Metcalfe County’s scores on the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills for the 2007-08 school year are up across the board compared to last year, according to school officials.

“Our scores are all up from 2006-07 with the biggest gain in language scores,” said Bennie Stephens, director of secondary instruction.

The test was given primarily to second-grade students, with one school – Edmonton Elementary – administering it to students in kindergarten and first-grade, Stephens said.

“We wanted to be able to do early intervention with the kindergarten and first-grade students before the state mandated second-grade tests,” said Jamie Howard, Edmonton Elementary principal.

Students scored 50.6 in reading, 49.5 in language, and 55.0 in math for a total score of 53.0.

For the 2006-07 school year, students scored 50.4 in reading, 45.3 in language, and 53.5 in math for a total score of 50.0.

Stephens attributed the gain in language, in part, to the Fast ForWord program.

He said the CTBS scores will be used by third-grade teachers to help them meet needs in language, reading and math.

The state requires elementary schools to administer a norm-referenced test, and Metcalfe County chose the second-grade CTBS.

“The 1998 General Assembly passed a law requiring the revamping of the assessment and accountability system, to include an NRT (norm-referenced test). The reasoning was that the NRT would allow for national comparisons and provide more data for parents,” said Lisa Gross, spokesperson for the Kentucky Department of Education. “We began administering CTBS in 1998 and used that until 2006.”

State law and regulation still require that an NRT be given at the elementary level, but the data does not have to be reported statewide and districts get to choose which NRT to use.

“There are approximately 10 different NRTs being used statewide. The data from those is only used locally and should be reported to parents,” Gross said.

The data is used locally by each school to assess students’ academic performance. It does not calculate into the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS) accountability scores.

Kentucky students are assessed at the third-grade level in reading and math as a requirement of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Those scores are figured into the students’ CATS assessment at the fourth-grade level.

KDE is in the process of securing a vendor for a statewide norm-referenced test. That test will be used by all school districts statewide, Gross said.