State releases scores for standardized tests
The state Department of Education has released the scores for the latest round of annual standardized tests. Last school year, in April, students in fifth, eighth and 11th grades took the tests in math and reading, while 11th-grade students also took the test in writing. Local schools’ reports were good and bad, with some highlights in the math and reading categories listed here.
Albert Gallatin Area
Students gained and lost points from one year to the next with the most significant gains in reading.
For example, George J. Plava Elementary School’s fifth-grade reading score rose 70 points, from 1330 to 1400. That was also the highest individual score in the school district.
Albert Gallatin North Middle School, A.L. Wilson Elementary School and Masontown Elementary School showed drops in both math and reading, although the A.L. Wilson results remained above the statewide averages.
Belle Vernon Area
Rostraver Middle School’s eighth-grade reading score was the school district’s highest, at 1430, and that marked a gain of 50 points over the previous year. The math score was also up, at 1350, compared to 1310. The highest gain was at Rostraver Elementary on the fifth-grade math score. The mean score on math there was 1340, up 60 points.
The highest dip was of 30 points for Marion Elementary School fifth grade math, where the 2002 score was 1240, compared to the 1270 score the previous year.
Bethlehem-Center
The school district’s scores went up in all cases except eighth-grade reading at middle school, where the overall score remained the same from one year to the next, at 1280.
Significant was a 50-point gain on the 11th-grade reading score, which changed from 1270 in 2001 to 1320 in 2002.
Brownsville Area
Brownsville’s schools showed a variety of results, with gains and losses both above and below the statewide averages.
Notable was the 140-point loss in the Cardale Elementary School fifth-grade reading score. The 2001 mean score was a district high of 1580. The 2002 score remains the district high, but it is down to 1440. Cardale’s fifth-grade math score was unchanged.
California Area
The school district showed little fluctuation from one year to the next.
The elementary school fifth-graders did better on the latest round of testing in both math and reading, improving 30 points to 1310 in math and 40 points to 1340 in reading.
Carmichaels Area
Fifth- and 11th-grade scores in math and reading rose in Carmichaels, with the most significant gains in fifth grade, where the math score went up 20 points to 1310 and reading rose 70 points to 1340.
The eighth-grade math and reading scores were down by 80 points in math and 50 points in reading, for a new mean score of 1240 in math and 1260 in reading.
Central Greene
Waynesburg Central Elementary fifth-graders and Waynesburg Central High School 11th-graders brought their mean scores up in math and reading, with the most notable increase coming from the fifth-graders in reading. The score there went up 60 points, from 1270 to 1330.
Margaret Bell Miller Middle School eighth-grade scores and Perry Elementary School scores went down in reading and math.
Connellsville Area
Connellsville schools were more likely to lose than gain ground on the scores, although Bullskin Township Elementary School offered the highlight. The fifth-graders there had a mean score of 1310 in math and 1340 in reading, up from 1280 in math and 1330 in reading.
The lowest individual score was 1190 in eighth-grade reading at Connellsville Junior High West, down 70 points from the previous year’s score of 1260.
Frazier
The school district exceeded the state averages in both math and reading at all of the tested grade levels and the scores went up in all cases except one.
The only drop was in the Central Elementary reading score, down 20 points from 1460 to 1440.
Notable was an 80-point increase on the middle school eighth grade math score that went from 1340 to 1420. The high school math score went up 90 points from 1290 to 1380.
Jefferson-Morgan
All of Jefferson-Morgan’s scores went up. The highest score in the district was 1270 for eighth-grade reading. That also represented a significant increase of 50 points over the previous year.
Also gaining 50 points from one year to the next was the 11th-grade math score, climbing from 1170 to 1220. The highest jump, 90 points, was for 11th-grade reading, up to 1260 from 1170.
However, none of the scores met the statewide averages.
Laurel Highlands
George C. Marshall and John F. Kennedy elementary schools improved on both fifth-grade math and reading, and the 11th-grade reading score rose slightly. Otherwise, the scores went down from one year to the next.
Marshall school logged the highest scores in the district, with 1470 in math and 1400 in reading, compared to the previous year’s scores of 1350 in math and 1320 in reading.
Hatfield Elementary School showed no change from one year to the next.
Southeastern Greene
Bobtown fifth-graders and Mapletown eighth-graders gained points in math, although the 11th-grade math score went down and the scores in all of the reading categories dropped.
The Bobtown math score was the highest jump with 80 more points on the 2002 mean score of 1210 than the 2001 score of 1130.
The 11th-grade reading score fell by 70 points, from 1330 to 1260. That was the only score last year that topped the statewide average.
Southmoreland
Southmoreland Senior High School offered the high score in that school district with 1370 in 11th-grade math, up 60 points. The 11th-grade reading score was up 30 points, from 1290 to 1320.
The elementary’s fifth-grade scores showed little fluctuation, and the junior high school’s eighth-grade scores were unchanged.
Uniontown Area
Marclay School fifth-graders logged the highest individual scaled score in the district and the area, with 1510 for math, a 270-point increase over the prior year. The reading score was also high, at 1360, 180 points above the prior year.
Franklin Elementary had significant scores, with 1350 in fifth-grade math and 1400 in reading, up from the previous year’s 1300 in math and 1330 in reading.
Although the district showed gains in several areas, it also lost ground in several areas, including the Lafayette School eighth-grade math score of 1190 and reading score of 1240. The Lafayette scores for the previous year were 1290 in math and 1300 in reading.