Published: May 29, 2008 11:51 am      

Alto, Wells school districts show increases on TAKS

By Cristin Ross

cross@jacksonvilleprogress.com

Preliminary numbers have been crunched and it looks like Alto Independent School District students earned an “acceptable” district rating for their TAKS scores this year.

“We’re still waiting on the state to break down scores for sub-groups, but overall, it looks like all our students did pretty well,” AISD Superintendent Ray DeSpain said.

According to the Texas Education Agency’s Web site, the TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) test measures the statewide curriculum in reading at grades three to nine; in writing at grades four and seven; in English Language Arts at grades 10 and 11; in mathematics at grades three through 11; in science at grades five, 10 and 11; and social studies at grades eight, 10, and 11.

Satisfactory performance on the TAKS at grade 11 is prerequisite to a high school diploma. The test was mandated in 1999 by the 76th Texas Legislature and started being administered to students in the 2002-2003 school year.

At the elementary level, 83 percent of Alto third- and fourth-graders passed the reading portion of the test. Seventy-nine percent passed math and 85 percent passed the writing part this year.

Ninety-seven percent of Alto Middle School students — fifth through eighth grades — passed the reading portion of the test. In social studies and math, 83 and 84 percent passed, respectively. And 71 percent of Alto’s Middle School students passed the science tests.

On the high school campus, 93 percent passed social studies; 85 percent passed English/language arts; 76 percent passed science; and 63 percent passed math.

Wells Independent School District Superintendent Dale Morton said he’s still waiting on some of his district’s preliminary scores, but from what he does have, it looks like Wells students have improved dramatically over last year.

“It looks like we’re right on the cusp between an “acceptable” and a “recognized” rating,” Morton said. “And since we were “unacceptable” last year, we’re pretty excited about that.”