Area ISTEP scores mixed (12/15/05)

Jay County’s elementary and middle schools continued to post strong ISTEP scores when compared to state averages, but Jay County High School’s ISTEP and graduation qualifying exam scores are still below average.

“That continues to be a concern for us,” Superintendent Barbara Downing said this morning.

She noted JCHS students showed significant improvement in the math portion of the GQE and ISTEP tests, though changes in state standards make direct comparisons difficult.

“Math has really been a key focus,” Downing said. “It’s been a deliberate effort to teach a different way and learn a different way.”

The math score improvement mirrors a statewide trend, which saw modest gains in that area but little progress in language arts.

Statewide averages showed 31 percent of ninth graders failing the language arts portion of the ISTEP test and 27 percent failing the math portion. At JCHS, 33 percent failed the language arts portion and 25 percent failed the math portion.

On the GQE taken by sophomores, statewide averages showed 29 percent failing the language arts portion and 33 percent failing the math portion. At JCHS, 37 percent failed the language arts portion and 35 percent failed the math portion.

“It’s a concern for the teachers, Dr. (Wood) Barwick, and myself,” Downing said today. She indicated she will have some recommendations on new steps that can be taken on remediation for GQE scores at the high school when the Jay School Board meets on Monday.

At the middle school level, both East Jay and West Jay posted scores better than state averages.

At the sixth grade level statewide, 29 percent failed the language arts section and 22 percent failed the math section. By comparison, East Jay had 27 percent fail the language arts section and 23 percent fail the math section while West Jay had 28 percent fail language arts and 18 percent fail math.

At the seventh grade level statewide, 31 percent failed the language arts section and 23 percent failed math. Locally, East Jay saw 29 percent fail language arts and 23 percent fail math while West Jay saw 20 percent fail language arts and just 9 percent fail math.

At the eighth grade level statewide, 31 percent failed language arts and 28 percent failed math. Locally, East Jay saw 26 percent fail language arts and 21 percent fail math while West Jay saw 33 percent fail language arts and 23 percent fail math.

All of the county’s elementary schools posted scores above the state average with the exception of Judge Haynes Elementary.[[In-content Ad]]