Cortez School District Re-1.
Although there were high points throughout the district, particularly in writing, overall scores in the 30 tested areas were well behind state averages, anywhere from 8 to 26 percent.
I would say that scores in the district really were just stable, said Re-1 Superintendent Stacy Houser.
Students in grades three through 10 are required to take the standardized test each spring. The test measures student proficiency and growth in reading, writing, math and science.
Some of the scores were a disappointment just because we expected growth, Houser said. Weve been working with (the Colorado Department of Education) to focus on systemic issues of improvement, and they said not to anticipate growth for three years. But we did anticipate growth, and we wanted and were looking for growth. So to not see it in some areas is hard.
In both reading and math, the district saw disappointing numbers, with the percentage of students testing at proficient or advanced levels dropping in every grade but eighth in math and all grades but sixth and eighth in reading.
In math, a 50 percent median student growth percentile was observed, with just 42 percent of district students testing at proficient or advanced. The department of education has indicated 72 percent is considered an adequate growth percentile.
The picture is especially dismal in 10th grade, where only 13 percent of students tested at proficient or advanced and 43 percent of students performed unsatisfactorily on the test. Houser said the trend is mirrored across the state.
The state trend is that basically math scores improve up to sixth or eighth grade then decline to 10th grade, he said. It is true throughout the state and has been for the last 10 years.
In reading, the district did see progress in that the median student growth percentile stands at 45, 3 points above state expectations. Still, only 54 percent of students tested proficient or advanced in reading and the overall district scores actually dropped 3 percent this year.
Science scores across the district also were low, though science is only tested in fifth, eighth and 10th grades. In fifth grade, 27 percent of students tested at proficient or advanced; 33 percent in eighth grade; 30 percent in 10th grade.
Huge gains were made across the district in writing this year, with improvement in every grade except ninth and 10th. At Lewis-Arriola Elementary School, fourth-graders saw a gain of 22 percent over last years scores and fifth-graders gained 18 percentage points. Gains were also seen in seventh- and eighth-graders at Cortez Middle School, fifth-graders at Kemper Elementary School, fourth- and fifth-graders at Manaugh Elementary School and fifth-graders at Mesa Elementary School.
Districtwide, 37 percent of students tested at proficient or advanced in writing, with 48 percent median student growth. Adequate growth is tagged at 60 percent.
Houser attributed the increase in writing scores to a concentrated effort across the district to focus on writing in the classroom.
We had very quality professional development that teachers found worthwhile, he said. That doesnt always happen, but it was very well received and very effective. We need to find that combination for the other subject areas.
Overall, Houser was very pleased with data for Lewis-Arriola and Cortez Middle School.
Those were two areas of real satisfaction for us, he said. Both of those schools did quite well.
2011 was the last year for the CSAP test in its current incarnation. Next year, students will be introduced to the Transitional Colorado Assessment Program, TCAP, during the transition to a new test by 2014 that will be designed to align with new state standards.
Houser hopes the new test will be more relevant to the standards and the curriculum in the classroom, which will allow for more buy-in from students.
(The new assessment) has to better address the classroom, he said. It has to. Ive heard different things in conversations about ways they are looking to change the annual assessment, and it gives me cause for hope.
District data is available through the Colorado Growth Model website, www.schoolview.org/ColoradoGrowthModel.asp.
Reach Kimberly Benedict at kimberlyb@cortezjournal.com.