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Scores represent good year for school
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| By: ADAM NORTHAM, DAILY LEADER Staff Writer |
September 03, 2009 |
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The results of state tests taken by the students of Wesson Attendance Center earlier this year show the school surpassing state averages mightily on the high school Subject Area Testing Program examination and largely outperforming other districts on the younger grades' Mississippi Curriculum Test.
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Wesson Principal Ronald Greer said the scores represent a good year for the school, with growth exhibited in several areas. He is not, however, satisfied with the results.
"Overall, we did a decent job of moving children out of minimum ranges from the year before, but the thing we've got to focus on is making sure we get more kids scoring advanced and proficient," Greer said. "We've got some kids on the borderline of proficiency that could easily be advanced."
Wesson's high school students recorded high scores on the SATP, taking down state averages in three of the test's four subjects and barely missing the fourth.
Wesson was one of the only schools in the area to record a perfect score on the SATP, with 100 percent of students passing the U.S. History portion of the exam. The state average in history is 96.9 percent.
But perhaps the students' most impressive feat was outscoring the state average in English II, where the state's lowest scores were tallied this year. Wesson students scored 80.3 percent passing in that subject, beating the state average of 69 percent passing by a healthy 11.3 percent. Wesson students also placed a wide margin between themselves and the rest of Mississippi in Biology I, where the local score of 97.7 percent passing was enough to beat the state average of 87.6 percent passing by 10.1 percent.
Algebra I was the only subject in which Wesson students failed to beat the state average, which was 72 percent passing. Seventy percent of local students passed that portion, missing the state average by only 2 percent.
Growth rates for Wesson were split from 2008, with scores in two subjects improving and scores in the other two going down. The school's Biology I average climbed 5.1 percent over last year's average of 92.6 percent passing, while the U.S. History score climbed 3 percent over last year to reach its perfect plateau of 100 percent passing in 2009.
The school's Algebra I scores took a painful dive, however, falling 12.8 percent from last year's average of 82.8 percent passing. English II scores also slipped a little, falling nine-tenths of a percent from last year's score of 81.2 percent passing.
"In Algebra I, we took a little hit, but we'll bounce back," Greer said. "We had some eighth-graders taking Algebra I who scored very well on the test."
Wesson's younger students handled the MCT2 as well as their statewide counterparts and in some areas, better. Students in grades three through eight beat state proficiency and advanced averages in 16 of 24 scoring columns.
An impressive 73.9 percent of sixth-graders recorded proficient and advanced scores on math portion of the test, while 70.3 percent of fifth-graders scored proficient and advanced scores on the same portion.
Wesson's eighth-graders turned in the school's lowest scores, with 24.7 percent of that grade recording only minimal scores on the math portion of the MCT2, and 21.6 percent of them scoring minimal on the language arts portion.
"We dissect these (scores), look at the different areas they're tested on and try to find strengths and weaknesses to focus on," Greer said. "You really have to individualize instruction as much as you can."
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©The Daily Leader 2009
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