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End-of-course exams show improvement in algebra, geometry Thursday, Jul 10, 2008 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau 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. ------- On the Net: www.arkansased.org |
