Lawton Students Posting Improved Reading Numbers

The percentage of Lawton Public School third-grade students meeting the criteria for reading comprehension and vocabulary continues to show an upward trend under the Reading Sufficiency Act, which makes sure all Oklahoma students are reading on grade level by the end of third grade.

Using the available raw scores: 1,116 third-graders were tested during the 2015-16 school year, and 918 students (91 percent) met the state's criteria, while 98 students did not meet the criteria, percentages that supass the previous two school years. For the 2014-15 school year, 87 percent passed and 13 percent scored unsatisfactory. During the 2013-14 school year, 85 percent passed.

Changes to the wording describing the students' Oklahoma Core Curriculum Test during the 2015-16 school year included changes in terminology which rated students as  "meets criteria"  as opposed to "passed" and from students previously rated as "unsatisfactory" became "did not meet criteria". Other changes included how the third-graders were scored for the Reading Sufficiency Act when they were given the Oklahoma Core Curriculum Test. Formerly, students were rated "unsatisfactory," "limited knowledge," "proficient" or "advanced" in reading comprehension and language skills, but now they only evaluate them on their reading comprehension and vocabulary, and the students are rated "meets criteria" or "does not meet criteria".

These changes reflect various revisions and legislative acts that testing program has been subjected to since it was enacted in 1997.

source: SWOKNews, The Lawton Constitution