School test results: Marion sees slight improvement overall, but more work needed

Marion County students overall showed a slight improvement on Florida Standards Assessments in English language arts and mathematics, according to data released Tuesday by the state Department of Education.

The news comes just one year after there was a 7 percentage point decline on average in 14 Florida school testing categories, including grades 3-10 in language arts and grades 3-6 in mathematics.

Marion County gained 0.71 percentage point on average per testing category, while the state gained 2 percentage points on average on the same 14 categories. Both the state and Marion lost more than 7 percentage points on average per category in 2021.

2021: In FSA results, Marion's COVID-19 slide not as bad as the state average

2021: Marion County district requests grades for 11 of 47 schools

2019: Marion test scores soar 

Marion lost 0.50 percentage points in each of eight testing categories in language arts and gained 2.33 percentage points on average in each of six testing categories in math. The state gained 0.13 percentage points in language arts and 4.5 points in math.

"I still think we're feeling the effects of the pandemic," said Kevin Christian, the school district's public relations director.

Christian said despite that, the district did make gains in many areas. Data experts say comparing grade levels year to year are not true apples to apples comparison. For example, this year's fourth-graders were in third grade last year.

FSA results were release on Tuesday by the state Department of Education

The news came Tuesday afternoon when the state Department of Education released a large volume of testing data by district, school and subject. This story is about how Marion scores compared to the state.

For school test results by grade and subject, visit https://www.fldoe.org/accountability/assessments/k-12-student-assessment/results/2022.stml.

Here are Marion's highlights:

• Language Arts: Marion County students in grades 3-10 remained at a 44% proficiency level, same as 2021. Their peers statewide remained at 52% proficiency.

• Math: Marion students in grades 3-8 gained 2.33 percentage points per grade level, compared to a 4.5 percentage point gain statewide.

The highlight was Marion's fourth graders, who showed improvement in both language arts and math. The fourth grade proficiency rate jumped by 8 percentage points in language arts and by 10 percentage points in math.

In math, Marion fourth graders had a proficiency rating of 58%, up from 48% in 2021. Fourth graders statewide had a proficiency rate of 61%, up from 53% in 2021.

In language arts, Marion fourth graders had a proficiency rating of 50%, up from 42% in 2021. Fourth graders statewide had a proficiency rate of 57%, up from 52% in 2021. Marion fourth graders trailed the state in language arts by 10 percentage points in 2021 and now trail by 7 points.

School Board Chair Eric Cummings: Results promising, but more work needed

School board Chairman Eric Cummings said he is pleased the district stopped the decline. He said both Marion and the state showed a decline of 7 percentage points on average per testing category.

"We're trending the same way the state is trending and that's good news," Cummings said. He said lots of work still needs to be done to start moving the district.

He noted that the district is expecting to show more measured growth in 2023 through the leadership of Diane Gullett, Marion's school superintendent.

"She knows the pieces of the puzzle," Cummings said. "She just has to put them in the right place. And as we start putting these pieces in the right places, we have to expect that there's going to be some progress."

Marion's third-grade language arts proficiency percentage dropped 2 percentage points, while third-grade math improved by 4 points. Marion County third graders notched a 42% proficiency this year, compared with the state's 53%.

Greenway Elementary School led all elementary schools in third-grade improvement in 2022. Greenway had a 17 percentage point gain in language arts and a 34 point gain in math. Greenway is now 52% proficient in language arts and 57% in math.

Greenway Principal LeAnn McEarchern said she attributes the monumental boost in scores to "collaboration and teamwork among teachers and students." McEarchern spent many weeks leading up to testing in the classroom teaching.

"That's what it takes," she said. "You have to get down there in the trenches."

Joe Callahan can be reached at 817-1750 or at joe.callahan@starbanner.com. Follow him on twitter @JoeOcalaNews

Proficiency ratings

On Tuesday, the state Department of Education released test results of the Florida Standards Assessment in language arts, math, science and End of Course exams. The percentages listed below are those Marion County students who tested proficient, or at least 3 on a 5-point scale.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Grade: 2021;2022;Difference

Third: 44;42;-1

Fourth: 42;50;+8

Fifth: 47;43;-4

Sixth: 43;42;-1

Seventh: 37;39;+2

Eighth: 44;38;-6

Ninth: 44;46;+2

Tenth: 45;42;-3

MATH

Grade: 2021;2022;Difference

Third: 45;49;+4

Fourth: 48;58;+10

Fifth: 49;46;+3

Sixth: 38;40;+2

Seventh: 37;40;+3

Eighth: 28;26;-2

END-OF-COURSE

Subject: 2021;2022;Difference

Algebra: 42;44;+2

Geometry: 40;41;+1

This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Florida FSAs: Marion schools see slight improvement overall