The exit test scores aren’t as high as teachers would like, but Natchez students are &uot;getting there,&uot; school district officials said. Natchez-Adams students in kindergarten through sixth-grade took the final set of teacher-written exit skills tests this spring to assess their mastery of required math, reading and language skills for their grade level.

&uot;We’re really proud of them,&uot;&160;said Joyce Johnson, elementary supervisor. &uot;We’re not there yet, but we’re getting there.&uot;

Starting with this school year, students take the test, which is written by district teachers, three times a year — fall, winter and spring. The tests are meant to assess skills but also to prepare students for state testing, which is done each spring. Scores for state tests will not be available until this summer.

&uot;As a whole they did fantastic,&uot; said Mary Kate Garvin, assistant superintendent of elementary education. &uot;They did great.&uot;

For example, during winter testing, only 16 percent of the fifth-graders at McLaurin Elementary School passed the math component of the test.

This spring 60 percent passed the math portion and only 40 percent did not pass.

&uot;This 40 percent is fantastic when you look at where they were mid-year,&uot; Garvin said.

After students scored high on the first pre-test administered last fall, teachers revamped the tests to include more higher-order thinking skills.

The students who scored the best on the spring tests are in kindergarten and first-, second- and sixth-grades.

Third-graders and fourth-graders may not have scored as well because of the large number of objectives introduced at those grade-levels, Johnson said.

But by the time the students get to sixth grade the numbers show more improvement, she said.

Teachers and administrators eventually want all students to pass the test, but realistically they are shooting for a more than 90 percent passage rate, Garvin said.

Teachers will use the test scores each year to develop and implement an improvement plan for each child.

Officials expect the scores to improve as both teachers and students adjust to a new way of teaching and learning.

&uot;By the time we give it the third time next year … they’re going to be real good,&uot; Garvin said.

Students had to score 70 percent to pass the test.

By spring 2001, the Natchez-Adams School District may hold students back a grade or require them to attend extended &uot;summer&uot;&160;school if they do not pass their exit skills test and perform poorly in class.

Beginning this year in Louisiana, students in the fourth- and eighth-grades must pass a basic skills test — the LEAP&160;test — in order to move up to the next grade. That rule is being challenged by parents in court, although the lawsuit is on hold until test scores come in.

The Natchez-Adams District also plans to add social studies and science questions to the test next year.