St. Charles Area Schools Improve on State Tests

Students in St. Charles had better scores on state tests in math and reading this year, but not high enough for area districts to meet rising state benchmarks.

Students in third through eighth grade take the Missouri Assessment Program test in math and reading each spring. The tests fulfill requirements laid out under the No Child Left Behind Act, a program that is designed to have 100 percent of students testing at grade level by the year 2014.

State benchmarks increase the closer it gets to 2014. This year, in order to meet the goals and make "Adequate Yearly Progress," Missouri schools had to have 72.5 percent of students test at grade level in math and 75.5 percent test at grade level in reading.

State officials look at how well different groups of students do on the including white students, black students, students with low socioeconomic status and students with disabilities, among others. If just one group fails to meet the goals, the school does not make AYP.

Just 92 of the 557 districts in the state met the benchmarks for achievement in math and reading this year, according to the preliminary results released Thursday. Nearly 75 percent of schools across the state failed to meet the mark.

When schools fail to meet the goals, they face sanctions that range from having to pay for additional tutoring for students to having to allow students to switch to another school in the district that met the benchmarks.

Area educators say that while the MAP tests are helpful in determining areas of strength and areas on which to focus, the test results and sanctions don't necessarily reflect the effort in the classroom.

"I think all of that in terms of the sanctions it’s going to be very difficult for any school to be successful and not have some sort of sanctions," said Dan Dozier, superintendent of the Orchard Farm School District. "It’s unfortunate because it’s not necessarily directly related to instruction as much as the population of students in your district. There are some districts who are doing quite well but they are mostly a homogeneous population."

Overall, the percent of Missouri students scoring proficient on both math and reading tests has gone up, however. On the state reading tests, the percent of students testing at grade level rose from 53.6 percent 2010 to 54.6 in 2011. On math tests, 54.2 percent of students scored proficient, up from 52.7 in 2010.

Local school districts are moving closer to meeting the state goals for percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced on tests. Most districts saw improvements, even if they didn't meet Adequate Yearly Progress.

"We’re at the point where the target is moving ahead so quickly we can't keep up with the target but we’re continuing to make progress," said Danielle Tormala, assistant superintendent in the St. Charles School District.

Annual Yearly Progress on Missouri Assesment Program Tests

*The Annual Proficiency Target for communication arts is the percentage of students expected to score proficient or advanced on the state test in a given year.

**The Annual Proficiency Target for math is the percentage of students expected to score proficient or advanced on the state test in a given year.