ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, July 26, 1996 TAG: 9607260043
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
Sixth-graders in more than half of the school systems in the Roanoke and New River valleys scored higher on the state's Literacy Passport test this year as the state's pass rate rebounded from a decline a year ago.
Giles and Botetourt counties recorded the biggest gains in the percentage of children passing all three parts of the test.
Giles' pass rate jumped by 25.8 percentage points to 74.5 percent, and Botetourt's rose by 7.3 percentage points to 73 percent.
Five other localities showed smaller gains: Bedford County, Craig County, Pulaski County, Radford and Salem.
The pass rate remained the same as last year or decreased slightly in the other school systems in the region.
Again this year, Radford and Salem recorded the highest percentage of sixth-graders passing all three parts with 86 percent and 79.2 percent, respectively. The test consists of exams in reading, writing and mathematics.
Students must pass all parts to be classified as ninth-graders or above and to receive a high school diploma. They are allowed to keep taking the test each year until they pass all sections.
The purpose of the test is to determine whether students have achieved competence in reading, writing and mathematics.
Statewide, the pass rate increased by 3.9 percentage points this year to 69.5 percent. A year ago, the rate dropped from 70.4 percent to 65.6 percent. A change in the test procedure was partly blamed for the decline.
The state Department of Education released the literacy test results Thursday at the state Board of Education's meeting. The scores of Virginia children in the fourth, eighth and 11th grades on national standardized tests also were made public.
Again, Patrick County had one of the highest pass rates in the state on the Literacy Passport test, proving that its top ranking last year was no fluke. Ninety-one percent of the sixth-graders in Patrick passed all three parts of the test this year, a drop of only three-tenths of a point.
But Patrick lost its top ranking to sparsely populated Highland County, which had a pass rate of 97 percent this year. Highland, which ranked fourth a year ago, has fewer than 40 sixth-graders.
On standardized tests, Virginia students showed no improvement. The percentile ranks remained the same for students statewide in the fourth and 11th grades, but dropped 1 or 2 percentage points on most subjects in the eighth grade.
"You always want to see improvement, not just the status quo," board member Lee Ware said.
But board members said they are looking forward to next year, when a new testing program will measure students' achievement against tougher academic standards recently approved by the board.
"The new test will be very different," said Michelle Easton, board president.
Although there was little change in the standardized test scores, Virginia students continue to outperform most of their peers across the country.
For example, fourth-graders scored at the 61st percentile overall. That means they did better, on average, than 61 of 100 students nationally. Their scores in individual subjects ranged from the 54th percentile in vocabulary to the 71st percentile in science.
Eighth-graders' composite score slipped from the 59th percentile to the 58th. The composite score for 11th-graders also slipped from the 59th percentile to the 58th. But 11th-graders continue to do well in science, ranking at the 66th percentile, and scoring the lowest in math and reading, the 56th percentile.
Generally, students in Virginia ranked higher in science and written expression than mathematics and reading.
On the Literacy Passport test, the statewide pass rate was the highest on the math exam, 85.2 percent, followed by reading, 83.3 percent, and writing, 79.5 percent.
A year ago, Giles County ranked at the bottom in the Roanoke and New River valleys in the Literacy Passport test results with only 48.7 percent of its sixth-graders passing all three parts. Giles was 17 percentage points below the state average.
During the past year, Giles school officials said they have worked with teachers, parents and pupils to raise the scores - and the effort has paid off. This year, Giles ranks fourth among 12 school divisions in the region with its pass rate of 74.5 percent - 5 percentage points above the state average.
Botetourt County's pass rate for the mathematics section of the test jumped by almost 10 percentage points and pushed its pass rate for three parts to 73 percent.
Bedford County's pass rate for all three parts increased by 4.3 percentage points to 75.9 percent this year, ranking it third in the region behind Radford and Salem.
Roanoke County's rate this year was 74 percent, the same as last year. It ranks fifth in the region, followed by Botetourt.
The pass rates in six localities in the region were below the state average: Craig, Floyd, Franklin, Montgomery and Pulaski counties and the city of Roanoke.
The standardized testing of students in the fourth, eighth and 11th grade compares the academic achievement of Virginia children with those in the same grades across the nation.
Fourth- and eighth-graders take the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills and 11th-graders take the Tests of Achievement and Proficiency. The tests cover seven subjects in the fourth and eighth grades and six subjects in the 11th grade.
In most school systems in the Roanoke and New River valleys, students scored above the state average on the standardized tests. Students in Radford, Salem and Roanoke County scored some of the highest rankings in the region, reaching the upper 70s in percentile rank in some subjects. Fourth-graders in Roanoke County ranked in the 80th percentile in science.
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