BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer

MILLSTONE - Even though students' state test scores are very high, the school district's goal is for them to get even better.

During a presentation she gave on the state assessment results for the third, fourth and eighth grades at the Sept. 11 Board of Education meeting, Laura Vetere, director of curriculum and instruction for the Millstone Township School District, said that she would like to see students do better next year.

Students in grades three and four take the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJASK) tests, while eighth-graders take the Grade Eight Proficiency Assessment (GEPA).

In 2006, 189 students took the NJASK3 language arts literacy test. Of the 162 general education students taking the test, 87.7 percent scored proficient and 11.7 percent scored advanced proficient, according to Vetere. One student with limited English scored proficient, and 73.9 percent of the 26 special education students taking the test scored in the proficient range, she said.

The total percentage of third-grade students scoring proficient was 96.2 percent, and the total number of general education students scoring proficient was 99.4 percent, according to Vetere.

For the NJASK3 math test, 56.2 percent scored proficient and 43.2 scored advanced proficient, she said. The limited English student again scored proficient, and 65.2 percent of the special education students were proficient, with 21.6 percent scoring advanced proficient.

The total percentage of proficient students in math was 98.4 percent, and the general education students scored 99.4 percent, according to Vetere.

Comparing last year's third-grade test scores to this year's, Vetere said more general education students have become proficient and advanced proficient for language arts, and more have become advanced proficient for math as well.

Last year, 94.5 percent of the general education students were proficient or advanced proficient for language arts and math, and the percentage has risen for both tests nearly five points this year, she said.

This year, 188 fourth-grade students took the NJASK4 language arts test. Of the 163 general education students, 86.5 percent scored proficient and 10.4 percent scored advanced proficient. Twenty-five special education students took the test, with 65.2 scoring proficient, according to Vetere.

The total percentage of students scoring proficient in both language arts and math was 93 percent, with 96.9 percent of the general education students scoring proficient, she said.

For math, 43.2 percent of the general education students were proficient, with 53.7 percent scoring advanced proficient. For the special education students, 47.8 scored proficient and 17.4 percent scored advanced proficient.

Fourth-grade students also take a science test, with 56.4 percent of the general education students scoring proficient and 39.9 percent advanced proficient. Almost half of the special education students, or 47.8 percent, scored proficient in science, with 21.7 percent scoring advanced proficient, according to Vetere.

The total percentage of proficient students in science was 93 percent, with the general education students scoring 96.3 percent, she said.

Compared with last year's scores, more general education students were proficient in all three tests, with more special education students scoring advanced proficient in science. While the science and language arts scores from last year were similar to this year's, math scores went up 4 percent, from 92.6 percent in 2005 to 96.9 percent in 2006, she said.

Two hundred and nine eighth-graders took the language arts and math GEPA this year. Of the 175 general education students taking the language arts literacy test, 81 percent scored proficient and 16.7 percent scored advanced proficient. Of the 34 special education students taking the test, 55.9 percent scored proficient, according to Vetere.

The total percentage of students scoring proficient was 90.8 percent, while 97.7 percent of those in the general education population scored proficient, she said.

For math, 52.6 percent of the general education students scored proficient, with 38.3 percent scoring advanced proficient. Forty-four percent of the special education students scored proficient in math. The total percentage of students scoring proficient was 83.3 percent, with 90.9 percent of the general education students scoring proficient, according to Vetere.

Two hundred and seven students took the science GEPA. Of the general education students, 57.7 percent scored proficient, with 40.6 percent scoring advanced proficient. Seventy-five percent of the 32 special education students scored proficient, with 3.1 percent scoring advanced proficient. The total percentage of students scoring proficient was 95.2 percent, with 98.3 percent of the general education students scoring in that range, Vetere said.

While language arts and science GEPA scores were similar last year, Vetere said math scores were up by 6 percent, from 84.9 percent last year to 90.9 percent this year.

Vetere noted that Millstone had its district factor group (DFG) changed two years ago, to one more currently reflecting the district's socioeconomic status, and that Millstone scored in the top half of the DFG. She said Millstone has the lowest budget of any districts in its DFG.

"We do a lot with a little," she said.