“Only 1 in 4 Proficient in Math”
Only 1 in 4 proficient in math - 11th graders’ results concern local officials
“It’s important to remember that the 11th-grade testing is a starting point,” said Principal Karen Erlandson. “We’re going to aim at this as a baseline and try to beat it every time we take the test.”
Only one out of four 11th-graders statewide scored proficient on state math tests taken this past fall, according to data released yesterday. Three out of four scored proficient on state reading tests.
State Education Commissioner Lyonel Tracy said the math scores were cause for concern.
“No educator in New Hampshire should be pleased with those math scores,” Tracy said yesterday at a press conference. “We need to ask a lot of questions. We need to examine the test, examine the scores. . . . But we also have to say, ‘No excuses, no exceptions.’ These scores have to improve.”
The federal No Child Left Behind law requires states to test students in reading, math and writing in grades three through eight and again in 11th grade. Eleventh-graders this year took a new series of tests, known as the New England Common Assessment Program, or NECAP. Because it’s the first time students have taken the NECAP, it’s not possible to compare this year’s scores with last year’s.
Students are placed in one of four categories based on their scores: substantially below proficient, partially proficient, proficient and proficient with distinction. A certain number of students must score proficient or better for a school to pass muster under No Child Left Behind. Schools won’t know whether they’ve made the cut until April, when state officials expect to release an analysis.
Sixty-seven percent of students statewide scored proficient or better in reading, while 28 percent scored that way in math, state data showed. Thirty-three percent scored proficient or better in writing.
Local scores mimicked state results: Students did best in reading and worst in math, while their writing scores fell somewhere in the middle. In Concord, 73 percent of students scored proficient or better in reading, 38 percent scored that way in math and 43 percent scored that way in writing.
Superintendent Chris Rath echoed other local school officials in saying that the NECAP math test seemed harder than the previous math test. Two-thirds of the questions were “constructed response” questions. For those, students had to not only arrive at the right answer but explain how they got it.
“What’s different is that we’re asking students(on the test) to think at a deeper level and not just follow the rules,” Rath said. “We need to make sure we’re (doing) that in our everyday teaching.”
But Rath didn’t blame the test for the low scores. Neither did other school officials, including Tracy.
“Our teachers set very high standards in New Hampshire,” the commissioner said. “If we look at the (math) scores and they’re not what we want them to be, lowering the standards is not an option.”
Students at several local high schools - including Bow High School, John Stark Regional High School and Coe-Brown Northwood Academy, among others - bested state averages in all subjects.
Still, Bow Superintendent Dean Cascadden said he’s not pleased with the 11th-grade math scores. Though Bow’s were higher than the state average, Cascadden said he still thinks they’re too low.
Students at several other local schools - such as Merrimack Valley High School, Pembroke Academy and Prospect Mountain High School - scored on par with state averages. “That’s not where we’d like to be, but it’s an acceptable result,” said Merrimack Valley Superintendent Mike Martin.
Students at a handful of schools scored below state averages in all subjects. Franklin High School, Pittsfield High School, Winnisquam Regional High School and Hillsboro-Deering High School fell into that category. At Pittsfield, for example, only 10 percent of students scored proficient in math.
Principals and superintendents said yesterday they plan to take a closer look at the test data to figure out which questions students struggled with the most. The questions are based on a set of statewide standards called the “grade-span expectations,” which dictate what students should learn in high school. School officials said they’ll work to align their curriculums to those expectations.“Whatever (test) you use, you have to orient yourself to it, orient the kids to it, orient the curriculum,” said Mike Reardon, Pembroke Academy headmaster. “You have to build on what you do.”
Source: Concord Monitor