City schools show increases in state testing

Published 5:00 am Monday, August 22, 2005

Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of articlesexamining in detail by school district the Mississippi CurriculumTest and Subject Area Test Program results announced recently.Other districts will follow.

Although Brookhaven Public Schools showed “great” increasesacross the board in state testing, Superintendent Lea Barrett saidresults could have been better.

Brookhaven schools were below the state average in one-third ofthe tested areas on the Mississippi Curriculum Test and SubjectArea Test Program scores released last week.

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However, in many cases the shortage was slight, such as insecond-grade reading where the district fell short of the stateaverage by only 0.1.

The MCT tests every student in grades two through eight inreading, language arts and math skills. Besides providing educatorsand the public with a glimpse at how their schools compare withothers in the state, the scores are also used as part of a formulato tabulate “adequate yearly progress,” a key element in thefederal No Child Left Behind Act. Those results will be released inSeptember.

Under No Child Left Behind, all students are evaluated andplaced within four major categories that determine theirproficiency – minimal, basic, proficient or advanced. All districtsmuch move their students from the minimal and basic categories tothe proficient or advanced levels by 2014 or face federalsanctions.

“I’m not satisfied,” Barrett said. “I won’t be satisfied untilwe have every student at 100 percent. However, the thing I amreally pleased at is that we are seeing a steady and consistentgrowth in the percentage of children that are proficient andadvanced in all areas at Brookhaven High School and BrookhavenElementary.”

Scores at Alexander Junior High School and Lipsey ElementarySchool also continue to improve, she said, but tend to improve morethrough spikes than steady growth.

“While they have shown strong student achievement, I have notseen it as consistent,” Barrett said. “The growth pattern is moreerratic. There have been some spikes and drops, whereas (BrookhavenElementary) has shown steady growth.”

Despite the irregular pattern, however, all schools showedgrowth, and that tells her the district is “doing things right,”Barrett said. Haphazard growth would indicate that maybe certainthings were having an influence on the students while othersweren’t working. The steady growth shown in past years indicatesthat the school’s program and curriculum are working, she said.

“I think we can do better, and I also think the things we haveput in place are going to show big payoffs on next year’s scores,”Barrett said. “We’re doing a much better job in the lowerelementary than we’ve ever done. That affects all areas -graduation rate, dropout rate, test scores, the list goes on.”

Part of those changes, she said, is a redistribution ofresources this year based on the success of the past three yearssince the state tests began.

“We’re shifting our focus now to the higher achievement indexes- proficient and advanced,” Barrett said.

In most subject areas of the MCT, students in the minimal orbasic categories make up less than 20 percent of the totalstudents.

“A lot of our resources in the past three years have been usedin moving students from minimal to basic or basic to proficient,”Barrett said. “That has paid off. Now we can concentrate oncontinuing to move them forward to the higher achievementindexes.”

The district has also continued to post better ACT scores ineach of the past five years, she said, with local scores in eachACT category above the state average for the second consecutiveyear.