State education officials released new test data Wednesday that show more Juneau students are proficient in English, math and science than before.
It’s a positive trend, but the snapshots of test scores show plenty of room for improvement.
Students in grades three through nine throughout the state took the Performance Evaluation for Alaska’s Schools or PEAKS test in the spring. It was the second time this particular test was administered.
The results are meant to help schools, districts and parents measure how students improve from year to year.
More than 2,500 students took the test in Juneau at the end of last school year. The results published by the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development show a slight improvement over test scores from the year before.
In English language arts, only 48 percent of Juneau students demonstrated advanced or proficient understanding. Still, scores improved by four percentage points from the year before.
In math, nearly 60 percent of Juneau students scored below or far below proficient. That number was almost 63 percent the year before.
The Alaska Science Assessment is a separate test that’s also administered in the spring to students in grades four, eight and 10.
According to those results, 56 percent of the 1,000 Juneau students who took the test scored advanced or proficient. The previous year saw only 52 percent of students achieving that level.
For both tests, Juneau students did better than the statewide averages.
The PEAKS and ASA tests are aligned with state education standards and are just two of the standardized tests given to Alaskan students during the school year.
