Madison schools tie for third in PARCA rankings in reading, math testing

MADISON – The Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA) has ranked Madison City Schools in a third-place tie for Alabama test scores.

PARCA released test score analysis for the Alabama Reading and Mathematics Test (ARMT) that third- through eighth-graders completed in 2013.

“I am very pleased to announce that of the 134 districts in the state, Madison City Schools tied for the third-best scores,” Superintendent Dr. Dee Fowler said. “It is noteworthy that Madison’s enrollment is more than double the size of the two districts ahead of us on the list.”

Madison tied with Arab City Schools. Mountain Brook City Schools was rated first, and the Cullman City Schools district was in second place.

PARCA provides objective, nonpartisan information for improving governmental affairs in Alabama. Elected officials, agencies, businesses and residents can use the council’s findings to form logical decisions on state issues. (parcalabama.org)

“PARCA developed a system for comparing school and system performance to the state averages, focusing on the percentage of students scoring at Level IV on the ARMT test,” Fowler said. Level IV is equivalent to a mastery level nationally.

The PARCA report documented facts for closing the achievement gap. “Results are available by grade and subject and are broken down by demographic and economic subgroups within the school population,” Fowler said. “All of the groups in Madison City Schools scored above the target.”

In spring 2013, Alabama third- through eighth-graders took the ARMT for the last time. ARMT was replaced this year with new tests from the American College Test (ACT) company. Madison students now complete ACT’s Aspire test.

ACT designed Aspire to measure students’ learning over time, along with classroom assessments. Teachers see a student’s progress toward specific learning standards and then can adjust instruction.

For more information, visit parcalabama.org and click the link for “2013 School System Performance on the Alabama Math and Reading Test.”