By Jolene Farley
Scores released last week by the Minnesota Department of Children, Families and Learning show Hills-Beaver Creek and Hills Christian School students scoring among the top 10 schools in Minnesota this year on the reading portion of the eighth-grade Basic Standards Tests.
Twenty-three Hills Beaver Creek students and three Hills Christian School students took the test this year from the same "site," according to Dan Ellingson, District Testing Coordinator.
The Hills-Beaver Creek site had 92 percent of students receive a passing score on the math portion of the test and 85 percent on the reading portion of the test. Across the state an average of 72 percent of students who took the test passed.
The average score for H-BC and Hills Christian students on the math portion of the test was 88 percent and on the reading portion 85 percent. A score of 75 percent is passing.
Ten percent of the H-BC students taking the Basic Standards Test were special education students. No students with limited English proficiency took the test from the H-BC site.
"When you have a small number of students, one or two students can make a big jump (in the scores)," said Ellingson. "To have a proper sampling you have to combine different years."
Last year, 80 percent of Hills-Beaver Creek students passed the math portion and 84 percent passed the reading portion of the test.
Although higher scores cannot be pinpointed to one thing, parent involvement, students working hard, and teachers all help improve testing, according to Ellingson.
This year students utilized practice tests provided on the CFL website.
Students are notified when the test will be administered, and parents are invited to an informational meeting.
Basic Standards testing was implemented in 1996 to ensure students did not graduate from high school without learning the basic skills needed to live in today's world.
Almost every public school student takes the tests, in addition to high school students who have not yet passed.
Reading and math tests are administered in the eighth grade; the written composition test is given in the 10th grade. Students are allowed to retake the tests if they do not pass.
All Hills-Beaver Creek seniors except one have passed and are on track to graduate.