Sweetwater County School District No. 2 revealed its 2016 PAWS scores last night and while there were many improvements, district officials admit more work is needed in areas.
The district’s third graders continue to chase the state testing average in reading, but have improved over the 2015 numbers. Meanwhile, fourth graders excelled past the state average and have shown drastic improvements over the 2015 averages. Students in fifth, sixth and seventh grades also made improvements, but continue chasing the state testing averages while students in the 8th grade declined in their testing averages, dipping below both the state average and district averages from 2015.
In math, students from grades three through six scored above 2015 district averages and the state average, while students in seventh grade were slightly behind the state average, but above the 2015 district numbers. Eighth grade students again dipped from last year, performing lower than the 2015 students and the state average. In science, the state only tests two grades for proficiency, fourth and eighth grades. Fourth grade students fared better than the state and 2015 district averages while eighth graders performed below both categories on the PAWS test.
According to Donna Little-Kaumo, the district superintendent, more discussion about standards is expected to occur after the Presidential election in November.
However, she said more emphasis is being placed on how much a child grows during a school year, as opposed to ranking schools and meeting bench marks.
“The main thing is, are we getting better? In most cases, yes we are,” Little-Kaumo said.
While the elementary schools have mostly recorded successes in the recent PAWS testing, work continues to be done in the eighth grade.
“We’re not where we want to be, but growth is there,” Lincoln Middle School Principal Matthew Mikkelsen, said.
“We’ll get there this next year.”
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