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NORTH MANCHESTER - Manchester Community Schools presented the recent ISTEP scores at the Tuesday school board meeting.
Bonnie Ingraham, Manchester Elementary School principal, reported that their scores have dropped.
The percent of third-graders passing the exam dropped from 68.7 percent last year to 62 percent for the 2003-2004 school year.
Seventy-two percent of MES students passed the math portion of the exam, just below the statewide passing average of 74.2 percent.
The English/language arts portion of the test is where Manchester students fell far behind the state. Passing that portion of the test were 51.9 percent of MES students, compared to 71.2 percent of students in the state.
Ingraham said the school must work extra hard to raise their scores. If scores fall two years in a row, the school will be state-supervised.
One reason for the decline could be the corporation's recent reconfiguration, with grades kindergarten through four attending Manchester Elementary, and grades five and six attending Laketon.
At Laketon Elementary School, the sixth-graders outscored the state average for the English/language arts section by about 1 percent, with 70.8 percent of students passing.
In the math portion of the test, Laketon sixth-graders tied the state passing average, with 73 percent of students passing.
Despite exceeding state average scores in both areas, Laketon scored just slightly below the state average overall - 71.7 percent of Laketon sixth-graders passed both sections of the test and 71.9 percent passed statewide.
Laketon principal Dennis Craft said today the discrepancy is probably explained by a decimal somewhere that was figured into the average.
He also said this is not the first time Laketon has surpassed passing averages in both test sections, yet still been rated below the state overall passing average.
The junior high had good news to share, principal Anthony Cassel said: 73.2 percent of Laketon students passed the entire test. Statewide, only 68.8 percent passed.
Cassel's goal for MJHS is to make it a four-star school, and he plans to start researching the process soon.
The high school continued a three-year downward trend in test scores, with 67.4 percent passing, compared with a state average of 69.2.
Sixty-five percent passed the English/language arts portion, compared with 69 percent statewide. MHS scored slightly above the state passing average in the math portion of the test, with 69.9 percent passing. Statewide the number was 67.3.
Manchester school board members are Sally Krouse, president, Todd Speicher, Thom Frantz, Kent Terrill, Larry Miller, Carlye McLaughlin and Brad Perrot. Superintendent is Diane Showalter.
