After seeing the results from their Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) testing at the elementary level, Owensboro Public Schools district officials said 2nd-grade math scores were the biggest area of concern. However, they noted that was to be expected because of learning loss and a new style of questions, and action is already being taken to address the issue.
Since there was no MAP testing in Fall 2020 due to the irregular school year, the 2021 scores were compared to those from 2019.
While some grades showed improvement in math and reading and others only showed slight dips, the 2nd-grade math scores dropped about 20% on average district-wide, according to OPS Chief Academic Officer Steve Bratcher.
“Our biggest area of concern, which shouldn’t be a surprise, is our math data for our 2nd graders because this is a different test for them,” Bratcher said. “The K-1 version is different than the 2-5 version. They had to do more reading on the test. It’s always been a concern of ours, because it’s always an area of weakness.”
Bratcher and other district officials said they expected those math scores could take a big hit because of the learning loss since the beginning of the pandemic.
“With the loss of in-person instruction at the end of 2019-20 as well as kind of being on and off all through the 2020-21 school year, we knew that those numbers probably weren’t going to be where we wanted them to be,” said OPS Public Information Officer Jared Revelett. “That’s kind of exactly what we saw. There were certainly some highlights from some different schools in our district but there are some causes for concern, especially with our second grade.”
OPS Superintendent Matthew Constant further said the stats shouldn’t come as a surprise to the board, as they’ve heard from other schools that 2nd-graders were struggling more on average that the rest of the elementary grade levels.
“They are the grade level that’s most concerning right now,” Constant said.
Action is being taken by OPS to help those students. Revlett said since they anticipated some learning loss, the district is using some of the extra federal relief money to hire intervention specialists, additional teachers, and more “to try and help address some of these areas where we know that we’re gonna have to make up for something.”
Officials also noted that while those specific scores were concerning, there were some highlights among the rest of the results.
Bratcher said nearly 61% of OPS students in grades 1-5 are reading at or above the 40th percentile nationally, which is “really awesome.” He said the goal is for 60% of students to be at the 40th percentile.
Bratcher also said some schools showed improvement in four to five categories. There are 10 categories, with reading and math at each grade level from 1-5.
Newton Parrish Elementary improved in math at the 1st, 3rd and 4th grade levels, and in reading in the 3rd and 4th grade levels. Estes Elementary improved in both math and reading at the 1st and 3rd grade levels.
Bratcher said the data for grades 6-12 will come later because they have not completed testing.
