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Another low third-grade score is "not a cause for concern"
By STEVE RENO/Arizona Range News
A low third-grade math score at Willcox Elementary School for a state-testing measure called MAP is not a major cause of concern for the school, said Dr. Donald Roberts, superintendent of the Willcox Unified School District.
MAP is an acronym for Measure of Academic Progress. It is based on scores on the Stanford 9 test, which students take each spring. A student must score as well or better on the test each year compared to the year before, in order to be counted as making one year of academic progress.
The state of Arizona uses the MAP scores to form its grading of schools as excelling, performing adequately, non-performing or failing.
Despite a showing of just 38 percent of Willcox students who improved in math from second to third grade in 2003-2004, the elementary school is not in danger of receiving the non-performing or the failing label, Roberts said.
The labels are based on a campus-wide MAP score and are not limited to one grade.
"Our K-3 (kindergarten through third grade) MAP rate of one year's growth for math was 49 percent in 2003-04," Roberts said, "compared to 45 percent in 2002-2003. The rate in 2001-2002 was just 43 percent."
The elementary school actually has a larger number of children making one year's growth this past year than the previous year's MAP scores, he said.
"MAPs lets you take into account more of an overall picture of what's actually going on at a school," Roberts said.
The middle school (4th-8th grade) MAP scores also show similar progress. The overall math score at the end of the 2002 school year was 69 percent, and improved to 70 percent in 2003 and 72 percent in the most recent measure in 2004.
The high school just received just its first MAP score this past academic school year and scored a 67 percent for math in 2004.
Roberts also pointed out that Willcox High School has shown a steady improvement in its graduation rate. It jumped from 74 percent in 2000 to 85 percent in 2001, regressed slightly to 84 percent in 2002, and rebounded to 85 percent in 2003.
"We've decreased the dropout rate from 4.55 percent in 2000 to 2.03 percent in 2004," he said.
The dropout figure takes into account that a student may dropout, but may re-enroll in another public, private or charter school.
MAP is an acronym for Measure of Academic Progress. It is based on scores on the Stanford 9 test, which students take each spring. A student must score as well or better on the test each year compared to the year before, in order to be counted as making one year of academic progress.
The state of Arizona uses the MAP scores to form its grading of schools as excelling, performing adequately, non-performing or failing.
Despite a showing of just 38 percent of Willcox students who improved in math from second to third grade in 2003-2004, the elementary school is not in danger of receiving the non-performing or the failing label, Roberts said.
The labels are based on a campus-wide MAP score and are not limited to one grade.
"Our K-3 (kindergarten through third grade) MAP rate of one year's growth for math was 49 percent in 2003-04," Roberts said, "compared to 45 percent in 2002-2003. The rate in 2001-2002 was just 43 percent."
The elementary school actually has a larger number of children making one year's growth this past year than the previous year's MAP scores, he said.
"MAPs lets you take into account more of an overall picture of what's actually going on at a school," Roberts said.
The middle school (4th-8th grade) MAP scores also show similar progress. The overall math score at the end of the 2002 school year was 69 percent, and improved to 70 percent in 2003 and 72 percent in the most recent measure in 2004.
The high school just received just its first MAP score this past academic school year and scored a 67 percent for math in 2004.
Roberts also pointed out that Willcox High School has shown a steady improvement in its graduation rate. It jumped from 74 percent in 2000 to 85 percent in 2001, regressed slightly to 84 percent in 2002, and rebounded to 85 percent in 2003.
"We've decreased the dropout rate from 4.55 percent in 2000 to 2.03 percent in 2004," he said.
The dropout figure takes into account that a student may dropout, but may re-enroll in another public, private or charter school.
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