CHARLESTON, W.Va. – West Virginia students are headed back to class with strong school improvement numbers. West Virginia Educational Standards Test (WESTEST2) scores show that the majority of schools accountable under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) showed improvement in 2010 - 2011. All West Virginia students in grades 3-11 are required to take the WESTEST2, an assessment that measures student achievement.
“What we value in West Virginia is constant improvement and student academic growth,” said state Superintendent of Schools Jorea Marple. “Meeting Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under NCLB is a tough task for schools across the nation. Nonetheless, more West Virginia students are making the grade.”
Two years ago, what students needed to learn and be able to do became more intense as part of Global21: Student’s deserve it. The world demands it. That meant that the original WESTEST had to be aligned with the more rigorous course material. To view examples of questions found on the WESTEST2 visit http://wvde.state.wv.us/parents21/westest2.html.
Last year, the score a student needed to reach to be considered proficient under No Child Left Behind dramatically increased. For example, on the math section, third graders needed to score 557 points to be considered proficient in 2009. In 2010, they needed to score 581 points to be proficient.
NCLB requires that all students in the United States are proficient by 2014. To reach that goal, each year a greater number of students must meet or exceed the proficient level on the WESTEST2 for a school to meet AYP. This year, an additional 16 percent of students had to get to the proficiency mark. In addition, this year the federal government required every state to use a new graduation calculation. Now states can only consider students finishing in four years as graduates.
Results on the 2011 WESTEST2 show that of the 692 schools accountable under NCLB 329 (48 percent) met AYP.
“As part of Global21, our goal is that students are ready to be successful whether they go to college or enter the workforce,” Marple said. “The good news is that a great percentage of schools that did not reach the 2011 AYP proficiency mark still showed improvement.”
Fifty-five percent of schools showed improvement in mathematics, while 77 percent of school showed improvement in reading/language arts.
“I am proud of all of our schools,” said Marple. “Even the schools that were not able to jump over the proficiency bar still showed improvement. For example, of the high schools that did not meet the AYP target showed a 6.5 percent improvement in reading/language arts. The increase is significant given the more difficult curriculum, the more difficult test and the higher expectation of performance.”
The WVDE has developed a parent website to provide resources that can be used at home to help with more rigorous schoolwork. The website can be found at http://wvde.state.wv.us/parents21. Additional WESTEST2 data can be found by visiting http://wveis.k12.wv.us/nclb/public_eleven/nclbmenu.cfm, or by contacting the WVDE Communications Office at (304) 558-2699
| All Improvement |
Elementary School Improvement |
Middle School Improvement |
High School Improvement |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Math | RLA | Math | RLA | Math | RLA | Math | RLA | |
| Percent | 55.6561% | 77.0739% | 53.4704% | 58.0977% | 56.4103% | 91.6667% | 61.0169% | 86.4407% |
| Improved | 369 | 511 | 208 | 226 | 88 | 143 | 72 | 102 |
| Total # | 662 | 662 | 388 | 388 | 156 | 156 | 118 | 118 |
| AVG % prof Improvement | 0.7550 | 5.8119 | 0.5485 | 4.6329 | 0.2744 | 6.8537 | 2.0711 | 8.3212 |
| Improvement of Passing Schools | 2.1208 | 6.8311 | 1.5880 | 5.6793 | 3.3394 | 8.6041 | 4.2271 | 12.155 |
| Improvement of Schools not meeting AYP targets | -0.5047 | 4.9142 | -0.9236 | 3.1510 | -0.5797 | 6.3659 | 1.0471 | 6.5 |
| Statewide AYP | 2011 |
|---|---|
| Total Schools Accountable | 692 |
| Schools Meeting AYP | 329(48%) * |
| Students w/ Disabilities | 2011 |
|---|---|
| Total Schools Accountable | 99 |
| Schools Meeting AYP | 22(22%) |
| Low SES Students | 2011 |
|---|---|
| Total Schools Accountable | 506 |
| Schools Meeting AYP | 202(40%) |
| African American Students | 2011 |
|---|---|
| Total Schools Accountable | 34 |
| Schools Meeting AYP | 15(44%) |