Taken in October, the test identifies fifth- and eighth-grade students’ strengths and weaknesses in six subjects, monitors year-to-year growth and provides national comparisons for academic achievement by elementary and middle school students, district spokeswoman Barbara Jacoby said.
All scores are reported in percentiles with a national average of 50. Results include a composite, or total, score and scores in the sections of reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, science and sources of information.
District eighth-grade students posted a composite score of 67 points, one point higher than the 2011 composite score of 66 points and exceeding the national average by 17 points.
Fifth-grade students posted a composite score of 69 points, the same as last year, which also exceeds the national average by 19 points.
Superintendent Dr. Frank Petruzielo praised district students for continuing high-level performance on standardized tests.
“Much attention is rightfully paid to the outstanding successes of our high school students, especially the recent achievement of earning the state’s highest SAT scores,” he said. “What we must also recognize and applaud is the continuous improvement of students in our elementary and middle schools and the power of positive collaboration between these students, their parents and our dedicated teachers and administrators.”
Districtwide, fifth-grade students’ average in reading is 65, which is 15 percentile points above the national average, and in mathematics, the average is 69, which exceeds the national average by 19 percentile points.
In both reading and math, district eight-graders posted an average of 63, which tops the national average by 13 percentile points.
Hickory Flat and Mountain Road elementary schools posted the highest fifth-grade composite scores at 79 and 77 points respectively. Canton and Hasty elementary schools posted the lowest composite scores of 50 and 48 points.
E.T. Booth and Freedom middle schools posted the highest composite scores, both at 71 points. Teasley Middle School posted the lowest at 56 points.
Jacoby said thee ITBS results will be used by teachers to develop individualized lessons that target specific needs for each student and also will be analyzed by principals, school data management teams and instructional leadership teams, and considered during the school improvement planning.
What other ideas will the district steal from the charter school?
Congrats to CCSD teachers & students for continuing to prove that the 'austerity cuts' to the budget aren't the educational apocalypse our superintendent claims!