The latest state test scores for Dolores elementary and middle school students showed significant improvement from 2017, according to results released by the Colorado Department of Education last week.
Most scores were below state averages, but the third-grade English and math scores were above the state average.
In spring, Dolores students in grades 3-8 took the Colorado Measures of Academic Success tests for math and English language arts.
Overall for those grades, 31.7 percent of Dolores scores met or exceeded expectations in English language arts, compared with 16.2 percent who met that standard in 2017. The statewide average for English testing is 44.5 percent met or exceeded expectations.
For overall math scores in those grades, 14 percent of Dolores student scores met or exceeded expectations in 2018, compared with 10.7 percent who met that standard in 2017.
Statewide, 34.1 percent of students met or exceeded expectations in math testing.
All Dolores scores improved compared with available data from 2017, and third-grade math and English scores surpassed the state average.
Third-grade English test scores jumped to 45.3 percent met or exceeded, up from 34 percent in 2017. The 2018 state average is 40.4 percent.
In third-grade math, scores improved to 45.2 met or exceeded, up from 33.9 percent. The state average for met or exceeded is 39.1.
The Dolores fifth-grade class of 2018 showed the greatest improvement in math and English test scores.
In 2018 math scores, 32.7 percent of fifth-grade students met or exceeded expectations, a 300 percent improvement from 2017, when 8.3 percent met that standard. The state average for fifth-grade math is 35.5 percent.
In English test scores for 2018, 39.6 percent of fifth-grade students met or exceeded expectations, a nearly 150 percent improvement from 2017 when 16 percent met that standard. The state average for fifth-grade English is 47.4 percent.
Fourth- and seventh-grade English scores improved in 2018, rising from 26.5 percent to 38.7 percent, and 10.8 percent to 26 percent, respectively. The state average for fourth-grade English was 46.1 percent met or exceeded, and for seventh-grade English, 46.6 percent.
Sixth-grade English scores were 22.2 percent met or exceeded, compared with the state average of 42.8 percent met or exceeded. For eighth-grade-English scores, 12.2 percent of student met or exceeded expectations, compared with the state average of 43.8 percent.
In fourth-grade math, scores improved to 29 percent met or exceeded, up from 13 percent. The state average is 33.9 percent.
In sixth-grade math, 7.9 percent of students met or exceeded expectations, compared with the state average of 30.4 percent. In seventh-grade math, 8 percent of students met or exceeded expectations, compared with the state average of 28.8 percent.
Dolores SAT scores from 11th-grade students also were released, and results were lower than last year’s.
The average score for reading and writing was 489 and for math, 471. The average overall score was 960.
That is a drop from 2017, when students scored 510 in reading and writing and 487 in math. The average overall score was 997.