by Dennis Dalman
news@thenewsleaders.com
The students in the Sartell-St. Stephen School District fared far better than others in the greater St. Cloud area on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment test scores, with most Sartell-St. Stephen students meeting or exceeding state standards.
Statewide, about 52 percent of students who took the MCA met or exceeded state standards, which is an increase of 11 percent from last year.
Sartell-St. Stephen students were significantly above other schools in the state. Other than Sauk Rapids-Rice, whose students’ scores were somewhat above state standards, almost all schools in the greater St. Cloud area were well below state standards. The students in many schools, in fact, performed so poorly on the tests that as many as 50 to 70 percent of students in some grades at some schools failed to meet state standards in one or more of three tested areas: reading, math and science.
Area administrators have expressed deep concern about the test results, which were released earlier this week by the Minnesota Department of Education, which administers the tests. School officials said the test results will cause all schools to re-evaluate how best to improve the scores. This year, the St. Cloud School District School Board agreed to spend several million dollars to help teachers and students achieve up to state standards.
The MCA tests are administered to students in grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11. Not every one of those grade levels takes all three tests. For example, grade 10 took only the reading test this year while grade 11 took only the math test. The testing is supposed to gauge how well students are doing in meeting standards for high-school graduation.
There are four results for the MCA tests: not meeting state standards, partially meeting state standards, meeting state standards and exceeding state standards. In Sartell, the percentages of students meeting state standards ranged from 40 percent to as high as nearly 60 percent. In addition, the percentage of students exceeding state standards in many cases are much higher than students in other schools in the central Minnesota area. For example, in 8th-grade math, 49 percent of Sartell-St. Stephen students exceeded the state standards. Most Sartell-St. Stephen grades, in fact, had percentages of at least 20 percent of the students exceeding state standards.
The following are the test results for each school and each grade. The numbers listed represent percentages of students who took the tests.
Oak Ridge Elementary
Grade 3, Math: not meeting standards: 8.3; partially meeting standards: 27.2; meeting standards: 27.2; exceeding standards: 27.2.
Grade 3, Reading: not meeting standards: 18.2; partially meeting standards: 21.2; meeting standards: 42.4; exceeding standards: 18.2.
Grade 4, Math: not meeting standards: 9.7; partially meeting standards: 11; meeting standards: 44.8; exceeding standards: 34.5.
Pine Meadow Elementary
Grade 3, Math: not meeting standards: 5; partially meeting standards: 9.1; meeting standards: 54.5; exceeding standards: 31.4.
Grade 3, Reading: not meeting standards: 12.6; partially meeting standards: 15.1; meeting standards: 59.7; exceeding standards: 12.6.
Grade 4, Reading: not meeting standards: 9.2; partially meeting standards: 22.1; meeting standards: 46.6; exceeding standards: 22.1.
Sartell Middle School
Grade 5, Math: not meeting standards: 3.8; partially meeting standards: 19.2; meeting standards: 50; exceeding standards: 26.9.
Grade 5, Science: not meeting standards: 11.1; partially meeting standards: 17.2; meeting standards: 54.8; exceeding standards: 16.9.
Grade 5, Reading: not meeting standards: 9.3; partially meeting standards: 16.6; meeting standards: 55.6; exceeding standards: 19.5.
Grade 6, Math: not meeting standards: 6; partially meeting standards: 12.3; meeting standards: 45.7; exceeding standards: 36.
Grade 6, Reading: not meeting standards: 11.8; partially meeting standards: 16.2; meeting standards: 45.6; exceeding standards: 26.4.
Grade 7, Math: not meeting standards: 1.8; partially meeting standards: 16.4; meeting standards: 41.2; exceeding standards: 40.5.
Grade 7, Reading: not meeting standards: 11.7; partially meeting standards: 17.4; meeting standards: 46.2; exceeding standards: 24.6.
Grade 8, Math: not meeting standards: 4.1; partially meeting standards: 13.6; meeting standards: 33.2; exceeding standards: 49.2.
Grade 8, Science: not meeting standards: 12.8; partially meeting standards: 26.4; meeting standards: 49; exceeding standards: 11.8.
Grade 8, Reading: not meeting standards: 14.5; partially meeting standards: 19.3; meeting standards: 43.8; exceeding standards: 22.4.
Sartell High School
Grade 10, Reading: not meeting standards: 6; partially meeting standards: 22.5; meeting standards: 44.6; exceeding standards: 27.
Grade 11, Math: not meeting standards: 14.2; partially meeting standards: 13.8; meeting standards: 35.6; exceeding standards: 36.4.
Grades 10, 11, Science: not meeting standards: 7.7; partially meeting standards: 20.7; meeting standards: 49; exceeding standards: 22.6.