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Moffat County TCAP scores remain below Colorado average

School district to analyze results for September report

Andy Bockelman
The students of Sandrock Elementary School perform a dance to the song "Monster Mash" as part of preparation for TCAP testing in March. TCAP results for 2014 were recently released by Colorado Department of Education.
Courtesy Photo

2014 TCAP results

The following are unfinalized results released Thursday by the Colorado Department of Education regarding the Transitional Colorado Assessment Program, administered to students in third through 10th grades.

Moffat County School District

Grade level — Percentage of students proficient or advanced in the subject/percentage of students performing unsatisfactorily

Reading

3 — 59/9

4 — 62/12

5 — 65/11

6 — 63/16

7 — 61/13

8 — 56/11

9 — 52/9

10 — 64/5

Writing

3 — 36/4

4 — 40/9

5 — 42/5

6 — 32/8

7 — 42/6

8 — 33/3

9 — 28/5

10 — 31/9

Math

3 — 63/8

4 — 61/12

5 — 60/7

6 — 39/21

7 — 30/26

8 — 38/26

9 — 21/44

10 — 21/31

Colorado

Reading

3 — 72/10

4 — 67/10

5 — 71/12

6 — 71/9

7 — 69/11

8 — 66/10

9 — 66/7

10 — 69/7

Writing

3 — 51/6

4 — 52/7

5 — 55/6

6 — 57/5

7 — 61/3

8 — 56/3

9 — 54/3

10 — 49/7

Math

3 — 72/8

4 — 72/8

5 — 65/9

6 — 61/13

7 — 55/16

8 — 52/20

9 — 40/29

10 — 33/30

— The yearly report card for Colorado schools has arrived, and Moffat County School District has seen better grades.

2014 TCAP results

The following are unfinalized results released Thursday by the Colorado Department of Education regarding the Transitional Colorado Assessment Program, administered to students in third through 10th grades.

Moffat County School District

Grade level — Percentage of students proficient or advanced in the subject/percentage of students performing unsatisfactorily



Reading

3 — 59/9



4 — 62/12

5 — 65/11

6 — 63/16

7 — 61/13

8 — 56/11

9 — 52/9

10 — 64/5

Writing

3 — 36/4

4 — 40/9

5 — 42/5

6 — 32/8

7 — 42/6

8 — 33/3

9 — 28/5

10 — 31/9

Math

3 — 63/8

4 — 61/12

5 — 60/7

6 — 39/21

7 — 30/26

8 — 38/26

9 — 21/44

10 — 21/31

Colorado

Reading

3 — 72/10

4 — 67/10

5 — 71/12

6 — 71/9

7 — 69/11

8 — 66/10

9 — 66/7

10 — 69/7

Writing

3 — 51/6

4 — 52/7

5 — 55/6

6 — 57/5

7 — 61/3

8 — 56/3

9 — 54/3

10 — 49/7

Math

3 — 72/8

4 — 72/8

5 — 65/9

6 — 61/13

7 — 55/16

8 — 52/20

9 — 40/29

10 — 33/30

The initial results from this spring’s TCAP testing sessions were released by Colorado Department of Education Thursday afternoon, among them the scores from Moffat County. MCSD’s schools showed improvement in some subjects and grade levels compared to 2013, though many numbers showed that the district’s students could improve greatly in reading, writing and math.

Reading scores remained the highest of the three subjects, showing that students with proficient or advanced abilities in the discipline ranged from as low as 52 percent for the 2013-14 Moffat County High School freshman class to as high as 65 percent for last year’s fifth-graders. With the exception of ninth-graders, each of these scores was within five percentage points of the previous year or exactly the same.

Writing scores remained the lowest across the board, with the highest percentile of proficient and advanced students 42 percent for last year’s grades five and seven. Simultaneously, the number of students deemed unsatisfactory in writing was also the lowest, with no class higher than the 9th percentile.

Math saw the greatest variety of scores, last year’s third-graders leading the way at 63 percent proficient or advanced and other elementary school grades also at 60 percent or above. Middle school was a different story, with grade seven a low point at 30 percent.

Last year’s freshmen and sophomores at MCHS were shown to be the least proficient or advanced in math, both classes having only 21 percent of students at this level.

More troubling, however, is the fact that 44 percent of last year’s ninth-grade students were classified as unsatisfactory in the subject, meaning nearly half the pupils in the Class of 2017 aren’t making the grade, according to state standards.

MCSD’s high school test-takers were the only grade levels to show more students at an unsatisfactory level than advanced or proficient within the three subjects, the TCAP’s science section eliminated this past year.

Superintendent Brent Curtice expressed disappointment with the results, with Moffat County schools below the state average in every subject at every grade.

“This is not where we want to be,” he said.

The way the data has unfolded has been difficult to decipher, he added. Some rises in scores have been unexpected, such as the third-graders of 2013 going from a 56 percent in math to a 61 a year later. Just as puzzling are the drops, with the fourth-graders of 2013, who were shown to be 72 percent advanced or proficient in math suddenly sliding all the way to 60 percent upon reaching fifth grade.

A more positive outcome is the eighth-graders’ 14 percent unsatisfactory ranking in reading in 2013 shifting to 9 percent after starting high school.

Curtice said the key to helping students improve is to find patterns of growth among them all. Part of this is not forgetting about those in the middle between the unsatisfactory scores and the advanced or proficient, a subset classified as “partly proficient,” which, in some cases, consists of more than half the grade level.

MCSD will analyze the TCAP results, which are not finalized with a period of appeal active until September, which is when administrators will present their findings to the Board of Education, as well as with other test results such as local ACT statistics.

“We need to look through it closely because there could be some kids who grew completely and others who fell back for some reason,” Curtice said. “We need to make some really good decisions about what to do about it.”

Since TCAP no longer will be used in classrooms, a new format — CMAS, or Colorado Measures of Academic Success — will be used to determine students’ abilities. MCSD implemented the online CMAS tests for certain grade levels this spring.

Curtice said he hopes CMAS, as well as another test, Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, will work better for measuring student achievement down the road.

“We need to increase our ability to help all kids grow,” he said. “It’s the growth that makes up the formula in whether our schools score higher or not. All kids gotta grow.”

Contact Andy Bockelman at 970-875-1793 or abockelman@CraigDailyPress.com.


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