School test scores improve slightly

Minnesota's students have performed slightly better on state math and reading tests this year, according to results released by the Minnesota Department of Education today. But the list of schools facing sanctions under the federal No Child Left Behind law is going to grow anyway, the department said.

The data also reveal two major concerns for Minnesota schools: The state's achievement gap shows no signs of closing, and scores on the 11th-grade math test were alarmingly low.

"I'm not satisfied," said state Education Commissioner Alice Seagren. "This gives us an opportunity to look at our instructional practices ... and make sure that we're doing what we need to."

Minnesota students in third through eighth grades were tested in reading and math, while 10th-graders were tested in reading and 11th-graders were tested in math. In math, 62 percent of students were proficient, with 71 percent proficient in reading.

The percentage of black students deemed proficient in math and reading hovered 36 percentage points below that of their white counterparts.

Only 34 percent of students statewide -- and only 8 percent of black students -- passed this year's 11th-grade math test. That won't cost this class, but next year's 11th-graders will need to pass the test to graduate.

Achievement gap remains

According to the 2001 No Child Left Behind law, states need to test how different groups of students fare in school. If one student group -- such as special education students -- fails to meet targets on state tests, the whole school is labeled as not making "adequate yearly progress."

For schools receiving federal Title I money, failure means penalties that increase over time, from having to offer transfers and tutoring to restructuring a whole school. The proficiency level required each year is a moving target -- by 2014, the law says, every student group in the country is supposed to pass the tests.

This year, Minnesota's improvement was not "the robust increase in proficiency" needed to decrease the number of schools not making enough progress, Seagren said. Schools not making adequate progress will be identified at the end of the summer.

Some of the starkest results show that Minnesota's achievement gap didn't shrink, and even grew slightly on state reading tests from last year -- from a 32- to 36-point gap.

Of the state's five largest districts -- Anoka-Hennepin, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan and Osseo -- Minneapolis has the biggest achievement gap, with the difference in proficiency levels between black and white students at around 50 percentage points in reading and math.

"The students that needed to make the most growth may not have," said David Heistad, director of research, evaluation and assessment for Minneapolis schools. "You're not going to get to the high standards by graduation unless you make more accelerated progress."

Heistad said the district has focused intervention efforts on the city's North Side, an area with high concentrations of poverty and students of color. He said the district has lowered class sizes, focused on teacher training, and tried to increase rigor in classes.

Michelle Walker, chief accountability officer for St. Paul schools, said a 40-point achievement gap in St. Paul is disappointing. School officials are using grant money and other funding to create boys and girls academies at North End Elementary in an effort to find ways to dramatically improve black student achievement.

"It will take some time, but I do think the North End initiative is not only going to serve that school, but serve as a laboratory for closing the gap," she said.

Bad math scores?

Paul and Sheila Wellstone Elementary in St. Paul saw the biggest gains in the metro area in math proficiency -- from 21 percent to 45 percent -- while Belle Plaine High School made the Twin Cities area's biggest jump in reading proficiency -- from 49 percent to 80 percent.

Wellstone Principal Christine Osorio said her school's higher scores follow a deliberate plan to improve -- including increasing the average time students work on math from 50 minutes to about 75 minutes a day. A math leadership team pores over students' math skills and children are grouped according to their skills.

"This wasn't just a stroke of luck," Osorio said.

On the flip side, St. Paul's Sheridan Elementary had the area's biggest drop in math proficiency -- from 68 percent to 51 percent -- while Minneapolis' Bethune Elementary had the largest drop in reading proficiency -- from 48 percent to 38 percent.

Most frustrating to educators was the dismal performance of 11th-graders on the math test. Next year, students will have to meet a minimum score to graduate, although the state hasn't set that score yet.

The state expects scores on the math test to jump by 8 to 16 percentage points next year, "because there's an incentive," Seagren said.

That's what happened this year with the state's 10th-grade reading scores. They counted for graduation for the first time -- and jumped by 9 percentage points.

But that won't be enough, said Heistad, of Minneapolis. "We may see a drop in graduation rates."

Officials also question the difficulty of the test, which assumes students have taken Algebra II. They say it makes Minnesota students look terrible at math, when Minnesota's Class of 2007 received the best math ACT scores in the nation.

Beating the odds

Of the Twin Cities schools where more than half the students come from low-income families, Oak Grove Elementary in Bloomington performed the best on state reading tests. Eighty-two percent of students were proficient although 53 percent come from low-income families.

In the same group of schools, Tarek Ibn Ziyad Academy performed best on the math tests. The Inver Grove Heights charter school, which emphasizes the cultures of Asia, Africa and the Middle East, had 86 percent of its students reach proficiency on the math tests, while 84 percent receive free and reduced-price lunches.

"There's no real secret," said director Asad Zaman. "We use data-driven decision making, we individualize attention to the students, and we keep [everyone] focused on academic achievement."

As school districts get more time to analyze the data, they plan to focus intervention efforts on the students falling behind. But they also warn that one state test shouldn't be taken too seriously.

"All we can do is look at the results, have some honest discussions with teachers, and hope that because having a single good score is important, that we do it," said Farmington Assistant Superintendent Christine Weymouth. "It's only one measure."

Emily Johns • ejohns@startribune.com • 952-882-9056 James Walsh • jwalsh@startribune.com • 612-673-7428