Most of the school districts in the Top of Utah did pretty well on the U-PASS report released this month.
The tests document the achievement and progress of individual students over the years, awarding scores for math, science, language arts and participation, which includes attendance. High school numbers also include graduation rates.
On a district level:
- In the five-school Morgan School District, 100 percent of schools passed.
- In the 22-school Box Elder School District, 95 percent of schools passed.
- In the 45-school Weber School District, 93 percent of schools passed.
- In the 86-school Davis School District, 91 percent of schools passed.
- In the 20-school Ogden School District, 65 percent of schools passed.
Sheri W. Heiter, Weber district testing and assessment specialist, said although there is always room for improvement, she's very happy with the 93 percent pass rate.
"Even though we have three schools that didn't pass, we are extremely pleased with the results of every school," she said.
"They are all going in the right direction. Good things are happening at all our schools, and they are really working toward their goals."
Heiter said U-PASS is a more comprehensive rating system than the Adequate Yearly Progress ratings, also released this month. A passing score is 72.
"U-PASS puts together a whole bunch of measures of student performance," Heiter said. "There are more areas of proficiency and growth."
Among the three schools that failed, she said, most of the low scores came from subgroups that include students who are disabled, economically disadvantaged or are not native English speakers.
"We have some work to do with those groups to make sure they can achieve," Heiter said.
Greg Lewis, director of testing and assessment for the Ogden district, said he was happy to see progress in two schools.
"T.O. Smith Elementary and Ben Lomond High School did not meet U-PASS requirements two years ago, but last year, they did," he said.
U-PASS looks at the growth students make from one spring to the next, Lewis said.
"Even though AYP is the high-stakes assessment for our district, U-PASS measures the individual growth of each student and is a better indicator of how students are progressing," he said.
"There might be a group of students come through as a group that has had a lot of mobility or has been challenged educationally. AYP does not compensate based on where students start."
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