VIDALIA — Amid the stress of final exams and the daydreaming of summer laziness, Concordia Parish ninth and 10th graders still managed to show improvement in two subjects during end of course testing.

The Louisiana End-of-Course Assessments, or EOC tests, are scored on four achievement levels instead of a numerical percentage, said Paul Nelson, director of academic programs.

“Needs improvement,” “fair,” “good” or “excellent” are the rankings students can achieve in Algebra I, English II, geometry, biology, English III and American History.

“What’s most important for our schools is the good or excellent rankings,” Nelson said. “Increased results in those categories are what we look for to show improvement.”

On the Algebra 1 tests, 53 percent of students achieved a good or excellent, which is 4 percent higher than last year’s results.

On the geometry tests, 53 percent of students achieved a good or excellent mark, which is 12-percent increase over last year’s results.

“We’ve been trying to do some more things with math, and we still have a lot of work to do, but these are the kinds of results we like to see,” Nelson said. “I think these results are a combination of the students understanding the material more and the parents getting involved.”

In the English 2 tests, students preformed exactly the same as they did last year — 65 percent achieved a good or excellent.

“Those static results are definitely not a bad thing, but we would like to see an increase in those as well,” Nelson said.

With the end of course testing being different than an instructor’s final exam, Nelson said these tests are just as important.

The EOC tests will replace the Graduation Exit Examination, or GEE, for graduation purposes.

“A total of 20 percent of a student’s final grade is determined by these end-of-course tests,” Nelson said. “I think students are more motivated knowing that it can affect, not only their grade, but their graduation date also.”

Students are required to score fair or above on EOC English II or English III, Algebra I or Geometry, and Biology or American History to be eligible for a standard high school diploma.

While the EOC tests do not replace instructor’s final exams, certain instructors use exemption from exams to motivate students.

“Some instructors can say, ‘If you get a certain level on your EOC test, than you’ll be exempt from your final exam,’” Nelson said. “It does not take the place of the final exam, but some instructors do use that as extra motivation.”