Story posted Friday, June 19, 2009
Dist. 62 MAP Test Scores Right Around National Norms
By DWIGHT ESAU Journal & Topics Reporter
Des Plaines Elementary School Dist. 62 students are either catching up to, or slightly exceeding, national standards in reading, math, and language use.
The district recently got a moderately favorable report from state authorities on results of MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) standardized tests given to district students during the 2008-09 school year.
All district 3rd through 8th graders took the tests last fall and this past spring. The district has used the tests for the last six years. MAP measures a student's achievement in comparison to nationally expected grade level proficiency, and it also measures a student's individual growth from year to year and from fall to spring.
Dr. Diep Nguyen, assistant superintendent for instruction, gave a report to the board of education on June 15. Here are a few highlights:
* In reading, Dist. 62 students scored slightly higher at all grade levels than the national mean score. For example, local third graders averaged a score of 200, compared to the national mean of 199, and district 8th graders averaged 224, compared to a national mean of 221.
* Local students achieved substantially higher growth points in reading from fall 2008 to the spring of 2009, compared to the nationally expected growth. "This does not necessarily mean that our students are scoring at or above grade levels in all cases," Dr. Nguyen said. "But it does mean that our students, some of whom have started from a lower level, are catching up to the national standards, which is good news."
* In math, local students scored slightly higher than the national mean in reading. "Our students are keeping up very well with national standards, but aren't exceeding them dramatically," Dr. Nguyen said.
* Growth points in the last school year in math were very similar to those in reading, she said.
* In language usage, District 62 scores were slightly above national norms, and growth points were above the typical national expected growth rates, especially in the third grade, she added. "We have two significant sub-groups, special education students and English language learners, who typically score lower than general education students, so we must temper these results by understanding that these sub-groups are mostly starting from lower-scoring levels and are catching up to national norms, rather than exceeding them," she explained. "But their catch-up rates are strong.
"Overall, our students are performing at comparable rates to students nationally, and our general education students perform slightly above national expectations. Our students also achieve expected growth from year to year, in comparison with national standards."
"Our English language learners and special education students, while making comparable growth to the general education students, need to make substantially higher growth in order to meet grade level expectations."
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