District test scores highlight ups, downs

A preliminary release of ACT Aspire testing results for Arkansas children in grades 3-10 showed what the state’s Education Department calls “little to modest increases from 2022, with many grades and subject areas reflecting decreases.”

There were strong results, however, in subject areas among some grade levels in Jefferson County’s three school districts and among third through fifth graders at Friendship Aspire Academy campuses in Pine Bluff.

Scores for each subject fall into one of four levels: exceeding the benchmark, ready, close or in need of support, according to the department’s Division of Elementary and Secondary Education. This was the last year the state would use ACT Aspire to measure academic performance in grades 3-10, as the department is developing the Arkansas Teaching and Learning Assessment System, or ATLAS, to be introduced next spring.

WHITE HALL

In the White Hall School District, grades 3-7 had 7.8% or fewer in need of support in English. Of its 10th graders, 30.3% needed support, while 23.3% of ninth graders and 13.5% of eighth graders needed the same.

White Hall students met the readiness benchmark in English by as much as 81.1% in fifth grade and as low as 45% for 10th graders.

Eighth through 10th graders in the WHSD struggled in math. The percentage of students in need of support ranged from 45.2% (eighth grade) to 59.9% (10th grade), and those percentages were all less than those who met the benchmark. White Hall showed 51.4% of its third grade students met the benchmark in math, and only 9.2% of its fifth graders needed support.

Five of the eight tested grades had more students in need of support in science than those ready or exceeding. All but sixth and ninth graders had more students meet the benchmark in reading than in need of support, and four of the eight grades met the standard in English language arts.

Fourth grade had the largest clip of WHSD students who met the benchmark in STEM, at 19.5%.

PINE BLUFF

Third through eighth graders in the Pine Bluff School District had good showings in English, as students in those grade levels had more reaching the benchmark than in need. Fifth grade had the highest percentage of those meeting or exceeding the mark, at 50.7%.

Each of the grade levels had more students in need of support in math. As many as 91.3% of sophomores needed support (2.9% in that class met the mark), and as much as 20.1% of third graders reached the mark.

Results were similar for the PBSD in science, reading and English language arts. As low as 5.1% of 10th graders met the mark in science, and 10.9% of seventh graders did so in both reading and English language arts. The PBSD had no more than 3.1% of its students (in third and fourth grades) meet the mark in STEM.

WATSON CHAPEL

The Watson Chapel School District posted strong results in English, where as much as 61.3%

of seventh graders met the benchmark and all but 10th graders had more meet the standard than not. Of the 10th graders, 48.3% were in need of support and 29.3% met the standard.

Math proved to be a struggle in the upper grades, where as many as 9.6% eighth graders met the benchmark and as many as 90.8% of 10th graders need support. The earlier grades showed better results, although only fourth and sixth graders had more reach the benchmark in math.

Percentages of students in need of support were also high in science in the WCSD, ranging from 52.2% for sixth grade to 77.6% for 10th grade. None of the grade levels had more students meeting the benchmark than in need in reading, in which as few as 8.6% of third graders and as many as 24.1% of sixth graders reached the standard. The struggles were similar in English language arts, with only 8.6% of third graders meeting the mark and 27.1% of sixth graders doing so. None of Watson Chapel’s eighth graders met the standard in STEM, whereas only 5.2% of third graders did.

FRIENDSHIP

More students at Friendship’s Pine Bluff campuses reached the mark in English and math (as many as 12.5% of fourth graders needed support in English), but the results were different in science and reading (as many as 45.8% of fourth graders need support in reading).

In STEM, 22.1% of third graders at Friendship met the benchmark, compared to 5.6% of fourth graders.

Fifth graders at Friendship’s Southeast campus, which graduated its last high school class and is regrowing as a middle and high school, had more students meet the mark in English and math, but more in need of support in the other subjects. Only 1.9% of fifth graders met the standard in STEM.

Final ACT Aspire scores will be available this fall, according to the Education Department. This year’s test scores, divided into schools, districts, state, national and other categories, is available at: dese.link/2023TestScores.