By By Kerry Whipple Bean – publisher
Local schools already knew they fared well on standardized tests after most achieved the goals set forth by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
But they got the proof last week when the state Department of Education released test scores.
Scores on the Alabama Reading and Math Test improved for most grade levels in both Brewton and East Brewton schools. Third- through eighth-graders at Brewton Elementary, Brewton Middle, W.S. Neal Elementary and W.S. Neal Middle schools took the test.
Schools in Brewton met all of their AYP goals, although W.S. Neal High School missed one goal, improving the dropout rate.
Brewton City Schools Superintendent Lynn Smith said simply increasing the attention paid to standardized tests accounts for some of the improvement.
Smith said he often checks Brewton schools' progress versus other similar districts but has not yet had a chance to do so, but he has looked at the demographic breakdown of the scores.
Smith said he compares not only the grade level progress of schools but also compares how a class fares from year to year.
For example, 67.37 percent of third-graders in 2005 passed the math portion of the Alabama Reading and Math Test.
Last year, that class - then fourth-graders - saw 82.29 percent pass the math portion of the test.