Aurora school districts prep with earlier student assessment results

AURORA | Students in Aurora’s two school districts showed little improvement on the first round of new state standardized tests, largely mirroring the rest of the state with generally flat scores.

But, officials in Aurora Public Schools and Cherry Creek School District say, results on the Colorado Measures of Academic Success tests will likely improve next year now that administrators have the results well before they did last year, when scores weren’t released until October.`

Statewide, just 22 percent of fourth-grade students earned what amounts to a passing score — “strong” or “distinguished” — on the social studies tests. In seventh grade, 18 percent of students scored strong or distinguished.

On the science tests, the numbers for fifth-grade and seventh-grade students were better — with about 35 percent of fifth-graders scoring strong or distinguished and 29 percent of eighth-graders.

Still, scores on the exams showed little movement from 2014 when students took their first cracks at the new tests. Fourth-grade social studies saw the biggest jump, with a 5-percent uptick in passing scores, while both seventh-grade social studies and fifth-grade science were flat with just 1-percent jumps.

The eighth-grade science test was the only of the four to see a dip, with 3.5-percent fewer students passing compared to 2014.

Statewide, just 22 percent of fourth-grade students earned what amounts to a passing score — “strong” or “distinguished” — on the social studies tests. In seventh grade, 18 percent of students scored strong or distinguished.

In Cherry Creek, seventh-grade social studies scores were almost flat, with just a 0.7-percent increase in passing scores from last year, but fourth graders saw a 6.2-percent jump.

In science, fifth-grade scores were almost flat with just a 0.3-percent jump, but eighth-grade science dropped 3 percent.

While Cherry Creek saw a dip in those science scores, the district still outpaced the state with 38 percent of eighth-graders scoring strong or distinguished compared to a state average of 29 percent.

Judy Skupa, CCSD’s assistant superintendent of performance improvement, said with scores statewide dipping on the science tests, officials locally and around Colorado will look closely at the test to see if there were any issues with it.

On the science tests, the numbers for fifth-grade and seventh-grade students were better — with about 35 percent of fifth-graders scoring strong or distinguished and 29 percent of eighth-graders.

“It’s hard at this point in time to say exactly what transpired there,” she said.

Last year, the school year was already underway by the time district officials got the results from the 2014 tests, Skupa said. That gave teachers just a few months to review the previous year’s tests and prepare students for the 2015 tests, which they took in the spring.

With the tests in hand at the start of the school year, Skupa said teachers will have more time to address any issues.

“I believe we are going to see those scores really go up,” she said.

At APS, none of the tests showed more than a 2-percent change up or down.

In science, scores dipped 1.1 percent in fifth grade and 1.5 percent in eighth grade.

Social studies scores climbed 1.6 percent in fourth grade and 0.6 percent in seventh grade.

John Youngquist, chief academic officer at APS, said that because the test is still relatively new, teachers and district officials are still working to craft curricula that will help students reach state standards.

While APS didn’t see any major dips, the district still trailed state averages in several tests. In fifth-grade science, for example, just 13 percent of APS students scored strong or distinguished, well below the state average of 35 percent.

Youngquist said those scores aren’t good enough.

“I don’t have any sense of contentment around where we are,” he said. “We need to see our students performing at a higher level.”

Like Skupa, Youngquist said he expects scores to improve next year now that teachers have more time to prepare with this year’s results in hand.