Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) tests given statewide last spring to sophomores and juniors show I.S.D. 166 students below the state average for both core subjects.
CCHS juniors (grade 11) scored 42.9 percent on the math test in 2017 versus the state average of 48.04 percent.
Cook County sophomores (10th grade) scored 55.80 percent in reading while the state average was 60.50 percent.
In 2013 Cook County I.S.D. 166 juniors scored 50 percent in math and sophomores scored 71 percent in reading. Subsequently, test scores fell to 38.60 percent for math in 2014 and 53.10 percent for reading. Math fell even further to 30.40 percent in 2015, climbed to 35.10 percent in 2016 and to 42.9 percent this year for CCHS juniors.
MCA reading scores for sophomores in 2015 were 47.50 percent and 64 percent in 2016 before falling to 55.8 percent this year.
Cook County I.S.D. 166 middle school test scores, grades 6-8, weren’t much better.
Math proficiency for 2017 was 40 percent while the state average was 58.70. Middle school reading came in at 54.7 percent while the state average was 60.2 percent.
In 2013 middle school kids at I.S.D. 166 scored 46 percent in math compared to 60.2 percent for the state average. State reading MCAs averaged 57.6 percent in 2013 while I.S.D. 166 middle school students averaged 52.5 percent.
After I.S.D. 166 teachers Kathryn Ramberg and Megan Rubbelke presented the MCA test scores to the school board at the board’s September 21 meeting, Sissy Lunde, school board chair, said she was disappointed in the results.
“The MCAs are the standard,” said Lunde. “What are we doing to teach the standards? We do have a great staff here, but are we teaching the right stuff?”
Superintendent Dr. Bill Crandall added, “This is not where we want to be as a district. We’re trending well in math, but we need to improve our reading scores.”
Ramberg reminded the school board that two poor test scores out of a class of 40 could bring the overall results down by as much as five percent.
Elementary school principal Dr. DeWitt said several factors go into a student meeting or not meeting the standards. In a big classroom, DeWitt said good students would do well, but academically challenged students tend to do worse because they don’t get the attention they need. The MCAs, said DeWitt, are just a piece of a larger academic puzzle.
“Our curriculum is to the standard,” he said. “We are doing the right things. Tests don’t show the whole picture.”
DeWitt said it might take another two years before the results of the school’s efforts to teach to the MCA’s standards are fully realized.
PK-12 Principal Adam Nelson noted that during the spring of 2016, the Staff Development Committee agreed, “that we need to work on improving reading in the district. We brought in trainers from Orton-Gillingham Institute for Multi-Sensory Education. This training, along with support from instructors, raised reading scores in Sawtooth Mountain Elementary by 10.3 percent, he said.
Nelson wrote three grants that paid for the Orton Gillingham training.
But test results weren’t all bad. Ramberg reported that kids who took the ACT last fall and then again in the spring improved 2.58333 percent. Fall scores averaged 24.833 while spring scores averaged 27.413. Principal Nelson said every point scored higher on the ACTs could potentially bring students thousands of dollars more in scholarships.
Students who took the 2016-2017 ACTs (which has a top score of 37) were in the 78 to 90th percentile for growth per student for those who retook the test during the year.
The MCAs began in 2013 and are part of Minnesota’s transition to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).
Tests are used to give a “snapshot” of how kids are performing academically.
The Minnesota MCA and alternate MTAS (Minnesota test of academic skills) are the state tests that help school districts measure student progress toward Minnesota’s academic standards and also meet state and federal legislative requirements.
Advanced placement exams
In 2014 there were 12 advanced placement tests taken by students at CCHS. Last year 55 advanced placement (AP) exams were taken, said Ramberg
This academic year, Ramberg said 59 students are taking AP classes, and the expected number of AP tests given at the school will soar upward to 120.
Advanced placement courses offered at the school are in art, calculus AB, English 11, environmental science, human geography, physics, Spanish, and world history. Students earn college credits when they pass AP classes, which normally reduce the cost and time it takes them to earn a college degree.
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