Student test scores jump > Officials hail results of eighth-grade assessment

AUGUSTA — Maine’s eighth-grade students are doing significantly better in every area tested on this year’s Maine Educational Assessment, and state education officials said Tuesday the results are “a tribute to the teachers.”

The highest marks were in mathematics, humanities and reading, but social studies scores also showed improvement from the past two years.

“It is through this analysis that we find where we as a state are going, and we are clearly going in the right direction,” Education Commissioner Eve M. Bither told a news conference.

The assessment serves as a yardstick to measure performance trends of Maine students in such subject areas as mathematics, science, reading and writing.

Ninety-three percent, or 14,080, of Maine’s eighth-grade students were tested throughout the state’s school districts.

Bither said test questions were written and developed by Maine teachers and certain portions of the assessment require essay answers instead of standard multiple-choice answers.

Math scores improved for the fifth straight year, hitting an average of 300 out of 400. The fastest growth occurred in the area of problem solving, the Department of Education said in a prepared statement.

“It’s a function of the special work our math teachers are doing,” Bither said.

Randy Walker, director of the department’s Division of Assessment, echoed Bither’s observation.

“Teachers are responsible for increased performance. It’s a tribute to the teachers,” he said.

Social studies scores improved to 255 for the first time since the tests were given to students in 1985-86. During that school year, students scored an average 250, improved to 255 the next year, but dropped 10 percentage points to 245 between the fall of 1987 and spring of 1989. Geography showed the most improvement.

Reading scores improved from an average of 250 in 1985-86 to 270 for this academic year. According to the test results, students showed the greatest improvement in comprehension of practical reading such as consumer information and following directions.

The state average for science improved to 265 from the previous year’s average of 255.

In the humanities subject areas of languages and performing arts, students scored an average of 275. The state average in writing remained at stable at 250.