The Independent - July 28th 2004

School district working to improve math scores
BY MICHELLE ROSENBERG
Staff Writer

MATAWAN - Student math scores on state standardized tests were lower this year while language arts scores went up.

The New Jersey Assessment Test results were presented at the July 19 Board of Education meeting by Caroline Pond, district director of testing and special programs.

The results include the Grade Eight Proficiency Assessment (GEPA), the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJ ASK 4), and the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).

Only 67.4 percent of the general education student's passed the GEPA’s math section.

"We are upset and plan to do something about it," Pond said.

The percentage of passing students is down 12.6% from last year, when 80 percent passed. This is the lowest the scores have been in six years.

Despite the low test scores, the district passed with 64 percent, of which 43.5 percent of the students were proficient and 20.5 percent were advanced proficient. The numbers represent all students, special education and limited English students included.

Why are the math results in grade eight so low, board member Lawrence O'Connell asked.

"There were two groups of students that each had numerous teachers. Continuity was broken in many cases," Assistant Superintendent of Schools Robert Rogers said.

The GEPA language arts scores were much better than the math with 87.3 percent of the general education students passing. This is still the lowest passing percentage in six years. Last year, 93 percent passed. Since 2000, the percentage has been slightly increasing, until the 5.7 percent drop this year.

The percentage of total students passing is 81.6 percent, with 71.3 percent passing as proficient and 8.5 percent passing as advanced proficient.

GEPA is the only state standardized exam that tests students in the area of science. In the science section, 82.5 percent of general education students passed, the lowest number in five years.

"Why is there is a drop in test scores in eighth grade. What is the rationale," O'Connell said.

"It seems from the teachers and the students' comments and reaction that the test if much harder. The test is difficult and more challenging. The teachers can't see the questions, so they don't know what is on it," Pond said.

Pond also discussed the results of the NJ ASK 4, formerly the fourth-grade ESPA.

The number of general education students to pass the assessment was 82.4 percent this year, up 7.2 percent from last year.

"We don't think these are terrible [numbers], but we'd like to see it improve," Pond said.

Three of the four elementary schools in the district saw an increase from last year. Lloyd Road School is the only school that dropped, going from 88.8 percent last year, to 80.4 percent this year. Cliffwood Avenue School had the lowest percentage, with only 74.1 percent passing.

District students did well on the NJ ASK 4 language arts section with 96.6 percent of general education students passing.

"We're very pleased with these results. We think that's very good," Pond said. All four schools in the district had percentages in the upper 90s, except Lloyd Road, which saw 100 percent of general education students passing this portion of the test.

The percentage of the total number of students districtwide who passed is 91 percent. Cliffwood Beach had the lowest percentage with 85.9 percent passing.

Pond also discussed the HSPA results.

In the math section, only 79.2 percent of general education students passed.

"We'd like to see this improve," Pond said. The district was at 82.9 percent of general education passing in 2002, and dropped to 77.5 percent last year.

The district did better than the state by .3 percent. However, it did not meet the standards of it's district factor group. The district factor group has 84.6 percent passing, which is 5.4 percent higher than the district scores.

The language arts portion of the HSPA had high results. The 95.4 percent of general education students passing is up from last year's 95.1 percent.

Pond said the district is working on ways to bring up low test scores, and hopes to improve them in the future.