Wake school test scores 'show improvement'
Wake County Public School System leaders announced Wednesday that preliminary End-of-Grade and End-of-Course test scores for 2009-10 show improvement "in virtually every subgroup of students."
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Officials also noted that the gap in scores between white students and black, Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students narrowed at several grade levels and that 85 percent of students taking EOC tests passed those exams.
"These improvements are a clear indication that our efforts since the 2007 curriculum management audit of better alignment and focus of resources and efforts are paying important dividends," Donna Hargens, interim superintendent and chief academic officer, said in a statement. "The teacher collaboration made possible by our professional learning teams and their focus on data are showing results with these test score gains."
In reading, every grade level (3-8) showed improvement in the percentage of students proficient, with 76.5 percent meeting the standard overall. When broken down by subgroup, all groups except students with limited English proficiency showed improvement, with the largest growth shown by American Indian, black, Hispanic, students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged students.
In math, four of the six grades tested showed improvement, with the greatest gains made by seventh- and eighth-grade students. Third- and sixth-graders each showed a 0.3 percent decline in proficiency. Overall, 85.5 percent of students were proficient. Broken down by subgroup, the largest growth was shown by black, Hispanic, students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged students.
Six of the eight End-of-Course tests – all but biology and civics and economics – show improvement over the previous year. When factoring retests, all eight subject areas showed gains. The five required core area tests also showed improvement. Most subgroups showed improvement over the previous year on initial testing and all groups, except students with limited English proficiency, showed improvement after re-testing compared to the previous year.
End-of-Grade tests are given to students in grades three through eight in reading and mathematics. Students in grades five and eight also take a science EOG test. End-of-Course tests are most usually given at the high school level for first-year English, algebra, biology, chemistry, geometry, physical science, civics and economics and U.S. history.
