Once again the Annandale public school students did very well on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments, MCAs.
The MCAs are tests given every year to every student in grades three to eight in mathematics and reading; in addition students in grade 10 take the reading MCA and students in grade 11 take the Math MCA. The science MCA is given to students in grades five and eight, but at this time those test results are not available.
Students do not pass or fail the tests given in grades three to eight. Each student receives a score that falls in one of four achievement levels: Does not meet the standards, partially meets the standards, meets the standards and exceeds the standards.
Annandale students must pass the MCA reading test taken in 10th grade, or they will not graduate. They can however, take the test as many times as it takes in order to pass it. The test is available to be taken every six weeks, according to the district curriculum coordinator, Kathy Holahan.
If the 11th graders taking the math MCA do not meet proficiency levels, they have to retake the test, up to three times. But even if they fail to pass it after the retakes, they will still be allowed to graduate. This will change for the class of 2015, they will be required to be proficient on the math MCA test (their score falling in the Meets Standards or Exceeds Standards) in order to graduate.
The tests are meant to measure student performance on the Minnesota state standards, which outline what students should know and do at each grade level.
District-wide 76 percent of the Annandale students taking the MCA math test in 2012, showed they were proficient for their grade level. Eighty-seven percent showed proficiency in the MCA reading test. In Wright County, only the Delano school district (81 percent) showed a higher proficiency in math; and showed a higher proficiency (89 percent) in the MCA reading test.
"We are very pleased with the performance of Annandale students on the 2012 state MCA tests. Fourteen state reading and math tests were administered to students at varying grades this year. The percentage ISD 876 reaching proficiency on these exceeded the state average at all grades and was more than 20 percent above the state average in four of the tests," said Annandale School Superintendent Steve Niklaus.
District-wide the Annandale test scores showed improvement over the 2011 test scores. Math proficiency in 2011 was 71 percent and reading proficiency 85 percent.
Schools use the information from these tests to improve teaching and learning. Teachers and principals look for areas where students do well., so they can reinforce the ways they have been teaching those skills and they look for areas that show weakness and figure out alternative ways to teach these areas.
Bendix shines
Earlier this year, Annandale’s Bendix Elementary was recognized as a Minnesota School of Excellence. The 2012 MCA test results show that Bendix continues to live up to that honor. 95.4 percent of third graders showed proficiency in math and 88.9 percent showed proficiency in reading. Fourth graders at Bendix posted 93.8 percent proficiency in math and 95.5 percent proficiency in reading.
What has Bendix done to achieve such high scores? According to Dr. Tracy Reimer, Bendix principal, "Bendix Elementary School is fortunate to have staff, students, parents, and community members working together to create partnerships for learning. Our high MCA results are a public acknowledgement of these efforts.
Research clearly identifies quality classroom instruction as having the greatest impact on student achievement. The elementary teaching staff is continuously striving to improve and fine-tune their pedagogy. They have high expectations for their students and even higher expectations for themselves.
In addition to excellent teachers, the elementary offers research-based intervention programs for students such as Reading Recovery and Leveled Literacy Intervention that support students needing a "boost" to meet grade level standards."
Dr. Reimer is not planning to coast with Bendix’s success, "during the 2012-’13 school year, the elementary will focus our professional development efforts on improving student progress monitoring. We will work toward continuing to implement intentional interventions and the use of data to inform decision making, said Reimer.
11th grade math scores
Only 43 percent of 11th graders taking the MCA math test showed proficiency. "The reason the results are so poor, is that it is difficult to motivate the students to do well, when they know there are no consequences to failing," Holahan said. It is the same all over the state, with only 42.5 percent of students showing proficiency on the 11th grade test. "This will change with the class of 2015, when passing this test will be necessary to graduate," Holahan said. The 11th grade MCA math test was the only area Annandale did not improve in 2012. In 2011 students showed a 52.4 percent proficiency for the 11th grade math test.
As the law stands now, students graduating in 2015 must pass the math test, and according to Holahan, for some this will be difficult, if not impossible. "The state is saying in order to graduate, a student must be proficient in algebra; but some students, no matter how hard they try, just don’t get it," said Holahan. Holahan indicated the state may have to revisit this graduation requirement.
Tests are only a part
"State tests are one measure of the progress schools are making. However, it should be noted they are not the only measure of the success schools and the students in them. These tests are the results of one test given on one day in the school year. However, they are the most tangible source of information for the general public and so have taken on increased importance, said Niklaus.