THERE'S BEEN TALK ABOUT ROCKWOOD'S MIDDLE SCHOOLERS, EVER SINCE THE NEW GRADING POLICY STARTED THIS YEAR. WHAT'S GOING ON WITH THEM, ACADEMICALLY?
No zeros have been allowed this school year in Rockwood's six middle schools, and teachers have not been able to give grades lower than 50%, even for work that hasn't been turned in.
This grading change has been controversial. More on that at the bottom of this post.
After a year of this new practice, it will be interesting to see if there's any change in the way Rockwood's middle schoolers perform on the state's standardized MAP tests. MAP stands for Missouri Assessment Program.
6th grade: 61.8%
7th grade: 55.2%
8th grade: 29.3% (A little higher than 2021 and 2022.)
Note: The 8th grade data only includes scores of students who took the 8th grade level math test. It does not include 8th graders who took more advanced math, such as Algebra.
To use the tool and see the graphs for all of Rockwood's data, click here and scroll down. With the tool, you can select subject and grade level. The same data and graphs are available for 7 school districts around St. Louis County.
SCIENCE (MAP 2023) THAT SCORED PROFICIENT OR ADVANCED
Here's Science.
7th grade:
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After a year of this new practice, it will be interesting to see if there's any change in the way Rockwood's middle schoolers perform on the state's standardized MAP tests. MAP stands for Missouri Assessment Program.
THIS SPRING
Like they do every year, Rockwood's middle schoolers (and all students in 3rd through 12th grade) will take the state's standardized tests again this spring, that assess whether or not they've learned what the state says they should have learned during this school year.
When those results come out, we can compare them to last year (2023).
Here's how they did in 2023:
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS (ELA) MAP 2023
The state's data shows just 55.4% of Rockwood's students, that took the 6th grade ELA test, scored proficient or advanced. On the 7th grade test, 54.1% scored proficient or advanced. On the 8th grade test, 61.4% scored proficient or advanced.
6th grade: 55.4%
7th grade: 54.1%
8th grade: 61.4%
MATH (MAP 2023) THAT SCORED PROFICIENT OR ADVANCED
Like they do every year, Rockwood's middle schoolers (and all students in 3rd through 12th grade) will take the state's standardized tests again this spring, that assess whether or not they've learned what the state says they should have learned during this school year.
When those results come out, we can compare them to last year (2023).
Here's how they did in 2023:
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS (ELA) MAP 2023
The state's data shows just 55.4% of Rockwood's students, that took the 6th grade ELA test, scored proficient or advanced. On the 7th grade test, 54.1% scored proficient or advanced. On the 8th grade test, 61.4% scored proficient or advanced.
6th grade: 55.4%
7th grade: 54.1%
8th grade: 61.4%
MATH (MAP 2023) THAT SCORED PROFICIENT OR ADVANCED
Here's how they did in Math.
6th grade: 61.8%
7th grade: 55.2%
8th grade: 29.3% (A little higher than 2021 and 2022.)
Note: The 8th grade data only includes scores of students who took the 8th grade level math test. It does not include 8th graders who took more advanced math, such as Algebra.
Also note: In the last ten years, the percentage of students that scored proficient or advanced on the 8th grade level math test has never been above 47.7%.
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| Data source: DESE. Graph source: St. Louis County Family Association. |
Here's Science.
6th grade: N/A
7th grade: N/A
8th grade: 56.9%
Note: The state only administers science tests in 8th grade.
Note: The state only administers science tests in 8th grade.
BETTER THAN THE STATE AVERAGE
Rockwood points out the district's test data is better than the state's average.
DISCLAIMER
DISCLAIMER
Some in our community say you shouldn't compare the data as higher or lower than any other year because of changes in the tests over the years. DESE's data people say you CAN compare the data year to year, because it reflects how students performed each year, with the way the state tested them.
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THE REST OF THE ROCKWOOD GRAPHICS WITH THE STATE'S DATA
The points on the graphics below reflect the percentage of students that scored proficient or advance.
A PATTERN OF DROPS
Note the pattern of drops every year in English Language Arts, in all three grades, since 2017. There have been changes to the learning standards (what students are supposed to know) and changes to the tests over the years, including around the time of that peak.
SOCIAL JUSTICE INSTEAD OF ACADEMICS?
Middle school parents tell us they have noticed a decreased emphasis on vocabulary, spelling, and punctuation around this same time, as well as an increased emphasis on social justice topics, with books read for class, words such as micro-aggression, and discussions on the power people get from their race or gender.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS
6th grade:
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| The 55.4 reflects a drop every year since 2017, from a high of 79.6 in 2017. |
7th grade:
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| The 54.1 comes after a drop every year since a high of 77.6 in 2017. |
8th grade:
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| The 61.4 reflects a drop every year since 2017 when the high was 77. |
MATH
6th grade:
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| The 61.8 is an improvement over 2021 and 2022. It's also a drop of 10.8 points a high of 72.6 from 2014. |
7th grade:
In our previous reports, we exposed the lack of transparency surrounding the implementation of the 50% minimum grading practice, and the effect it could have on students' grades.
Students who would otherwise fail the class could pass, even if they don't do all the work, and students who otherwise are not struggling, but decide to skip doing some of their assignments, can end up with a letter grade higher than they would without the 50% minimum.
Here are our previous reports:
Parents and teachers are angry about this grading change.
School board members voted to approve it without knowing it.
Parents say they weren't told and how a C becomes a B.
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| The 55.2 is an improvement over 2021 and 2022, but a 19.6 drop from a high of 74.8 in 2014. |
8th grade:
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| As stated earlier, every year for the last ten years, less than half the students scored proficient or advanced on the 8th grade level math test. |
SCIENCE
8th grade:
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BACK STORY OF THE 50% MINIMUM GRADES
In our previous reports, we exposed the lack of transparency surrounding the implementation of the 50% minimum grading practice, and the effect it could have on students' grades.
Students who would otherwise fail the class could pass, even if they don't do all the work, and students who otherwise are not struggling, but decide to skip doing some of their assignments, can end up with a letter grade higher than they would without the 50% minimum.
Here are our previous reports:
Parents and teachers are angry about this grading change.
School board members voted to approve it without knowing it.
Parents say they weren't told and how a C becomes a B.
CANDIDATES VIEWS?
School Board candidates' views on the 50% minimum grade are discussed here.