Lakeville Students Shine on Recent State Testing

Lakeville Area Public School students posted some impressive numbers in math and reading skills according to data released earlier this month by the Minnesota Department of Education (MDoE). Students in grades 3 through 8 were tested in those areas through the MDoE’s annual Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) evaluation that measures school and student performance to stated academic standards. Students in grade 10 were also tested for reading only and grade 11 for math only.

The Lakeville school district’s students by and large scored well above state averages across the board with double-digit separation in proficiency percentages not uncommon.

third, fourth and fifth-graders, for example, scored 96.9, 94.4 and 94.7 percent proficiency respectively in reading on the MCA-II tests. Those numbers easily beat state averages of 78.5, 75.2 and 80.3 respectively.

The state separates proficiency levels into four categories. Proficiency percentages are calculated by combining student who meet or exceed state standards. More than 80 percent of third-graders exceeded state standards in scoring an overall 94.3 percent proficiency.

The state has used the MCA-II standards for math and reading assessments since 2006. Beginning with this year’s assessments the state implemented more rigorous criteria in math and began using the MCA-III assessment for that subject only in grades 3 through 8.

Many students in districts across the state struggled to meet the higher academic standards of the MCA-III tests, however Lakeville students again seemed to shine compared to their state counterparts.

third, fourth and fifth-graders, for example, posted scores of 94.4, 93.6 and 88.1 in math respectively on the new, tougher tests compared to state averages of 70.1, 67.2 and 53.6 respectively. And Lake Marion students weren’t alone in accomplishing superior numbers when compared to the rest of the state.

Overall, scores were mixed as compared to last year with moderate increases or decreases in overall proficiency in reading. Orchard Lake Elementary fourth-graders saw the biggest increase in reading scores with an improvement of 16.5 percentage points over 2010 to finish with 95 percent proficiency. fifth-graders had the largest decrease in reading dropping 5.8 percentage points in overall proficiency to post an overall 83.2. But that figure was still above the state average of 80.3.

Due to the different metrics involved with the MCA-III’s, year-over-year comparisons in math are not valid and this year’s scores will serve as a baseline for comparison moving forward.

Click on the attached PDF to view the complete Lakeville schools scores for the recent MCA-II and MCA-III tests broken down by grade, school and subject.

Key: D = Did not meet standards, P = Partially met standards, M = Met standards, Exceeded standards.