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R.I. students get better at writing |
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Sunday, 06 April 2008 |
By JOSEPH B. NADEAU
More Rhode Island students still fall below writing proficiency standards than those above but a new federal sampling of eighth-grade middle school students shows more improvement since the last round of such testing in 2002, according to the Rhode Island Department of Education.
The Rhode Island eighth graders participating in the U.S. Department of Education sponsored “The National Report Card” assessment program improved the state’s results by 3 percentage points over 2002, according to the Rhode Island Department.
Of the 2,500 Rhode Island Middle School eighth graders taking the test, 32 percent were found proficient in writing, a figure up 7 percent from the first offering of the National Report Card assessment in 1998, according the department.
“These eighth-grade writing test results show that the newly instituted education standards and assessments — developed jointly with Vermont and New Hampshire — are beginning to show results,” Governor Donald L. Carcieri said in a statement announcing the federal findings.
“We are beginning to move education scores in the right direction, especially in the lower grades. But the results of our recent high-school tests show we still have many challenges ahead of us,” Carcieri said.
Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Peter McWalters lauded the progress indicated by the federal assessments but also indicated more work will be needed to improve student performance.
“The results released today are further evidence that we are progressing in many subject areas and at many grade levels,” McWalters said.
“We still, however, see gaps in performance that affect many student groups. We must work on resolving these issues through targeted resources and interventions,” McWalters said.
The Nation’s Report Card findings also found performance differences between students in urban districts, those living in poverty or facing language barriers, and students in suburban or affluent communities. Performance gaps also continue to be found between ethnic groups and between gender, according to the findings.
The federal results were in keeping with the findings of the state’s New England Common Assessment Program Rhode Island created with Vermont and New Hampshire, according to Elliot Krieger, McWalters’ spokesman.
“This is able to show us that we are seeing steady and significant improvement over the last decade and the last five years,” Krieger said.
The sampling of Middle School eight graders showed 32 percent of the participants to have achieved proficiency in writing, a figure a percentage point better than the national average. Rhode Island students have also showed improvement in meeting basic writing achievement after being below the average by a percentage point in the last round of testing. The latest round of testing found 85 percent of the participating Rhode Island students to have demonstrated “partial mastery” of the skills and knowledge needed for proficient work, according to Krieger.
The federal assessment program looked at sample group of the 12,194 middle school 8th graders at Rhode Island schools in 2007 and did not breakdown the student performance on the test by district or schools as the state’s NECAP testing does, according to Krieger.
The state Department of Education is currently working on its rankings of Rhode Island public schools based on the 2007 NECAP testing data, according to Krieger. The rankings could be announced sometime next month, he said. |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 11 April 2008 )
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