By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
Only 50 percent of high school juniors in the Pulaski County Special School District can read and write proficiently based on the just released Grade 11 Literacy Exam.
It’s even worse at Jacksonville High School, where just 37 percent of the juniors scored proficient or better on the literacy test, meaning that almost two-thirds of juniors did not have the grade- level skills to pass the test.
The school’s principal, Ken Clark, will be reassigned to assistant director of facilities management.
The 37 percent proficient rate at Jacksonville High School is the worst in the district. The 61 percent proficient rate by North Pulaski juniors was the best in the district, but that still means four out of 10 students didn’t make the grade.
Cabot High School was not only the top school in the area but was in the top 20 in the state. The school had 73 percent of its juniors score proficient or ad-vanced. But that still left one-fourth of the students underperforming.
Statewide, the best high school was the Arkansas School for Math, Science and the Arts in Hot Springs where 99 percent of the juniors scored proficient or advanced. Next was Haas Hall Academy where 98 percent of the juniors made the grade.
The state 2010 average was 62 percent scoring proficient or better and is almost a threefold improvement from the first year the test was given in 2001 when just 22 percent of juniors showed they could read and write at the appropriate level.
Beebe, Cabot, Lonoke and Searcy all beat the state average.
BEEBE
In Beebe, 195 juniors took the literacy test and had an average- scaled score of 208. That calculates to 68 percent of the juniors scoring proficient or advanced.
CABOT
The school district had 644 juniors take the mandated test of reading and writing skills and had an average-scaled score of 211. Overall, 72 percent of the juniors scored proficient or advanced.
At the high school, 619 juniors took the test, had an average- scaled score of 212 and 73 percent were proficient or advanced.
At the district’s Academic Center for Excellence, 25 students took the literacy test, had an average-scaled score of 201 and 56 percent scored proficient or better.
ENGLAND
At England High School, 61 juniors took the literacy test and had an average-scaled score of 190. Just 34 percent of the students passed the test and about two-thirds failed to make the grade.
LONOKE
In Lonoke, 111 juniors took the literacy test and had an average-scaled score of 205. Of the 111 students, 64 percent scored proficient or advanced on the exam.
PCSSD
Overall, 989 students took the literacy exam. The county students had an average-scaled score of 197 and just 50 percent were proficient or advanced.
At Jacksonville High School, 228 students took the exam, averaged a scaled score of 191 and just 37 percent were proficient or advanced.
Sylvan Hills had 215 juniors take the test and they averaged a scaled score of 196. Among the Sylvan Hills juniors, 49 percent passed the test, meaning more than half failed to score proficient or better in reading and writing at grade level.
North Pulaski had 192 juniors take the test, averaged a scaled score of 203 and had 61 percent pass the test. This tied the school for best in the district with Oak Grove High School, which also had 61 percent.
SEARCY
At Searcy High School, 244 juniors took the test and averaged a scaled score of 209, meaning 69 percent of the students scored proficient or better on the exam.
