Participation in the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers testing was low throughout the district, according to results from the 2015-16 school year. Parents may opt students out of the test, which is based on Common Core standards created to better prepare students for college.
Re-1 Superintendent Lori Haukeness said in a news release that there is more work to be done to make sure Re-1 students are succeeding under Colorado academic standards.
“While we have made strides in moving our most struggling students to higher levels, we are still not where we need to be with overall achievement levels, and the district continues to lag behind the state in overall achievement in all subjects,” she stated.
High school: Most students opt outJust 33 percent of Re-1 students participated in the PARCC algebra assessment test, including a participation rate of 23.4 percent at M-CHS. The statewide participation rate was 74.5 percent among all districts. About 18.3 percent of test-takers met or exceeded expectations on the algebra test, compared with 32.4 percent statewide.
Just under 26 percent of Re-1 ninth-graders took the English and language arts assessment test, compared with a 74 percent statewide participation rate. About 13 percent of Re-1 test-takers met or exceeded expectations on the language arts test, which is an increase of less than 1 percentage point from the 2015 results. Statewide, 37.2 percent of ninth-graders met or exceeded expectations on the language arts test.
Among eleventh-graders, only 21.8 percent participated in the science test, and 10.8 percent met or exceeded expectations. Statewide, 58 percent of students participated in the test and 24.3 percent met or exceeded expectations.
Haukeness also highlighted Re-1 results on the PSAT, a college readiness test for 10th-graders. PSAT results showed that Re-1 students had a mean score of 476.4 on the reading and writing test, which exceeded the state mean score, she said. On the PSAT’s math portion, the mean score was 458, about 10 points lower than the state mean score, she said.
At 19.6, the composite ACT test score for M-CHS students was 1.2 points higher than last year, but still just under the state standard score of 20, Haukeness said.
Middle school: Sixth-graders show progressMiddle-school students’ performance on PARCC testing continues to fall short of the state average, but the sixth-grade class showed signs of improvement on the English language arts test.
The number of Cortez sixth-graders who met or exceeded expectations on the English language arts test increased by 5 percentage points from 2015, but numbers were still lower than the state average. About 73 percent of sixth-graders took the test, and 18.7 percent met or exceeded expectations. Statewide, the average was 38.3 percent of sixth-graders meeting or exceeding expectations, and 91.6 percent participated.
In eighth grade, 59.3 percent of students took the English language arts test, and 14.3 percent met or exceeded expectations, up 0.8 percentage points from 2015. Statewide, 83.5 percent of eighth-graders participated and 41.6 percent met or exceeded expectations. About 75 percent of Re-1 seventh-graders took the test, and 13.1 percent met or exceeded expectations, a decrease of 3.1 percentage points from last year. Across the state, 88 percent of seventh-graders participated, and 41 percent met or exceeded expectations.
About 75 percent of Cortez seventh-graders took the math test, compared with a 88 percent statewide participation rate. Just 11 percent of Re-1 seventh-graders met or exceeded expectations, compared with a statewide rate of 26.2 percent. Among Cortez sixth-graders, 74.1 percent participated and 9.3 percent met or exceeded expectations, down 4.8 percentage points from 2015. Statewide, 92 percent of sixth-graders took the test, and 31 percent met or exceeded expectations.
Only 57 percent of eighth-graders participated in the science test, and 13.8 percent met or exceeded expectations, up 2.3 percentage points from last year. Statewide, 83.5 percent of students participated, and 30.2 percent met or exceeded expectations.
Elementaries: Mixed growth and declineTest participation rates were generally higher in math and English language arts for the five district elementary schools, but scores were still slightly under statewide averages.
About 15 percent of Cortez fifth-graders met or exceeded expectations on the math test, just under 5 percentage points higher than in 2015. The state average was 34.3 percent meeting or exceeding expectations. In English language arts, 19.9 percent of fifth-graders met or exceeded expectations, lower than the statewide average of 41.2 percent.
About 85 percent of fifth-graders took the science test, and 15.6 percent met or exceeded expectations, down 0.6 percentage points from last year. The state average participation rate was 94.2 percent, and 33.6 percent met or exceeded expectations.
About 10 percent of fourth-graders met or exceeded expectations on the math test, down 2.5 percentage points from 2015. The state average was 33.3 percent. In English language arts, 20.8 percent met or exceeded expectations, lower than the state average of 43.9 percent.
Among Cortez third-graders, 23.6 percent met or exceeded expectations on the math test, a jump of 6.8 percentage points from 2015. The state average was 38.9 percent. In English language arts, 20.3 percent met or exceeded expectations, down 1.7 percent from last year. The statewide average for third-graders was 37.4 percent.
Data were not available for the spring 2016 PARCC social studies assessment tests. The districtwide Cortez numbers include Battle Rock, Children’s Kiva Montessori and Southwest Open School charter schools.
Looking ahead: More dataHaukeness said additional PARCC test results are coming later this month, and she anticipates that data will reveal more student growth. Citing a different assessment program, Haukeness pointed to growth in reading and math scores across the district in Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) scores. Students who tested at the lowest levels in 2015 have improved their performance in 2016, she said.
District administrators will work with the schools to analyze the data and the district will continue to hold students to high expectations and to support them in academic areas, she said.
“I am proud of our teachers and students for their hard work, and I am confident we will see continued gains in our state tests results,” Haukeness said.
