Student scores hit the mark

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
“The good news is that all schools within the district are meeting expectations overall,” Sonya Tysdal, curriculum coordinator for Weston County School District No. 1, said, referring to the School Performance Reports for accountability with the state and the Wyoming Accountability in Education Act, as well as the federal government and the Every Student Succeeds Act. 
She said that the 2019 WY-TOPP results show areas where the district needs to grow, as well as “huge celebrations.” The district had a range in results in the WY-TOPP state assessment test that was given to grades three through 10 in the 2018-19 school year.
Elementary school students along with their older middle school counterparts are assessed on five indicators by the state and federal governments. Those are growth, equity, achievement, English Learner Progress and participation, for state assessment only, according to Tysdal. 
She said that both schools met indicators for growth, equity, achievement and participation. The elementary school did not reach targets for the ELP program, which is not an indicator for the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, and that the middle school did not have enough students to calculate an ELP score. 
“The high school has eight indicators – growth, equity, achievement, ELP, extended graduation, post-secondary readiness, grade nine credits and participation for the WAEA – and they met or exceeded targets on all indicators except growth,” Tysdal said. 
She noted that equity, ELP, extended graduation and grade nine credits are not indicators federally and that the ESSA uses four-year on time graduation calculation for the report. The high school did not have enough students in ELP to calculate a score. 
A breakdown of the results showed how each grade level performed in each subject tested during the WY-TOPP. 
Tysdal provided an overview of test results, highlighting any scores that put the students in the top quartile of the state. 
“The first thing I look for is, are we in the top 25%,” Tysdal said. “Those students are in the top quartile in the state for achievement.” 
In eighth-grade math, 69.8% of students scored proficient or advanced. That score represents an achievement growth of 23.77, making the class eighth in the state in math, according to Tysdal. 
Tysdal also highlighted several achievements in reading, with grades three, eight and nine ranking 11th in the state. Third grade had 68.5% of students scoring proficient or advanced, while 69% of eighth-grade students scored proficient or advanced. Among ninth-grade students, 64.9% scored proficient or advanced.
Achievements were also reached by grade five in math, with 67.3% of students scoring proficient or advanced, ranking them 14th in the state. According to Tysdal, this is a growth of 13.45% from the previous year. 
Grade five also improved by 13.58% in reading, with 65.5% of students scoring proficient or advanced, ranking 13th in the state. 
“There are always huge celebrations, and we are happy for those groups of kids,” Tysdal said. 
“Our kids did pretty doggone good,”
Tysdal said. 
Historically, Tysdal said, several of the grade levels that performed well have done so in the past but because the test changed last year, the percentage of proficient or advanced over time is not available. 
“The first WY-TOPP test was given in 2018. We are only two years into this test for the scores showing proficient or above,” Tysdal said. For that reason, she said, scores from 2019 wouldn’t accurately compare with the results from 10 years ago. 
Tysdal said she was not surprised by the results of the 2019 WY-TOPP test. 
“Some of the scores were lower than we maybe expected,” she said. “Some of those scores are not a surprise per say, knowing what has happened over time. There are always areas to grow.” 
In grade six, 39.6% of the kids scored proficient or advanced in math, down 31.09% for the same group of kids. Those scores ranked 38th in the state. 
Grade nine also saw a significant decrease in the number of students scoring proficient
or advanced, with only 29.9% of students scoring high enough to reach proficient or advanced, down 22.73%. This score ranked 42nd in the state. 
In reading, 51.5% of seventh-grade students scored proficient or advanced, down 8.79% from last year, ranking 35th in the state. Grade 10 ranked 30th in the state with 52.5% of students scoring proficient or advanced, down 2.24% from 2018.