By Per Peterson
Tracy Area Public Schools graded out well in testing for the 2018-19 school year.
Tracy Area High School Principal Kathy Vondracek and Tracy Area Elementary School Principal Michael Munson gave their respective positive reports to the District No. 2904 School Board at Monday’s meeting.
In the elementary school, test scores for math in grades 3-6 for 2019 were at 63.7%, compared to 57.9% at the state level. Reading scores at TAES also soared above the state level — 64.4% to 59.7%. It’s the second straight year the school was above 60% in both math and reading, and the third grade had two of the highest scores it’s ever had.
“We’re very happy with that,” said Munson. “Our goal last year was to be at 65% in both, but we’re happy to see us maintain and make over 60% be the new norm for our elementary. We can just keep building from here.”
Every grade, with the exception of the fourth grade, was above the state average in reading and math.
For fifth-grade science, TAES was above the state average — 55.9% to 54.9%.
Compared to the state average of 36.4%, TAES was at 54.5% Free & Reduced Lunch students, and has a 14.6% population of Asian/Pacific Islander, compared to the 6.9% state average.
The state average for students who qualify for Free & Reduced Lunch passing the reading test was 40.7%; at TAES, it was 52% (an 11.3% difference). For math, the state average was 37.2%, while TAES was at 52.5% (a 15.3% increase).
See this week’s Headlight Herald for more on this article.