Results for the 2008 Delaware Student Testing Program were released by the Delaware Department of Education on July 17. Nearly 85,000 Delaware students in grades two through 10 were tested for reading and math in March. Students in third- through 10th-grade were tested on writing. Re-testing as needed finished July 22.

Reading
    In the Appoquinimink School District, the average scores for reading improved only in the fourth and eighth grades compared with last year’s scores. Reading is scored on a scale of 150 to 800.
    All of the district’s reading averages per grade level were higher than the Delaware state reading average for each grade, which was also achieved by the district in 2006 and 2007.
    The percentage of students who met or exceeded state standards on the reading portion of the 2008 DSTP increased in grades two, four, five, six and nine compared to 2007.
    “Nearly every grade shows 80 percent or more of our students meeting or exceeding standards in reading,” said Secretary of Education Valerie A. Woodruff.  “At that level of success, it is unlikely to see large jumps or gains. Maintaining this level of performance is certainly commendable.”
    The percentage of students in the district who met or exceeded state standards for reading also surpassed the percentage of students in the entire state for the second consecutive year.
    The percentage of Appoquinimink students who met or exceeded expectations this year in reading for second-grade was 91 and the state’s percentage was 84.83; third-grade was 87.68 and 81.69 for the state; fourth-grade was 88.18 and 81.42 for the state; fifth-grade was 91.04 and 86.12 for the state; sixth-grade was 86.47 and 81.11 for the state; seventh-grade was 90.78 and 84.93 for the state; eighth-grade was 91.82 and for 80.79 for the state; ninth-grade was 83.75 and 75.45 for the state; and 10th grade was 76.18 and 70.70 for the state.
    
Math
    The average math score for all grades except third and 10th increased over the 2007 averages. Math is scored on a scale of 150 to 800
    The ninth grade saw the largest increase in average math scores from 2007 to 2008. In 2008, the average score was 533.35, opposed to 523.70 in 2007.
    The average scores for each grade in Appoquinimink exceed the state’s average scores, which was also true in 2007.
    The percentage of students in the district who met or exceeded state standards in math increased compared to 2007 in all grades except third, fifth and 10th.
    The percentage of Appoquinimink students who met or exceeded state standards in math was above the state percentages in every grade level, as did each grade in 2007.
    The percentage of Appoquinimink students who met or exceeded expectations this year in math for second-grade was 91.09 and the state’s percentage was 86.54; third-grade was 83.56 and 77.42 for the state; fourth-grade was 86.83 and 77.15 for the state; fifth-grade was 83.68 and 76.46 for the state; sixth-grade was 83.80 and 74.75 for the state; seventh-grade was 78.55 and 68.32 for the state; eighth-grade was 77.21 and 64.91; ninth-grade was 68.06 and 53.49 for the state; and 10th grade was 67.05 and 57.87 for the state.
    The ninth grade also saw the largest increase in percentage of students who met or exceeded state standards, with 68.06 percent in 2008 compared to 59.15 in 2007.
    “In math, we saw gains in seven of nine grades assessed [statewide] while the two other grades [third and fifth] remained unchanged,” Woodruff said. “This is also good news especially with the improvement seen in the middle school grades.”  

Writing
    The average scores for the writing portion of the DSTP improved from the district’s 2007 scores for students in all grades except third, fifth and eighth. Writing is scored on a scale of 1 to 15.
    All average scores for third- through 10th-grade were higher than those in the state.
    The percentage of district students who met or exceeded state standards in writing improved over 2007 percentages in all grades except third and fifth.
    The percentage for third-grade dropped from 81.99 in 2007 to 59.58 in 2008. None of the elementary schools met the average state standard score for writing, which was 8.
    “Sixty-seven percent statewide in 2007 were meeting the standard. In 2008, it dropped 22 percentage points to 45 percent,” said Ron Gough, DOE public information officer. “The writing prompts change from year to year and the test is only two items. You can’t compare it. I believe the fluctuation from year to year is due to the test only having two items.”
    Gough said in fourth-grade, the statewide average rose from 52 percent in 2007 to 66 in 2008.
    The average writing score for third grade in Brick Mill Elementary School was 6.89. Cedar Lane Elementary School had an average score of 7.25. Olive B. Loss Elementary School averaged 7.20. Silver Lake Elementary School had an average of 7.00. Townsend Elementary School averaged 6.38.
     Tenth grade had the highest increase in percentage of students who met or exceeded state standards with 85.55 in 2008 compared to 70.76 in 2007.
     All of the grade levels in the district surpassed the respective state average for the percentage of students who met or exceeded state standards.

Rankings
    Out of 101 elementary schools tested, the third grade at Cedar Lane Elementary School ranked fourth for reading, ninth for mathematics and sixth for writing. The fifth grade at CLE tested ninth out of 86 schools for mathematics. The fifth grade at Olive B. Loss Elementary School ranked eighth out of 86 schools tested for writing.
    Middletown High School ranked seventh out of 36 schools tested for mathematics and 10th in writing.  
    Information on which schools in the district received “Superior” ratings based on the 2007 DSTP results will appear in next week’s Transcript.
    Appoquinimink District administrators were contacted by the Transcript, but were unavailable for comment due to their annual administrative retreat.