SUSD testing produces a mixed bag of results
Jun. 20—The results of annual testing show Scottsdale students outperforming their state peers — with a significant "but."
Cindy Bochna, director of assessment and accountability, gave the Scottsdale Unified School District Governing Board a presentation June 6 on student performance, as judged by several tests.
Her summary was good news/bad news.
The good news: "SUSD continues to outperform the state averages on all assessments."
The not-so-good news: "There is work to be done, especially in math as student achievement levels are below the 50% proficient level in 8th grade."
Arizona's Academic Standards Assessment (AASA) is an English and math test given to grades three through eight.
Arizona's Science Assessment (AzSCI) tests fifth, eighth and 11th graders in science
The American College Testing (ACT) National Exam in English, science, math and reading is given to 11th graders.
The ACT Aspire Former National Exam tests ninth graders in English, science, math and reading.
English Language Arts
In the English Language Arts (ELA) section of the AASA test, Scottsdale Unified students ranged from 16% to 24% higher than state averages.
Among fourth graders, 69% tested at "proficient" level or higher.
The level of proficiency fell to 54% of SUSD eighth graders, which was still 18% higher than the national average.
Sixth graders increased by 6% over the last two years, going from 53% to 59% proficient. Fifth graders fell by 2%, dropping from 62% proficient students to 60%.
Other grade levels were flat, with 0-1% change in the AASA test this year, compared to two years ago.
Mathematics
In the math section of the AASA test, SUSD students scored 20-29% higher than state averages.
Third graders at SUSD led the way, with a 70% proficiency level.
But the proficiency level dropped for every grade thereafter.
By eighth grade, the SUSD proficiency level dropped to less than half: 47%. This was still 20% higher than the state eighth graders woeful 27% proficiency level in math.
And, while sixth and seventh graders at SUSD had 5-6% higher math scores than two years before, the eighth grade had a 3% drop in math proficiency.
High school tests
Though SUSD freshmen remained far above state averages, they lagged behind national averages.
For instance, 64% of SUSD ninth graders landed at "exceeding and ready" on the ACT Aspire English test — 17% higher than their state peers, but 5% lower than the national average.
In math, only 39% of SUSD freshmen were "exceeding and ready," 7% lower than the national average (but 16% higher than the state average).
SUSD juniors scored slightly higher than national averages in the ACT test.
ACT composite scores ranged from 16.2 at Coronado High School to 22.4 at Desert Mountain High.
