Under the new state assessments in reading and math, twice as many Lawrence students are performing below grade level when compared with results from the old testing system. District officials say that because the new test is more rigorous, the drop in performance is not a surprise.

“It is an expected outcome that when the bar is raised, there will be a lower percentage of students reaching that higher standard, initially,” said Terry McEwen, director of curriculum, instruction and assessment for the school district, in an email.

The 2014-2015 Kansas Assessment Program results are the first under the new Common Core education standards. The State Board of Education adopted the Common Core standards in 2010. The new standards zero in on critical thinking skills and whether students are prepared for college or the workplace by the time they graduate from high school.

The new assessment results, which were released last week, show that an average of 16 percent of Lawrence students are performing below grade level in reading and 19 percent in math. By contrast, under the last results under the old test, about 8 percent of Lawrence students performed below grade level in reading and about 10 percent in math.

Vanessa Sanburn, president of the Lawrence school board, said the results are a baseline that she thinks will improve as the new standards are better understood.

“I think that there is an adjustment period that needs to happen in order for everyone to kind of catch up,” she said.

Student performance on the new assessments fall within one of four levels: Level 1, below grade level expectations; Level 2, at grade level but not yet on track for college or career readiness; Level 3, at grade level and on track for college or career readiness; and Level 4, exceeds grade level expectations and on track for college or career readiness.

McEwen said the new standards better address the rigor and skills needed to prepare students for success in college and careers.

“We know, for example, that our students need to be able to think critically and solve complex problems,” he said.

Most Lawrence students are not on track to be ready for college or careers. In reading, about half of students were on track, and about 40 percent in math. Sanburn said being college and career ready requires more thoughtful responses from students.

“It’s different than just knowing the simple answer; it’s maybe understanding how a math problem is done or reading a passage and being able to go into more depth about connections.”

When results are looked at by grade, elementary students performed better than secondary students across the board — with fewer students performing below grade level, more students meeting or exceeding standards, and more students who are on track to be ready for college and careers.

In reading, an average of 56 percent of elementary students were on track to be ready for college or careers, compared with 46 percent of secondary students. In math, an average of 48 percent of elementary students were on track, compared with 34 percent of secondary students.

That difference can be explained in part by how long students were in school before the new standards were introduced, McEwen said. For primary students, the new standards have been in place for most of their years in school, whereas for secondary students, it’s a change, he explained.

“For some of our older students, this is a dramatic shift in learning, and for our younger students, this approach is all they know,” he said.

Sanburn said she thinks that getting more students performing at higher levels will come along with ongoing efforts to increase student engagement and address individual student needs.

“It’s a matter of helping students have a depth of knowledge so they can critically examine why an answer is what it is, rather than being able to simply come up with the right answer,” she said.

Parents will receive their children’s individual test results in early December. Additional information about how to understand the new assessment and scoring system is available on the district’s website. Sanburn said that while assessment results can be one measure of performance, it’s certainly not everything.

“It’s also a baseline meter, so if their child’s scores don’t align with how they expect their child should be performing, give it time,” she said. “It could be more that the child has never taken that test before.”