TPS sees test-score gains
BY ANDREA EGER World Staff Writer
Saturday, July 21, 2007
8/06/07 at 10:17 AM
Documents: View TPS and area district OCCT scores.
Third- through eighth-graders post improvements, especially in
reading proficiency.
New standardized test results for
grades three through eight show
modest gains in student proficiency
in Tulsa Public Schools.
The district released the results
of the 2007 Oklahoma Core Curriculum Tests, which students took in
April. Area suburban schools have
not released their results.
"Although our scores are improving, we are continuously striving to
improve instruction and will not
rest until all students can perform at
or above grade level on the state
tests," Superintendent Michael Zolkoski said of the scores.
Reading-proficiency rates outpaced math at every elementary
and middle school level except fifth
grade.
Of the district's fifth-graders, 81
percent scored 700 or better on the
math tests, compared with 78 percent of students in reading.
Chief Academic Officer Mary
Guinn attributes the trend to a
greater emphasis on reading in student programs and professional development opportunities for teachers in recent years.
"Several of our schools
are involved in the federal
Reading First grant program and the state of Oklahoma's Literacy First program," Guinn said. "Also,
there has been a greater
emphasis among colleges
and universities that train
teachers on how to teach
reading."
The idea behind all of
those efforts, she said, is to
shore up students' reading
skills so they can go on to
achieve in all subject areas.
"From research, we know
that students cannot do as
well in math if they do not
know how to read or if they
have difficulty reading," she
said.
Much of "math problem-solving requires reading."
The results of the Oklahoma Core Curriculum
Tests are of utmost importance to school districts and
individual school sites because of state and federal
school accountability laws.
The federal No Child Left
Behind Act of 2002 requires
schools to make "adequate
yearly progress," or AYP, in
reading and math test
scores, the number of students who take standardized tests, and attendance
or graduation rates.
Schools are expected to
have 100 percent of students demonstrating proficiency in reading and math
by 2013-14.
If schools and districts
fail to make adequate yearly
progress for two consecutive years, they are named
to the Oklahoma School Improvement List.
Likewise, it takes two
consecutive years of making adequate yearly progress for a school or district
to get off the list.
A look at student proficiency by school site in TPS
revealed widely mixed results.
For example, Alcott Elementary School, 525 E. 46th
St. North, posted two of the
district's perfect proficiency
rates -- in both reading and
math.
It also had some of the
most dramatic decreases in
any one school's scores,
with fourth-grade math proficiency down 44 percentage points from 80 percent
in 2006 to 36 percent in
2007, and fourth-grade reading proficiency down 35 percentage points from 95 percent in 2006 to 60 percent in
2007.
Still, more elementary
schools had 100 percent of
students demonstrate reading proficiency than in any
year since the passage of
No Child Left Behind.
Alcott, Carnegie, Chouteau, Celia Clinton, Eisenhower International, Gree-
ley, Hoover, Kendall-Whittier, Key, McKinley, Wright
and Zarrow International
had 100 percent of their
third-graders score satisfactory or above, while the
same was true for fourth-graders at Bryant, Carnegie, Chouteau, Columbus,
Eisenhower, Greeley,
Grimes, Hoover, Key, Lee,
Mark Twain, Mayo, Park,
Penn, Robertson, Springdale and Wright.
Meanwhile, Addams,
Grissom, Hoover, Key, Lee
and Springdale had 100 percent of their fifth-grade students score satisfactory or
better in reading.
Some elementary
schools' scores painted a
more dismal portrait of student achievement.
Jackson, 2137 N. Pittsburg Ave., had significant
decreases in both reading
-- down 35 percentage
points to 53 percent -- and
math proficiency -- down
18 percentage points to 36
percent -- among third-graders.
Houston, 5402 N. Cincinnati Ave., had the lowest
proficiency rates among all
grade levels in TPS elementary schools, despite modest gains in a few categories.
For the third grade, just
28 percent of students there
demonstrated proficiency,
compared with 33 percent
in math. The percentages
for fourth- and fifth-grade
reading and math were 47
and 33 and 20 and 27, respectively.
At the middle school level, the most significant
gains districtwide were
seen in sixth- and eighth-grade math.
Of note is Madison Middle School, 4132 W. Cameron St., which saw a significantly higher number of
students demonstrating
proficiency in every category except sixth-grade math.
Whitney Middle School,
2177 S. 67th East Ave., had
its seventh-grade proficiency improve to 81 percent in
reading and to 70 percent in
math.
Andrea Eger 581-8470
andrea.eger@tulsaworld.com
Student Proficiency Trend - Tulsa Public Schools
Percent of students scoring 700 or better on Oklahoma Core
Curriculum Test
| Fifth grade | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
| Reading | 61 | 66 | 70 | 76 | 78 |
| Math | 59 | 68 | 75 | 78 | 81 |
| Eighth grade | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
| Reading | 64 | 69 | 70 | 74 | 75 |
| Math | 53 | 63 | 60 | 66 | 72 |
