NECAP science scores short of proficient

ABOUT 25 PERCENT of Rhode Island students scored proficient on a regional standardized science test administered for the second time in May. /
ABOUT 25 PERCENT of Rhode Island students scored proficient on a regional standardized science test administered for the second time in May. /

PROVIDENCE – Three in four Rhode Island students failed to reach “proficiency” in a regional standardized science test taken in May, results that were only a slight improvement over last year, state education officials said Wednesday.

In the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) tests taken by students in grades 4, 8 and 11, about 25 percent of Rhode Island students were deemed proficient in science, an increase of 1.4 percentage points from May 2008, the first year of the test.

NECAP scores were strongest at the elementary school level, at which 40.3 percent of the fourth graders reached proficiency, an increase of nearly 4 percentage points from a year earlier.

That proficiency rate dropped to 18 percent among eighth graders and 19 percent among 11th graders.

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“These scores are nowhere near where they need to be,” said Deborah A. Gist, the state commissioner of elementary and secondary education who took over in July for the retired Peter McWalters. “And in particular, we must urgently address the inequities contributing to our alarming achievement gaps in science.”

Minority high school students groups performed far worse than the state averages. Officials said more than 95 percent of blacks, Latinos and American Indian high school students scored below proficiency.

“We must do more to improve performance for all of our students,” Gist said. “And in particular, we must urgently address the inequities contributing to our alarming achievement gaps in science.”

Rhode Island also fared poorly in comparison with New Hampshire and Vermont, where scores at all grades were higher in identical tests.

In particular, education officials said, the grade 4 proficiency rate was 53 percent in New Hampshire and 52 percent in Vermont.

After last year’s science test results, the R.I. Department of Education said it launched a program to help school districts better match lessons and teaching methods to the state science standards.

“Our curriculum-alignment work, which is underway this year in 17 districts, will help improve science instruction across Rhode Island,” Gist said. “I am confident that Rhode Island is ready. We have brilliant students and strong educators. We must continue to hold educators and students to high expectations, but we will also provide them the supports that they need to advance learning for all.”

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