State Testing Shows Continued Improvement for WCPSS Students
July 21, 2009 - State testing results for students in the Wake County Public School System showed continuing improvement in 2008-09.
WCPSS is releasing preliminary Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) results today for the 2008-09 school year as well as preliminary End-of-Grade and End-of-Course testing results. The State Board of Education is scheduled to officially approve these results later this summer at their August and September meetings.
2008-09 Testing Results |
End of Grade Testing
The state End of Grade test is administered in math and reading in grades 3-8.
Percentage students at or above grade level on initial testing
|
2007-08 |
2008-09 |
Math |
78.0 |
79.3 |
Reading |
66.2 |
68.1 |
The largest gains in subgroups were achieved by Limited English Proficient students and free and reduced price lunch students.
Percentage gains by LEP and F&R students over previous year’s performance
|
LEP |
F&R |
Math |
3.8 |
3.0 |
Reading |
4.8 |
3.1 |
Multi-racial students posted gains of 3.8 percent on math and 2.7 percent on reading. You can find more information on End of Grade testing results here.
New Baseline
The state is changing the way it calculates End of Grade testing results and will now include students who achieve grade level when they are retested on the EOG. The state has determined that this will serve as the new baseline results for future EOG comparisons.
Retesting Comparison
|
2007-08 initial test |
2008-09 initial test |
2008-09 with retest |
Math |
78.0 |
79.3 |
84.5 |
Reading |
66.2 |
68.1 |
74.7 |
End of Course testing
End-of-Course tests are administered in ten specific courses most commonly taken by high school students. For nine of ten EOCs, WCPSS showed an improvement of between 1 percentage point and 6 percentage points in students performing at/above grade level.
Required EOC Testing
|
Percent at grade level on 2008-09 EOC testing |
Percentage points difference in students achieving grade level 2008-09 vs. 2007-08 |
English I |
79.8 |
1.0 |
Civics & Economics |
79.5 |
1.5 |
Biology |
79.5 |
3.0 |
US History |
76.5 |
2.4 |
Algebra I |
74.6 |
-2.1 |
Elective EOC Testing
|
Percent at grade level on 2008-09 EOC testing |
Percentage points difference in students achieving grade level 2008-09 vs. 2007-08 |
Physics |
92.1 |
4.4 |
Chemistry |
87.2 |
3.4 |
Algebra II |
80.3 |
3.4 |
Geometry |
80.1 |
5.0 |
Physical Science |
66.1 |
6.0 |
“We are examining what the state testing tells us about student performance and we’re looking to determine how to best help students pass the state tests,” said Assistant Superintendent David Holdzkom.
Adequate Yearly Progress
With the preliminary Adequate Yearly Progress results being reported today, WCPSS has increased the number of schools meeting the federal Adequate Yearly Progress standard.
WCPSS Schools Making AYP
|
2007-08 |
2008-09 |
Made annual yearly Progress |
37 |
98 |
Total number of schools tested |
152 |
156 |
WCPSS Schools Making AYP in 2008-09 by Grade Level
|
Made AYP |
Missed AYP by one or two targets |
Total number of schools tested |
Elementary |
73 |
18 |
99 |
Middle |
21 |
7 |
30 |
High |
2 |
8 |
23 |
Alternative |
2 |
1 |
4 |
Total |
98 |
34 |
156 |
Title I Schools
While WCPSS will have additional information regarding Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) performance and school choice for parents later in the week, 27 of 40 WCPSS Title I schools made AYP in 2008-09. Of the 14 WCPSS Title I schools in the category of School Improvement, eight of them achieved their goals this year.
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