According to a new report examining eighth grade test scores, Colorado students have made slight improvements in the last eight years, narrowing achievement gaps most noticeably in math.
The Center for Education Policy, a national non-profit released the report this week evaluating test scores for eighth graders across the country.
In most states, including, Colorado, the report found upward trends in both reading and math test scores.
“Colorado is more or less reflective of the rest of the country,” said Jack Jennings, president of the Center for Education Policy. “Test scores are generally going up, but this is in no way where we want American kids to be.”
In Colorado, the breakdown of scores by race and ethnicity show reading scores that have increased, but generally, by less than 1 percentage point per year.
The most noticeable increase in reading is for Latino students scoring proficient on state tests, with an average 1.5 percentage point gain, per year from 2002 through 2009.
In Colorado, and in other states gaps widened between boys and girls in eighth grade when it comes to reading, with girls generally reading better than boys.
For math test scores, gains were were especially noticeable for African American and Latino students.
“These are substantial gains,” Jennings said. “But there are still substantial gaps.”
In 2009, 65 percent of African American students in Colorado scored proficient on state exams, up from 46 percent in 2002.
Latino increases were similar. In 2009 67 percent of Latino students in Colorado scored proficient, up from 45 percent that scored the same in 2002.
Asian and Native American students also posted gains in math, with Asian students doing better than all other subgroups including white students with 91 percent scoring proficient, and 35 percent scoring advanced in 2009.
