By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
When it comes to understanding the formulas, rules and applications of algebra, all the algebra I students at Ahlf Junior High in Searcy are advanced. In fact the school is only one of five in the state where all the algebra students scored advanced on this year’s end-of-course exams.
In the realm of geometry, students at Cabot Junior High North and South are 100 percent proficient or advanced. At Cabot North 92 percent of the students scored advanced on the geometry end-of-course exam, making them the fifth best in the state. The rest of the school’s geometry students scored proficient. Cabot South, at 85 percent scoring advanced, is the 11th best in the state.
Junior high and high school students, throughout the state, completing algebra I or geometry in the 2007-2008 school year had to take the state mandated end-of-course exams as part of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
Based on scores, students are considered ad-vanced (the rough equivalent of an A), proficient (the equivalent of a B), basic (the equivalent of a C) and below basic.
Of the 35,602 students across the state taking the algebra I exam, 66 percent were proficient or advanced. Twelve area schools bested that state average of 66 percent.
Of the 33,875 students taking the geometry exam, 60 percent scored proficient or advanced. Seven area schools outperformed the state in this skill.
CABOT
As a district, Cabot had 80 percent of its students at proficient or advanced in algebra and 75 percent in geometry.
In algebra I, Cabot Junior High South had the best results with 88 percent of its algebra students scoring proficient or advanced. Cabot North had 79 percent, the high school was at 59 percent proficient or advanced, and at the Academic Center for Excellence only 35 percent of its algebra students scored proficient or better.
In geometry, both junior highs had 100 percent of its students scoring proficient or advanced. At the high school, 75 percent of the geometry students made the grade and 65 percent did the same at the Academic Center of Excellence.
PCSSD
Jacksonville and Sherwood are part of the Pulaski County Special School District and the district had 36 percent of its algebra I students score proficient or advanced and 49 percent of its geometry students do the same.
Northwood and Sylvan Hills middle schools beat the state average, along with the boys campus of the Jacksonville Middle School.
Northwood and Sylvan Hills both had 81 percent of its Algebra I students score proficient or advanced, while the JMS boys campus had 75 percent of its students make the cut. Algebra students on the girls campus of JMS had 55 percent proficient or better, while Sylvan Hills High School was 48 percent proficient or better and at North Pulaski High School 43 percent made the grade.
At Jacksonville High School just 24 percent of the algebra I students scored proficient or advanced. The geometry scores were equally poor at JHS with just 25 percent of the students scoring proficient or advanced.
Both Sylvan Hills and North Pulaski high schools were also below the state average in geometry. Sylvan Hills had 41 percent of its geometry students score proficient or advanced, while NPHS had 39 percent make the cut.
LONOKE
Lonoke was well above the state average in algebra I, but below in geometry. At Lonoke Middle School 90 percent of the algebra I students were proficient or advanced and at the high school level, 79 percent were proficient or better. In geometry the number of proficient or better fell to 47 percent.
BEEBE
Junior high students did better than the state average in algebra and high school students did likewise in geometry, but high school students taking the algebra exam didn’t fare well. Out of the 162 Beebe Junior High students taking the Algebra I exams, 81 percent were proficient or advanced. At the high school level that fell to just 38 percent. Out of 307 Beebe High School geometry students, 72 percent scored proficient or better.
SEARCY
Searcy students did well on both math exams. All 42 algebra I students at Ahlf Junior High scored advanced, while 95 percent of the high schoolers taking the exam scored proficient or advanced. In geometry, 89 percent of the students were proficient or advanced.
ENGLAND
England students beat the state in both the algebra and geometry exams.
At England Middle School, 91 percent of the algebra students were proficient or advanced, while at the high school 75 percent did likewise. In geometry, 61 percent of England High School students scored proficient or better.
CARLISLE
Carlisle fell slightly below the state average in both algebra and geometry.
In algebra, 56 percent of the students scored proficient or advanced, 54 percent did the same in geometry.