LOWER TEST SCORES IN 8TH GRADE MATH, AFTER COVID, ARE GETTING NATIONAL ATTENTION. BUT, DATA SHOWS WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN PAYING ATTENTION MUCH SOONER IN ROCKWOOD, AND IN OTHER SCHOOL DISTRICTS AROUND ST. LOUIS COUNTY.
This image shows, in Rockwood: even before Covid, in 2019, only a third (33%) of the students in 8th grade math were proficient.
That percentage dropped to just 18.8% in 2021, after virtual learning due to Covid. Down 14 points.
Drops like this, from the scores before virtual learning due to Covid, to the scores after Covid, have happened nationwide. The drops are making news headlines.
ALREADY IN DECLINE
In St. Louis County, the spotlight is on declines that were going on BEFORE Covid. That spotlight comes from the St. Louis County Family Association. The SLCFA is a new organization that, according to its website, exists to inform voters about what is going on in schools around St. Louis County.
The above line chart is from the SLCFA site. Organization members developed such charts for 6 school districts in St. Louis County, after getting 10 years worth of data from Missouri's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).
The data shows the percentage of students that are proficient or not, according to their scores on MAP tests in core subjects administered every spring in Kirkwood, Lindbergh, Mehlville, Parkway, Rockwood and, Webster Groves school districts. (MAP stands for Missouri's Assessment Program.) Those districts are included because their community members are part of the SLCFA.
Charts from all these districts are below.
First, the trend shown in that Rockwood chart above.
TRENDING DOWN 47 POINTS
Pre-Covid, in 2019, when just 33% of Rockwood's students in 8th grade math were proficient or above, the data shows the percentage was already down from 33.7% the year before, which was down from 39.2% the year before that, down from 47.7% in 2014, down from 65.2% in 2012, and, down from 66.1% in 2011.
Although there were occasional increases from one year to the next, overall, the percentage of Rockwood's students that are proficient or above in 8th grade math has dropped 47.3 points between 2011 and 2021. That's from a high of 66.1%, whose scores showed they were proficient or above, down to just 18.8% that scored that way a decade later, in 2021.
WHY 8TH GRADE MATH
8th grade math is the focus of this post because of what both state and national data show, and, because researchers say 8th grade math is particularly important.
A "DEADLINE"
Research has shown 8th grade math is a kind of "deadline" that "most accurately predicts a child’s success in college and beyond." There's more about that in this article from Forbes magazine.
NOT JUST MAP SCORES
Both state MAP scores, and national data recently released from the NAEP, National Assessment of Educational Progress, show declines in 8th grade math.
News reports on the NAEP data have stated that COVID essentially erased two decades worth of learning and that while both reading and math were down across the country, math was worst, and particularly bad among the nation's 8th graders, after Covid. Experts are concerned.
NOT JUST COVID
Scores after Covid may be giving everyone a wake up call, but, as the data shows, the decline started sooner.
THE CHARTS FOR DISTRICTS ACROSS ST. LOUIS COUNTY
We have all the 8th grade math charts from the above districts in this post. You can see the charts for other grades, and other subjects, on the SLCFA site.
Every chart shows a downward trend over the last decade:
Mehlville had the biggest decline (-50), followed by Rockwood (-47.3), then Lindbergh (-47.2), Parkway (-46.1), Kirkwood (-23.7), and, finally, Webster Groves (-14.2).
KIRKWOOD
The percentage of Kirkwood's students in 8th grade math that are proficient or above has dropped every year since 2017 and is down a total of 23.7 points over the last decade, from a high of 73.9% to 50.2% that are proficient or above.
LINDBERGH
The percentage of Lindbergh's students that are proficient or above in 8th grade math has dropped every year since 2018 and is down a total of 47.2 points over the last decade, from a high of 82.5% down to 35.3% that are proficient or above.
MEHLVILLE
The percentage of Mehlville's students that are proficient or above in 8th grade math has dropped every year since 2019, and is down 50 points over the last decade, from a high of 60% down to just 10%. Only 10% of the district's students are proficient or above in 8th grade math.
The percentage of students that are proficient or above in 8th grade math rebounded from a low in 2017 and has remained up from that low every year since, even after Covid.
Still, it also has fewer students that are proficient or above in 8th grade math now, than it did in 2011 and 2012. The district is down 14 points, from a high of 69.7% that were proficient or above, down to 55.5% in 2021.
TO CHECK OTHER GRADES AND OTHER SUBJECTS
On the St. Louis County Family Association site, https://www.stl-family.org, select one of the 6 districts in the dropdown menu, then click academic performance. Select the content area (ELA, math, science) and select the grade.
If you'd like the St. Louis County Family Association to include the school district where you live, contact the SLCFA at info@stl-family.org. Organizers say its members are advocates that are committed to restoring education in schools.
DISCLAIMER
DESE has disclaimers with its data that say some years should not be compared to years prior, due to changes in testing methods and other factors.
We spoke with the people who handle the data in DESE's data department. They said regardless of any changes, the data still shows how students performed, during that year, with the way the state tested them.
MORE ROCKWOOD INFO
See our previous post to see MAP scores for every Rockwood school, as well as the whole district, and the scores by race.