By GENE KEMMETER
of The Gazette
The grades of schools serving Portage County residents varied according to a report card from the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance (WTA).
Rosholt, Stevens Point and Iola-Scandinavia schools showed improvements in state standardized test scores among eighth-graders who were tested again as 10th-graders in the spring of 2000. Almond-Bancroft, Tomorrow River (Amherst) and Tri-County (Plainfield) schools showed a drop.
Iola-Scandinavia eighth-graders showed a 6.2 percent improvement, while Rosholt's was 4 percent and Stevens Point's 3.5 percent.
Tomorrow River was down 0.7 percent, Almond-Bancroft 2.1 percent and Tri-County 4.8 percent.
WTA compiled the grades in a study "Are Our Students Improving?" that tracked students performances on Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exams, the state-mandated battery of tests given students in reading, mathematics, science and social studies.
Those exams were given to eighth-graders in 1998 and the same group was tested as 10th-graders earlier this year. The grades exclude the language arts tests, which were changed from 1998 to 2000.
WTA converted state-reported student proficiency percentages to a 0.0-4.0 grade-point average (GPA) scale similar to the A-B-C-F grading scale and found that Wisconsin 10th-graders showed greatest improvement in reading, with scores rising from 2.44 in eighth grade to 2.843 in 10th. Social studies scores rose from 2.84 to 3.05, the area of greatest student proficiency in both years.
The WTA found little or no improvement in science and math. Science scores were unchanged at 2.51, while math scores moved from 1.94 to 1.97, the lowest area of student proficiency.
The average composite score over all four subject areas improved from 2.44 to 2.59, while nationally the composite dropped from 1.92 to 1.73, according to the WTA.
In Stevens Point, students had a 2.53 GPA as eighth-graders and 2.62 as 10th-graders. Those GPAs went from 2.49 to 2.81 in reading, 2.02 to 1.92 in math, 2.60 to 2.55 in science and 2.99 to 3.18 in social studies.
In Rosholt, students had a 2.75 GPA as eighth-graders and 2.86 as 10th-graders. Those GPAs went from 2.79 to 3.15 in reading, 2.17 to 2.01 in math, 2.89 to 2.93 in science and 3.15 to 3.35 in social studies.
In Iola-Scandinavia, students had a 2.33 GPA as eighth-graders and 2.48 as 10th-graders. Those GPAs went from 2.32 to 2.65 in reading, 1.70 to 1.89 in math, 2.41 to 2.27 in science and 2.91 to 3.10 in social studies.
In Almond-Bancroft, students had a 2.70 GPA as eighth-graders and 2.65 as 10th-graders. Those GPAs went from 2.58 to 2.79 in reading, 2.33 to 2.07 in math, 2.94 to 2.57 in science and 2.97 to 3.16 in social studies.
In Tomorrow River, students had a 2.91 GPA as eighth-graders and 2.89 as 10th-graders. Those GPAs went from 3.00 to 2.91 in reading, 2.26 to 2.44 in math, 3.16 to 2.91 in science and 3.23 to 3.30 in social studies.
In Tri-County, students had a 2.52 GPA as eighth-graders and 2.40 as 10th-graders. Those GPAs stayed at 2.61 in reading and went from 1.57 to 1.58 in math, 2.67 to 2.47 in science and 3.24 to 2.94 in social studies.
Looking at the GPAs, Tomorrow River had the highest and was among the top 10 percent of state high schools. Tomorrow River was followed by Rosholt, Almond-Bancroft, Stevens Point, Tri-County and Iola-Scandinavia.
In individual subjects, Rosholt had the highest GPA in reading at 3.15, science at 2.93 and social studies at 3.35. Tomorrow River had the highest in math at 2.44. The lowest GPAs were Tri-County in reading at 2.61, in math at 1.58 and social studies at 2.94. Iola-Scandinavia had the lowest in science at 2.27.