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OKLAHOMA CITY (Sept. 1, 2015) — Statewide results
from Oklahoma Core Curriculum Tests (OCCTs) and End of Instruction (EOI) exams during
the 2014-2015 school year indicate modest improvement over 2013-14 figures.
Passing rates increased or remained flat in 17 of 25 assessments.
Students
who score at the “proficient” or “advanced” level on each test are considered
passing.
“While these
assessments offer only one vantage point to academic progress in Oklahoma
classrooms, the scores play an important role highlighting where we are
succeeding and where we are facing challenges,” said state Superintendent of
Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister.
Reading
scores appeared to show positive effects of the Reading Sufficiency Act, or RSA.
The number of fourth-grade students scoring at least proficient increased from
65 to 70 percent in the 2014-15 school year. The passing rate for third grade
remained unchanged at 69 percent.
For the
first time in 2014, third-grade students who did not score at least “limited
knowledge” on the state reading test and who did not qualify for an exemption
from the RSA’s retention policy were referred to reading teams at their schools.
These teams decided whether each individual child should advance to the fourth
grade or be retained in third grade for remediation.
“Better
performance on the fourth-grade reading test and a steady passing rate in the
third grade in the first year of RSA-related retentions suggests that the reading
teams are working and we are reaching schoolchildren who need help the most,”
said Hofmeister said. “Literacy is essential to success in life and in
academics. These results are promising, and we must continue to build on them.”
OCCT
math scores increased in every grade level except for eighth grade, where they
remained flat, and third grade, where the passing rate dropped from 67 percent
in 2014 to 62 percent this year.
For the
past two years, Oklahoma no longer double-tests eighth-graders taking advanced
math, meaning that some 10,500 of our highest-performing and most advanced
students do not take the eighth-grade math OCCT — and therefore are not
included in these OCCT results.
Fourth
grade demonstrated the largest improvement of statewide math tests, jumping
from 65 percent passing in 2014 to 72 percent this year.
“While
the increased focus on literacy in the lower elementary grades has been
heartening, that must also be paired with equally excellent lessons in math.
Overall, Oklahoma has made strides in math education, and I know we can
continue making progress,” Hofmeister said.
Statewide
scores on social studies OCCTs in grades eight and five decreased from 2014 to
2015. These assessments are in the second year of a three-year transition to
more rigorous standards.
Except
for a 1-point improvement on the Algebra I test and flat scores for English II
and English III, scores dropped on every EOI, including Algebra II, Biology,
Geometry and U.S. History.
The EOI
scores do not tell the entire story, however. This year, many high-performing
students were exempt from taking specific EOI exams — such as Algebra II,
Geometry and English III — because they have scored in a certain range on an
alternate assessment such as the ACT or PSAT.
Scores
improved from 2014 for both fifth- and eighth-grade science, although the
percentage of students scoring at least proficient remained low at 53 and 52
percent, respectively.
“Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) skills are increasingly critical
in the 21st century economy. We absolutely must make sure all
students have access to the resources and great teachers needed for a first-rate
STEM education,” Hofmeister said.
Federal
and state laws mandate standardized reading and math assessments in grades 3-8,
science tests in grades 5 and 8, and tests for Algebra I, Biology I and English
II. State law alone mandates tests for social studies in grades 5 and 8,
geography in grade 7, writing in grades 5 and 8, and EOIs for Algebra II,
English III, Geometry and U.S. History.
Complete,
statewide results for all 2015 OCCTs and EOIs are available here on the OSDE’s
website.
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