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High school students' scores up
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| By: ADAM NORTHAM, DAILY LEADER Staff Writer |
September 01, 2009 |
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The Franklin County School District tallied up a split performance on state tests earlier this spring, with its high school students performing above state averages and its elementary and middle school students falling short in several categories.
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Superintendent Dr. Grady Fleming said he was pleased with scores turned in by his high school students on the Subject Area Testing Program, which is necessary for graduation, and is taking steps to ensure the younger grades step up performance on the Mississippi Curriculum Test that will carry over as students progress in age. The MCT2 is designed to evaluate districts' teaching methods.
"The students have done what we've asked of them, and we're figuring out what the test is and we're preparing to meet those goals," he said.
For the SATP, the goals are largely met, with Franklin County high schoolers exceeding state averages in three of four subjects tested and barely missing the fourth. The district's most impressive score came on the English II portion of the exam, where 84.1 percent of students scored passing grades, beating the state average of 69 percent by 15.1 percent. English II is the state's weakest category.
Franklin County's SATP-takers also bested the state averages in Algebra I and Biology I, scoring 78.8 and 93.5 percent passing, respectively. The Algebra I score was good enough to defeat the state average of 72 percent passing by 6.8 percent, while the Biology I score took down the state average of 87.6 percent passing by 5.9 percent.
The only subject in which the district failed to meet the state average was U.S. History, with local students' score of 94.4 percent passing falling short of the state average of 96.9 percent passing by only 2.5 percent.
The district accompanied its high SATP scores with healthy growth over 2008, with scores in three of four subjects improving this year. Just as English II was Franklin County's widest margin for defeating the state average, the same subject saw the district's scores increase by 25.6 percent over last year's 58.5 percent passing, a quarter increase.
Scores in Biology I increase by 6.8 percent from 2008, and Algebra I scored improved by 4.5 percent. The district's U.S. History average was the only one to come down from last year, falling by six-tenths of a percent from 95 percent passing.
Grady said the district's high SATP scores were due to emphasis placed on high school "feeder" classes, which are basically the lower courses of the same subject. He said greater emphasis has been placed on classes like English I and Pre-Algebra to make sure students moving up are well grounded and prepared for the more advanced classes in which state tests are issued.
"It takes more than just one teacher to prepare (students)," he said. "It's a team effort, and that's what we're pushing."
Grady also said the district has managed to keep class sizes small and offers tutoring and remedial instruction in a wide range of subjects.
More attention is needed, Grady said, in Franklin County's younger grades, where elementary and middle school students struggled with the MCT2. Test-takers in grades three through eight managed to beat state proficiency and advanced score averages in only eight of 24 scoring categories.
"There's a breakdown somewhere, and we've got to find the link that's cracked or broken," Grady said. "Once we do that, I think things will start coming into line."
Low points in Franklin County's MCT2 scores include 28.2 percent of sixth-graders recording minimal scores in mathematics, and a district-low 31 percent of seventh-graders scoring proficient marks in the same subject. Additionally, no sixth- or seventh-graders scored advanced on the language arts portion of the exam.
However, 14.2 percent of seventh-graders taking the mathematics portion of the exam scored advanced. The highs and lows have Grady and his administrators scratching their heads.
"It's confusing for us," he said. "We're taking it very seriously, struggling to try to figure out what the answer is. I've got my curriculum coordinator and test coordinator and principals all working, and they're gaining a lot of knowledge about what we've done and where we need to go."
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©The Daily Leader 2009
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