Glacial Hills

In just the school’s first year, students at Glacial Hills Elementary exceeded the statewide proficiency average at all age levels in  both math and reading, except for two areas. The school also finished three tests with 100 percent of the students being rated proficient.

GHES School Director said she is proud of the students and teachers for their hard work throughout the year. Parsons said the staff was excited to see the high marks.

"I just think for our first year this is great," she said.

In third grade, all 12 students in the class proved to be proficient in both reading and math giving the school a 100 percent proficiency rating in both subject areas. The state proficiency average was 79 percent in reading and 81 percent in math.

In fifth grade, students were also 100 percent efficient in reading. The state proficiency average was just over 73 percent.

There were just two areas which GHES fell below the state average. The first was fourth grade math, where the school finished with 65 percent of the students being deemed proficient while the state average was 72 percent.

The school also fell below the state average in sixth grade reading as just 50 percent of the six person class finished with a proficient score. The state average was 70 percent.

Minnewaska Area

Minnewaska Area Schools students once again earned high marks on the MCA-II tests. Students exceeded the state average proficiency percentage, many by more than double digits, in every category and grade level except for four.

The high marks across the board, including a 97 percent proficiency rating in third grade reading (the state average is 79 percent), is something MAS Superintendant Greg Ohl said the school is excited and pleased to see. He said hats go off to the teachers, students and parents for preparing and performing well on the standardized tests.

However, Ohl said the school will take the results in stride realizing they are one set of tests, given to one group of students, on one given day. The results will, in part, be used as part of a larger goal of helping students learn long-term.

MAS students performed extremely well on a number of tests exceeding the state proficiency average by more than 10 percent in: third grade reading, fourth grade reading, seventh grade reading, seventh grade math, and 10th grade reading. The school also fared well against the state average in sixth grade reading finishing nine percent above the state proficiency average.

Students fell below the state proficiency average in just four categories. In both eighth grade math and reading, students fell below the state average proficiency by less than two percent. In 11th grade math students also fell below the state average mark of 34 percent. In math fifth grade students also fell just below the state average of 66 percent.