Tests indicate schools have more work to do

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Tests indicate schools have more work to do

Superintendent responds to TCAP scores

The Cortez Journal asked Montezuma Cortez School Superintendent Alex Carter to weigh in on the district’s latest TCAP scores. The following is his unedited response.
“We take our data analysis very seriously. I was happy to see some strong gains at the secondary level. The growth at the middle and high school was really encouraging. We expected to see little or no major progress at the elementary level because our local data indicated similar results. One probable reason for this is that the frameworks of learning we are using are new, and new things take time to have effect. We are confident that we are doing the right work, and that our students will be demonstrating growth and gains in the years to come.
The information we glean from the data is used to inform how we will continue to make our schools better places for our students.
Our principals, teacher leaders, and classroom teachers refocus their efforts each year to better meet the needs of the students we serve.
It is important to remember that these state testing data, while very important and informative, are only one measure of what we do at school. There are myriad ways for us to measure our success with our community’s children. The incredible art shows, science fair entrants, and history bee participation, just to name a few of the many things our students do so well, are also important, but not as easily measured and turned into a number to be reported in the Journal. I wonder how one could compare the impact and value of being a student at Mesa Elementary, whose students demonstrate such universal commitment to environmental stewardship that they received a National Green Ribbon Award, to being in a school which performs higher on state tests but has no culture of service and stewardship? It is hard to quantify that into a number to report in the paper, but I’d venture to guess that the learning and life’s impact they gain is just as profound, if not more so.”

TCAP peaks and valleys

Reading valleys
About 1 in 3 Manuagh fourth-graders tested poorly.
Almost half of Manaugh fifth-graders tested unsatisfactorily.
Reading peaks
More than half of all middle school students tested proficient.
About 3 in 5 ninth graders tested proficient.
Writing valleys
Nearly half of all Manaugh fifth-graders tested poorly.
Less than 2 in 5 middle school students tested proficient.
Writing peaks
About 1 in 10 seventh-graders tested advanced.
About 1 in 10 Lewis Arriola and Mesa third-graders tested advanced.
Math valleys
About 3 in 5 Manaugh fifth-graders tested poorly.
About 1 in 3 freshmen and sophomores tested unsatisfactorily.
Math peaks
About 1 in 5 of all Lewis Arriola students tested advanced.
About 1 in 4 Mesa third-graders tested advanced.

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2014 TCAP math
2014 TCAP reading
2014 TCAP writing
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