Education Report Shows Rise in Student Test Scores
by January 3, 2014 10:38 am 75 views
The University of Arkansas and the Northwest Arkansas Council released Jan. 2 the 2013 Northwest Arkansas Report Card, and it shows area public school students have improved in the last five years.
The report, which looks at student performance in 17 Northwest Arkansas school districts, shows a 12 percent jump in the average literacy scores for area public school students on Arkansas Benchmark tests during the last five years, with the 2012-13 average at 81.3 percent. Also according to the report, math scores were up 4 percent.
“With all of the changes happening in the education world right now – new standards, new tests, more competition – we should all be continually impressed by the progress of Northwest Arkansas schools, as they maintain their excellent standing in the state and across the nation,” said Michael Crouch, school performance evaluator for the UA Office for Education Policy.
The report card includes graphs that show average scores for individual districts on a number of exams, including high school end-of-course exams. The report also contains various aspects of student, teacher and community demographics, as well as school district expenditures, free/reduced lunch rates and high school graduation rates for each school district.
Understanding and promoting the region’s educational system is essential in attracting working professionals to the area, said Kim Davis, education and workforce director at the Northwest Arkansas Council.
The full report card and other education-related reports are available here.