Area school officials are studying Missouri Mastery and Achievement Test results to determine if students are learning the basic skills they need.

The statewide test, called the MMAT, evaluates students mastery of specific skills in areas of reading, math, science and social studies.

Students took the test over several days in the spring. School officials have just received the scores.

While administrators are interested in how their districts stack up against state averages, they say the purpose of the test is to help schools learn where students need additional help.

Cape Girardeau

Cape Girardeau's MMAT scores were above state averages in all but two subtest areas.

At the tenth-grade level, test scores were nine points below the state average in English and five points below the state average in math.

Although neither score was statistically "low," Superintendent Neyland Clark said district officials will be looking closely at those areas. "We will be looking at that transition from ninth to tenth grade to see if that has an impact."

Richard Bollwerk, director of elementary education, said, "While to us a minus 1 is significant or plus 12 is significant, in terms of statistical analysis, the score needs to differ by 25 points or more."

The district was 29 points above the state average in reading at the fourth-grade level, 26 points above in science in the fifth-grade level, 30 points above in math at the eighth-grade level and 27 points above in ninth-grade science.

"We certainly like to have our kids do well on this test, but we don't want our curriculum to be strictly driven by the state's set of objectives," Bollwerk said. "We think kids in Cape Girardeau have different needs and wants in terms of education than some other areas of the state.

"You have to be real careful how much emphasis you put on test results and what you use them for," Bollwerk said. "I think what we have done here is try to use the test score as a piece of data to help us improve."

For example, the district began using a new reading series this past year, which should have caused MMAT scores to go down. They didn't, Bollwerk said.

"That's a confidence builder that we've selected a good series that will help our students become good readers and still do well on these standardized tests," he said.

Each student gets an individual report from this test to take home, one of the MMAT's real strengths, Bollwerk said. "It's easy for the parents to see how the student has done on the test."

Jackson

Students in the Jackson school district exceeded the state averages in all of the 34 subtests, according to Assistant Superintendent Fred Jones.

The greatest departure from the state norm was in second, fifth, and sixth grades, according to the test summary. For example, second grade students scored 60 points above the state average in reading, and 52 points above the state average in math.

Fifth grade science test scores were 87 points above the state average, while math scores were 44 points above the state level.

In sixth grade, the math test scores were 79 points above the state average, while test scores in science were 72 points above the state norm. Social studies test scores for the sixth grade were 50 points above the state mean.

While the difference between local and state averages were not nearly as great in the other grades, all were above the state average.

Scott City

At Scott City, the average score in each elementary grade, second through sixth, was above the state average. "The math scores look good, Our science scores in grades 2 through 6 look extremely good," said Doug Berry, elementary school principal.

Scott City students scored above the state average in math in all but one grade.

Eighth grade students scored below the state average in the four categories: English, math, science and social studies.

Also scoring below the state average were seventh graders in math, ninth graders in English, science and social studies, and 10th graders in science.

Fred Graham, Scott City High School principal, said test scores indicate science is an area of concern.

Perryville

In the Perryville School District, the test scores indicate there's a need to improve students' reading and language arts skills, said Ron Fitch, school superintendent.

"We need to focus more on that area," he said. The district's average scores were below the state average in reading and English in third, fifth, seventh, eighth and 10th grades, and barely above the average in second, fourth and sixth grades.

"I really feel like this district should be significantly above the state average," said Fitch.

Students in the Perryville district are tested in grades 2 through 8 and in 10th grade. Students in ninth grade take other standardized tests, Fitch said.

Fitch said he believes a reduction in the pupil-teacher ratio and making children who have just turned 5 years of age prior to the start of school wait until the next year to enter kindergarten could help improve test scores.

"We are going to be in the process of revising that policy prior to screening next year," he said.

Nell Holcomb

At Nell Holcomb School, students scored well in reading and English, said Superintendent David Fuemmeler. Nell Holcomb is an elementary school district.

"Overall, probably our strongest area was our reading scores, and they were above the state average with the exception of one grade level, grade 7," he said.

Math scores were also generally at or above the state average in grades 2-8, he said.

"I think looking at our scores, we probably need to work in our science areas," Fuemmeler said.

"I think the MMAT is a good system of providing information to parents that the students have acquired a basic set of skills in a particular subject area," he said.

Delta

Students in the Delta School District generally scored at or above the state average in most areas, said Bill Link, school counselor.

"It looks like we are just pretty well at average or above average in about everything."

Students in 8th grade scored 410 on average in science compared to the state average of 365.

Fifth graders, on the other hand, scored 30 points below the state average in science, Link said.

He said that in a small school district like Delta, averages can be misleading. For example, only eight second graders took the test. "Being a small school, sometimes one or two kids could make a difference in class average."

As a result, he said, while the MMAT is a good test in principle, "it tends to be biased toward the larger schools."

Thomas Kelly School

At Kelly schools in Benton, students are tested in grades 1-10. "We are not mandated to test in all grade levels, but we test in all grade levels," said Carolyn Pazdera, elementary school principal.

She said that averages in the second through eighth grades "are above average, but there might be a particular objective that we are a little bit weak on."

Students in grades 9 and 10 scored above the state average in English, math, science and social studies.

Ernie Lawson, high school principal, said the MMAT has prompted the school district to make some curriculum changes in recent years. "It's made us probably realign our curriculum a little bit in order to meet what the state says they are going to test us on."

Pazdera explained, "We analyze test data from year to year to see if we can pinpoint an area of weakness in our curriculum."

Oak Ridge

In the Oak Ridge school district, the MMAT student scores were generally lower than the state average in second, fourth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth grades. Most test scores in these grades ranged from three to 24 points below the state average, except for the eighth grade social studies average, which was 57 points below the state mean.

"Overall, we did not do quite as well this year as in previous years, in comparison of scores that were at, or above, the state average," said Oak Ridge Superintendent Roger Tatum.

On the positive side, however, Tatum noted test scores in the third, fifth and tenth grades were substantially higher than the state average, particularly in the third and fifth grades.

In the fifth grade, for example, the science score was 97 points above the state average, while the scores for math and reading were 47 and 45 points above the state mean, respectively.

Third grade test scores in math were 88 points above the state average while third grade science scores were 48 points above the state norm.

Tatum said MMAT scores depend on a number of things, such as class size, how the MMAT objectives are targeted by each classroom teacher, and most importantly, the motivation of students to learn.

Tatum said the MMAT results will be given to each classroom teacher who will use the information and determine what major objectives need to be stressed. "That's how we're supposed to use the MMAT," he said. "It shows us trends, and where we need to concentrate on a particular subject."

Information on MMAT scores was unavailable from Chaffee and the Meadow Heights school districts.