Lawrence Public Schools

In a pattern that aligns with districts across the state, Lawrence schools experienced growth last year in both the top and bottom achievement levels on state math and reading tests, according to numbers released Wednesday by the Kansas State Department of Education.

The newest scores are from tests taken by students in spring 2016, which marked only the second year state assessments were carried out under Kansas’ new College and Career Readiness Standards.

Under the new system, student performance is categorized into four achievement levels.

The first level represents students performing below grade-level standards, while the second level represents students performing at grade level but not yet on track for college. The third level represents students performing at grade level who are ready for college, and the fourth level represents students performing above grade level who are on track toward being college-ready.

In Lawrence, nearly 15 percent of students scored in the top achievement level for math, up from just over 12 percent in 2015. The number of students performing at the third level remained roughly the same, while the second level shrank from 40 percent in 2015 to 35 percent in 2016. Students scoring at the lowest achievement level, however, rose by approximately three percentage points over the last year, settling at nearly 23 percent in 2016.

The number of students scoring in the two bottom achievement levels of English language arts, stayed roughly the same from 2015 to 2016. Nearly 40 percent of Lawrence students performed in the third level in 2015; the next year, approximately 35 percent of Lawrence students performed at the same level. The highest achievement level in reading, interestingly, shot up from 11 percent in 2015 to 16 percent in 2016.

These numbers show that, while Lawrence’s growth pattern mirrored the statewide trajectory overall, Lawrence students are generally performing better than students across the state.

Statewide, the number of students scoring in the top achievement level in both reading and math inched up a few percentage points to approximately 10 percent in 2016. The bottom level experienced similar growth, increasing to roughly 26 percent for math and 23 percent for English language arts.

District officials expect to present a thorough report on the Lawrence assessment results at an upcoming, but as of yet unspecified, school board meeting.