Student academic performance statewide was mostly flat, according to scores released Wednesday for the final year of Colorado Student Assessment Program testing.
In 2011 testing, reading scores declined slightly for all grade levels except third. Math scores increased slightly. Science scores were almost unchanged.
The greatest improvements were logged in writing, where fourth-graders improved by 6 percentage points this year over last. Now, 56 percent of fourth-graders are proficient or advanced in writing.
Among third-graders, 73 percent scored at least proficient in reading, up from 70 last year.
In the 10th grade, student-proficiency levels in reading averaged 65 percent statewide — down 1 percentage point from last year.
Fourth-graders were the best-performing group of math-test-takers, with 71 percent scoring proficient or better.
Next year, instead of the CSAP test, students will take the Transitional Colorado Assessment Program, or the TCAP, during a transition to a new test by 2014 that will align with new state standards linking student performance to teacher evaluations.
For the past five years, state CSAP scores have fluctuated only slightly and suggest insignificant improvement in student achievement.
For example, the overall percentage of students scoring at least proficient in third-grade reading has ranged from a low of 71.4 percent in 2005 to a high of 72.8 percent in 2011.
Colorado Department of Education staff presenting CSAP results to the state board Wednesday said the new test will change the focus of education to supporting students who need to catch up.
This will require moving away from looking at aggregated data to assess individual-student academic growth.
“The risk of staying behind through graduation — if they make it that far — cuts across gender, race and poverty,” said Jo O’Brien, assistant commissioner of standards and assessment.
Currently, 338,542 students in the state are not performing at grade level and aren’t on track to catch up within three years or by the time they reach 10th grade.
Some districts have outpaced the state in student growth.
Boulder, Denver and Cherry Creek public schools were among the metro districts with the largest growth in multiple areas, according to state growth models released this year with the test scores.
Boulder was the top metro district for growth in middle-school reading. Growth in middle-school math, reading and writing, and high-school reading put Denver in the top three of metro districts.
The Douglas County School District’s growth slowed from previous years, and scores were down in some cases. Still, district averages are higher than statewide averages.
In math scores, Douglas County’s largest jump was at the seventh-grade level, where 70 percent of test-takers scored proficient or better, up from 67 percent last year.
Douglas County had the second-largest metro-area growth in high-school writing, just behind Mapleton schools.
In Mapleton Public Schools — an 8,000-student district covering 25 square miles of north Denver and parts of Thornton — improvements have been more steady for years.
Mapleton students increased math and writing scores at nearly every grade level in 2011, and all tested grades have better scores than they did five years ago.
The greatest gains over that time were for third-graders in math and high-schoolers in writing.
This year, the third-graders were 53 percent proficient or advanced in math, up from 41 percent in 2007.
In writing, 19 percent of high-school freshmen and sophomores were proficient or advanced in 2007. This year, 33 percent of freshmen and 30 percent of sophomores were proficient or advanced.
Mapleton’s third-graders also made big gains in reading, moving from 45 percent of students scoring proficient or above last year, to 58 percent this year.
Superintendent Charlotte Ciancio credits reforms implemented six years ago.
“It’s really not a year in the making, it’s six years in the making,” Ciancio said. “We’re happy to see the scores. They’re confirmation that we are doing the right thing, but we are not surprised.”
Among the reforms implemented six years ago: Mapleton students take interim tests three times a year to help educators track progress, design interventions and predict CSAP results.
“The children are not getting everything they need from us yet,” Ciancio said. “We know our scores are still not where they need to be, but the growth is coming in strong.”
Yesenia Robles: 303-954-1372 or yrobles@denverpost.com
