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More Fifth-Graders Pass TAKS Math on Second Try

Posted on: Wednesday, 7 June 2006, 15:00 CDT

By Jacqueline Lane, The Beaumont Enterprise, Texas

Jun. 7--BEAUMONT -- More Southeast Texas fifth-graders have removed a hurdle to advancing to the next grade by passing the math portion of the state's high-stakes Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test.

Students who failed the first test in April, which about 1,100 others passed, were given another shot May 16.

About 150 Beaumont students passed that test, according to district figures.

Cumulative passing figures taking both tests into account had not been compiled by BISD.

A third and final test is scheduled for June 27, according to the Texas Education Agency.

Fifth-graders must pass the math and reading portions of the TAKS test to be promoted to sixth grade.

"You're always happy to have improvement," Superintendent Carrol Thomas said of the results.

Thomas said Beaumont fifth-graders who failed the first test received intensive help and extra tutoring to prepare for the second one.

But almost 200 will be retesting a third time.

"A lot of them are in summer school right now," he said. Teachers will work with and tutor the students to prepare them for the third test.

And districtwide, he said, there is improvement needed in both math and science, and those areas "concern me greatly."

Statewide, 90 percent of Texas fifth-grade students had passed the math test by the end of the school year, according to the TEA.

Those results are cumulative passing rates based on the first two testing sessions.

Eighty-one percent in Texas passed after the first test.

Students found questions involving geometry and spatial reasoning to be the easiest and had a harder time with questions that dealt with patterns, relationships and algebraic reasoning and mathematical processes and tools, according to a TEA news release.

In reading, the statewide cumulative passing rate for fifth-graders is 88 percent. Those who have yet to pass are eligible for June 28 testing, the release said.

Parents of students who fail one or both of the TAKS math and reading exams can appeal the student's retention, according to the TEA.

By law, any student failing a test is to receive extra instructional help.

In Lumberton, 89 percent of fifth-graders had passed after the May retest, 2 percent less than the figure from a year ago.

In Kountze ISD, 93 percent passed either the first or second test.

At Silsbee ISD, 59 percent passed the retest, bringing the district's cumulative total to 90 percent. Before the retest it was 77 percent, officials said.

In Nederland, 48 percent met standards in the second test. That brings the total of fifth-graders who now have passed the test to 91 percent (344 of 358 enrolled in the fifth grade).

At Hamshire-Fannett, 44 percent met standard on the second effort, officials said, with the cumulative total at 88 percent.

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To see more of The Beaumont Enterprise, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.southeasttexaslive.com.

Copyright (c) 2006, The Beaumont Enterprise, Texas

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Beaumont Enterprise

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