For the third straight year, students showed progress in math and reading on the ACT Aspire test, according to statewide results released in Montgomery today.
State Superintendent Michael Sentance told board members he is pleased with the progress, but said there is work to do.
Sentance said this year's results align with his expectations, and incremental increases are all that can be expected at this point. Large improvements can be made, Sentance said, when substantial changes are made in the way education is delivered to students.
The ACT Aspire is a standardized test given each spring to students in grades three through eight, and also in tenth grade to measure achievement in math and reading. It replaced the Alabama Reading and Mathematics Test in 2014.
Sentance today said he is concerned about the drop in proficiency between the sixth and seventh grades, particularly in math.
Tenth-graders took the ACT Aspire for the first time in 2016. In math, just 18 percent of tenth-graders were proficient. And 32 of Alabama tenth-graders percent were proficient in reading.
Only grades five, seven, and ten take the science portion of the exam.
Sentance said the percentage of students proficient on the ACT Aspire is similar to the percentage of students proficient on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a sign that the ACT Aspire is honestly portraying the percentage of students who are proficient, even though the two tests are not aligned.
Sentance high-lighted not only the highest scoring school districts, but also the top ten school districts whose students had made the largest gains from last year in both fourth and eighth grade math.
Mountain Brook City schools had the highest percentage of students proficient in fourth grade math, but Haleyville City schools had the highest growth in the percentage of students scoring at proficient.
He did the same for individual schools, showing for fourth grade math, the school with the highest achievement, Crestline Elementary School in Mountain Brook, and the highest growth, Ruhuma Junior High School in DeKalb County.
For eighth grade math, Mountain Brook City school district once again had the highest proficiency, and Winfield City saw the most improvement.
Mountain Brook Junior High School had the highest eighth grade math proficiency, while Calloway Smith Middle School in Mobile County made the most growth.
Sentance said it is important to show those high-growth schools and districts to show that scores can improve.
"A lot of times people think things are what they are," Sentance said, "and I want people to understand that change and growth is possible and it's very real, and it's measurable."
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Full results will be posted on the Alabama State Department of Education web site.
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