TCAP scores relatively flat in Aurora, across state

AURORA | State standardized test scores released Wednesday show students in Aurora and around the state generally made few gains but also lost a little ground on last year’s tests.

State education officials on Wednesday released scores from the Transitional Colorado Assessment Program, TCAP, that students took late last school year. The scores showed slight drops statewide in the three subjects tested: reading, writing and math.

On the district level, both Aurora Public Schools and Cherry Creek Schools District remained relatively flat compared to the previous year in the three subjects tested.

At APS, the number of students who scored proficient on the tests dipped 1.6 percent compared to the prior school year.

Patti Moon, a spokeswoman for the district, said the bulk of the district’s schools still outperformed state averages in at least two subjects.

In reading, the district’s scores stayed mostly flat, but some grade levels saw declines of several percentage points. In sixth grade, for example, just 43 percent of students were proficient, down from 50 percent a year ago. Eighth grade reading scores also dipped, with just 38 percent of students scoring proficient compared to 44 percent the previous school year.

At Cherry Creek, the district outpaced state averages in most subjects, particularly reading. In sixth grade, the number of students who score proficient climbed from 57 percent to 61 percent, while the number of students reading at an advanced level climbed from 13 percent to 15 percent.

Still, some Cherry Creek schools on the northern end of the district in Aurora slipped backwards. At Overland High School, for example, the number of 10th graders scoring proficient dipped from 55 percent to 49 percent.

Across both districts and the state, math scores declined in the higher grade levels. In Cherry Creek, while almost 80 percent of third graders were proficient or advance in math, that number dipped in every subsequent grade level, with just 42 percent of 10th graders scoring proficient or advanced.

In APS, just 17 percent of 10th graders scored proficient or advanced, while 49 percent of third graders did.