2004 WyCas results released

WYCAS Resulte

by Cat Urbigkit

The Wyoming Department of Education released the Wyoming Comprehensive Assessment System results last week. The goal of Wyoming's educational program is to have all students testing as proficient.

WyCAS was designed so that individual schools and districts could evaluate their performance against a set of content and performance standards. As schools align their instructional programs to these standards, test results should reflect student progress toward these standards.

It should be noted that a small school population can account for a large fluctuation in both increased and decreased achievements. The Wyoming Department of Education does not encourage or promote comparisons of schools or districts based on WyCAS scores.

Each school district has had its own philosophy about WyCas and the importance of the test, with both districts in the county now making WyCas more of a priority than it was in the past.

Terra Nova Results

The 2004 results show that Sublette County School District No. 1's students continue to test at levels higher than the state average while Sublette County School District No. 9's students continue to test lower than the state average. That is, more of No. 1's students have achieved the advanced or proficient levels in the three subject areas on the test than the state average, while fewer No. 9 students have achieved these levels than the state average.

Here's a comparison, starting at the fourth-grade level.

For the 2004 WyCas test, 47 percent of fourth-graders in Wyoming tested as advanced or proficient in reading. Twenty-five percent of Sublette County School District No. 9's tested at this level, while SCSD. No. 1 had 59 percent of its fourth-graders test at this level.

For fourth-grade writing, 40 percent of the state's students tested as advanced or proficient compared to 28 percent of No. 9 students and 61 percent of No. 1's students.

In fourth-grade math, 39 percent of the state's students tested at the two highest levels, compared to 12 percent of No. 9's students and 47 percent of No. 1's students.

Looking at eighth-grade reading, 41 percent of the state's students tested as advanced or proficient, with 31 percent of No. 9's students at this level and 54 percent of No. 1's students at this level.

In eighth-grade writing, 57 percent of the state's students tested at the highest levels, with 51 percent of No. 9's students achieving this level and 72 percent of No.1's students testing at this level.

In eighth-grade math, 44 percent of the state's students tested as advanced or proficient, while 26 percent of No. 9's students tested at this level and 56 percent of No. 1's students achieved this level.

Moving to eleventh-grade reading, 50 percent of the state's students tested as proficient or above, as did 48 percent of No. 9's students and 73 percent of No. 1's students.

In eleventh-grade writing 59 percent of the state's students achieved this level, as did 46 percent of No. 9's students and 79 percent of No. 1's students.

For eleventh-grade math, 44 percent of Wyoming's students achieved advanced or proficient on the test, while 43 percent of No. 9's and 63 percent of No. 1's students tested at these levels.

The 2004 test provides an opportunity for what's called a longitudinal comparison with the 2001 results. The eleventh-graders who took the test this year are the same students that took the test as eighth-graders in 2001. For district No. 9, the comparison shows an increase in the percentage of students receiving the advanced and proficient levels in both reading and math, while the same percentage was achieved in writing.

District No. 1 had increases in the number of students achieving these levels in all three subject areas as the students moved from eight grade up through eleventh grade.

WyCas scores are used as one consideration for determining adequate yearly progress as required under the federal No Child Left Behind law. There are other indicators that are considered in making decisions about whether a school or school district is making adequate yearly progress.

The schools that have achieve adequate yearly progress and those that have opportunities for improvement will be released to the public in early August.