Report card from the state - High school math scores down statewide, locally

Report cards are in for the Perham-Dent schools.

Grades are good, based on the release of the statewide comprehensive test scores. But like the rest of the state, math scores were, in general, dismal when examining the upper grades, from middle school to high school.

Statewide, 58 percent of Minnesota students scored at least proficient in math. That's down from 76 percent a year ago. But at the high school level, only 32 percent of students statewide scored proficient at math.

The Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment test results were released last week.

In Perham-Dent, 37 percent of the 11th grade students tested were not proficient.

For Perham 8th graders, math scores showed that 10 percent were not proficient, better than the statewide 20 percent.

Based on the overall score, the percentage of students meeting basic proficiency, 70 percent of middle school students met the standards. In the Perham High School, only 32 percent met the standards.

The Heart of the Lakes and Dent elementary schools topped the school system.

At HOTL, 81 percent scored proficient at math. Meanwhile, Dent had the highest level of math proficiency, at 83 percent.

"It looks like at the elementary level, we really key in on math, but it goes by the wayside as we move up to the high school," said School Board member Dave Schornack, at the Nov. 15 school board meeting.

"We haven't focused on math to the same level we have reading, but we're going to have to in order to compete with the Japanese and the Chinese," said high school principal John Rutten.

In the reading tests, Perham performed well across all grades. Dent was lower than Heart of the Lakes in percentage of proficient readers, 73 percent compared to 88 at HOTL.

In the middle school, 79 percent were proficient.

Scores across the entire state went down this year, most noticeably in math. So, Perham is by no means deteriorating.

State education department officials anticipated a drop in statewide performance, because of the tougher material.

"These were different tests than last year," said Superintendent Tamara Uselman. "The difficulty level was pushed up, it was significantly different."

"Much more rigorous" was how middle school principal Kitty Krueger described the tests.

"Each year, we are shooting at a moving target," said Krueger.

Still, administrators conceded that there needs to be "some serious discussions" about curriculum, particularly with math.

"We need to figure out a way to get disinterested kids engaged in math," said Uselman.

Already, teachers are talking about how to push up the proficiency scores.

"Our teachers are dedicated...they will do what they have to do," said Krueger.

Reading tests were also more rigorous than last year, but the impact on the scores was not as dramatic. Statewide, 72 percent of students were proficient in reading--compared to 79 percent last year.

The new tests, called the MCA -IIs, include more grade levels than ever and were taken by more students than ever before--more than 400,000. They were designed to measure learning requirements that are harder than before.

The difficulty of the tests and the lower scores caused the number of Minnesota schools branded as underperforming to jump to 483, from 247. None of the schools in this area were "underperforming," by the state's standards.

These MCA tests try to gauge if schools are meeting their performance goals--or improving year to year. The tests were created at the state level, to tie in with the federal "No Child Left Behind Law."