MOORHEAD - Moorhead School Board Treasurer Bill Tomhave is fairly certain Minnesota students didn't get bad at math overnight. So when the revamped Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments show math scores plummeting across the board this year, he's not sold on the validity of the test.
"Unless we put stupid in the water and gave it to all the kids, it's not right," he said. "It just doesn't happen."
The scores in question were part of a draft of the district's Annual Report on Curriculum, Instruction and Student Achievement approved at Monday's board meeting. The draft outlined up-and-down testing results in which Moorhead Area Public Schools generally lagged a bit behind statewide marks in reading, math and science proficiency.
The new math test - the MCA-III - threw a monkey wrench into the results and makes meaningful comparisons to 2010 math marks difficult. It adheres to a more rigorous set of standards and discards an alternate version for English-language learners.
Proficiency scores at nearly every grade level in both the district and the state fell by double-digit percentage points. Moorhead seventh-graders, who tumbled 23 percentage points to 54 percent proficiency, actually beat the state marks by 2 percentage points. They were the district's only cohort to do so on the new test.
ADVERTISEMENT
Eleventh-graders, the only group to take the same test as last year, were a bright spot. Their math scores improved dramatically from 41 percent proficiency last year to a five-year high of 51 percent in 2011.
Overall, 54 percent of students demonstrated proficiency in math last year, down from 64 percent in 2010. The district's goal is 75 percent by 2012.
The reading tests were unchanged from last year. Four of the seven grade levels tested posted improvement, but the district on the whole actually slid from 70.8 percent proficiency to 70.4 percent.
All grade levels tested scored a few percentage points lower than the statewide reading marks. The district's goal for the reading test is 80 percent proficiency among all students by 2012.
Missy Eidsness, the district's director of school improvement and accountability, acknowledged the lack of overall growth on test scores.
"We had mixed results this year," she said. "It's something that we are concerned about and looking at."
She said the district plans to narrow its area of focus to a few key areas like teacher effectiveness, literacy and curriculum alignment going forward.
She also said the district will study positive outliers like Robert Asp Elementary School, which leapt from 64 percent reading proficiency among third-graders last year to 82 percent this year, for clues on what works.
ADVERTISEMENT
Widespread science proficiency continues to elude both the district and the state, with test marks ranging from 36 percent to 53 percent. Moorhead's scores fell at all three grade levels tested and consistently lagged behind statewide scores.
Kristine Thompson, chairwoman of the school board, voiced her support for the district's efforts.
"I know that we're doing wonderful things. It's frustrating. I know that it's got to be frustrating for you and frustrating for the kids," she told Eidsness.
Other items of business at Monday's meeting included:
The approval of the district’s preliminary property tax levy, which was approved by voters last year to shore up the district’s finances. The board approved the maximum levy amount, which enables adjustments before final certification in December. The levy figure reported Monday, which is subject to change, was $14.2 million, up about 4.7 percent from a year ago.
- A commendation for Gene Boyle, the principal of Moorhead High School who was named Western Division Principal of the Year for 2011-12 over the summer by the Minnesota Association of Secondary School Principals.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Marino Eccher at (701) 241-5502
