Arkansas Students Improve In Algebra, Geometry
Education Department Reports Results
Last updated Wednesday, July 9, 2008 7:23 PM CDT in News
By John Lyon
The Morning News
LITTLE ROCK - Arkansas students' performance on 2008 end-of-course exams in algebra and geometry showed improvement over the previous year, according to information released Wednesday by the state Education Department.
Students' performance on 11th-grade literacy exams showed no change from last year. Each year Arkansas students take end-of-course exams at the end of their Algebra 1 and geometry classes. Most take the exams in April, but some take them in January.
Eleventh-grade students take a literacy exam in the spring. Of the 35,602 students who took the Algebra 1 test in April this year, 66 percent scored proficient or above, compared with 61 percent in 2007.
Another 872 students took the Algebra 1 test in January. Of those, 53 percent scored proficient or above, compared with 55 percent last year. Of the 33,875 students who took the geometry test in April, 60 percent scored proficient or above, compared with 59 percent last year.
Another 986 students took the geometry test in January. Of those, 68 percent scored proficient or above, compared with 61 percent last year. Of the 31,075 high school juniors who took the literacy test this spring, 51 percent scored proficient or above, the same percentage as the previous year.
State Education Commissioner Ken James said the improvement on algebra and geometry exams is encouraging. With continuing improvements in instruction, professional development for teachers and education polices, every child should be able to achieve proficiency, he said.
"In terms of literacy, I am glad that we still have more than half of our students scoring proficient or above, but we know there are tweaks we need to make to improve literacy scores," James said. "Just how to do that is something we at the Department of Education are considering seriously."
Education officials announced last month that students in grades three through eight showed an overall improved performance on this year's math and literacy benchmark exams compared to the previous year.
Officials also said the benchmark exams showed a narrowing of the achievement gap between whites and minorities on most tests.
At a Glance:
End-of-Course Exam Scores
High school students each year take end-of-course exams to test their skills in math, including algebra and geometry, and literacy.
Federal No Child Left Behind laws require all students to score proficient or advanced on the tests, or for districts to improve their percentages of students scoring in those categories.
A rundown of the percentage of students scoring proficient and advanced by district and subject:
Area Literacy Algebra Geometry
Benton County
Bentonville 74 91 89
Decatur 32 61 69
Gentry 53 79 70
Gravette 66 65 80
NWA Academy of Fine Arts 70 72 71
Pea Ridge 59 73 63
Rogers 57 76 77
Siloam Springs 55 72 80
Carroll County
Berryville 42 58 55
Eureka Springs 70 57 56
Green Forest 49 67 70
Madison County
Huntsville 59 87 79
Washington County
Elkins 54 77 67
Farmington 54 68 49
Fayetteville 70 82 80
Haas Hall Academy 83 50 74
Greenland 40 61 62
Lincoln 43 65 74
Prairie Grove 58 72 67
Springdale 52 71 65
West Fork 52 72 55
Source: Arkansas Department of Education
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