Powell schools continue to show improvement in nearly every area according to results of last year’s statewide testing.

More than 80 percent of Powell students tested as proficient or advanced on most sections of the Proficiency Assessment for Wyoming Students, which was administered statewide in April to students in grades three through eight and to high school juniors.

Powell students exceeded the statewide average in all but two areas.

More important, district results showed improvement in student performance since the PAWS was administered in 2009. They were also improved over the 2010 results, but due to problems experienced by some schools in the state in administering last year’s tests, the district is not allowed to use that test to demonstrate improvement.

Demonstrating improvement is important for the school to meet state and federal standards for adequate yearly progress under state law and the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

In several areas, more than 90 percent of Powell students tested as proficient or advanced. Approximately 95 percent of third graders achieved that level in math, and nearly 92 percent were proficient or advanced in writing. More than 90 percent of fourth graders were proficient or better in math as were fifth graders in writing. Among eighth graders, more than 93 percent were proficient or better in writing.

The lowest performances by Powell students were in fourth grade writing, where only 73 percent were proficient or better, and eighth-grade math, where just under 69 percent were proficient or better.

However, even in those areas where lower percentages of students were proficient or better, the number of students who have not achieved even basic understanding in the three core areas was low. Fewer than 1 percent of the third and fourth graders in Powell schools are below basic achievement in reading, writing and math. There were no sixth-graders or eighth-graders below basic in writing, and fewer than 1 percent of sixth-graders were below basic in reading. Fewer than 1 percent of seventh graders were below basic in reading or writing, as well.

Areas with more than 4 percent below basic included eighth-grade math and 11th-grade reading.

One area of particular concern is language arts achievement among eighth graders. While the class as a whole has made adequate progress, No Child Behind requires each group within the class to make progress, and Powell Middle School has been required to adopt a school improvement plan because one sub-group, special education students, did not meet standards.

Kost said achievement by the group has improved since the plan was instituted, but due to the inability of the district to use the 2010 scores, Powell Middle School will move into the second stage of the school improvement plan.

“Because of last year not counting, the federal government didn’t allow us to use ‘safe harbor,’” Kost said.

Kost explained that “safe harbor” means a school that shows improvement can avoid progressing to the next stage of school improvement even if it doesn’t fully meet the standards.

“We grew, but not enough,” Kost said. “If we could use last year’s results, we’d be OK.”

Kost said the situation is “not a big deal,” and the school should meet the standards next spring.

PAWS also includes a science test that is administered only in the fourth, eighth and 11th grades, and fewer than 60 percent of Powell students tested as proficient or better on the test. However, statewide achievement is also low on the test, which does not affect the school’s adequate yearly progress.

“Science-wise, we need to work on it, and the state does, too,” Kost said.

Kost attributed the problem to the wide variety of sciences in the state and the lack of a common core of knowledge developed to base the test on. Some schools may focus on physical science in the early grades, for example, while others might focus on life sciences.

“Once we develop a common core of knowledge, we may focus it better and test scores should improve,” Kost said.