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There's always more below the surface.
Looking just at the percentages of Tippecanoe Valley students passing the math and English/language arts portions of ISTEP, Valley Curriculum Director Angela Miller said the areas where the school corporation made gains don't show up. One has to look deeper to see where Valley has made gains.
More Valley students passed ISTEP at the pass-plus level this year, she said. While Valley has a small limited English proficiency group, there has been an increase in LEP students passing at the pass-plus level, too. Pass is standard ISTEP passing, pass-plus is above standard.
Writing has been a focus at Valley schools.
"We've made great gains on the applied skills for the writing prompt," Miller said. During the ISTEP test, students have to write for a 50-minute period.
A little improvement has been made with students on free or reduced lunches, but not much, Miller said. Freshmen made the most significant gains in that area.
Between math and language arts, Miller said, "Math is definitely higher." Valley schools started working on math about 10 years ago and has seen gains on ISTEP since. Valley is now focusing on writing and reading. Reading traditionally is not taught past third grade. One of Valley's goals for grades 4-12 is to concentrate on content reading.
"We've got some teachers working hard," said Miller.
At Akron Elementary School, 67 percent of third-graders this year passed language arts; 75 passed math. Seventy-two percent of fourth-graders passed language arts, compared to 71 percent passing math. Only 51 percent of fifth-graders passed language arts, 69 percent passed math and 50 percent passed science.
In language arts at Mentone, 67 percent of third graders passed language arts while 74 percent passed math. Fourth grade, language arts, 84 percent passed; 83 percent passed math. Mentone fifth-grade students did well in language arts with 71 percent passing, 81 percent passed math but only 60 percent passed science.
Sixth graders at Tippecanoe Valley Middle School improved in language arts (71 percent) compared to last year's sixth graders (68 percent). In math, however, 76 percent passed, compared to 85 percent in 2004.
In grade seven, 64 percent passed language arts this year, compared to 65 percent last year; in math, 78 percent passed compared to 77 percent last year.
Only 54 percent of eighth graders passed language arts this year, compared to 63 percent last year. In math, 69 percent passed this year, compared to 73 last year.
Freshmen this year did better than last year's freshmen. Sixty-seven percent passed language arts this year, compared to 62 percent last year; in math, it was 65 percent passing in 2005 compared to 61 percent of 2004's freshmen class passing.
Tenth graders must pass ISTEP in order to graduate high school. This year, only 65 percent passed language arts and even less passed math, 55 percent. In 2004, 63 passed language arts and 57 percent passed math.
Miller said with the low test scores, a large group of students will have to retake ISTEP to graduate. Valley does offer remediation to help them pass. Even at the state level, traditionally scores go down the higher the grade levels, she said. Valley makes an effort to let students, parents and the public know how important the ISTEP tests are.
The ISTEP scores are posted on the Department of Education's Web site at www.doe.state.in.us The results for English/language arts and mathematics are available for grades 3-10, and science results are available for grade 5. Results for grade 7 science will be available after passing scores have been set in late February or early March, according to an IDOE press release.
