Juniors’ Writing Skills Improve

Writing proficiency among Idaho’s high school juniors was up this year while it was down among eighth graders, the Department of Education reports.

More than 71 percent of the nearly 15,400 juniors taking the test in January scored at the proficient level or higher compared to 63 percent a year ago.

In the eighth grade, proficiency among the 18,400 students dropped to 36.5 percent from 48.5 percent last year. But only 15,300 students took the test in 1995.

This was the first year the test was administered to fourth graders, and 19.2 percent of the 16,200 taking it scored at or above the proficient level.

This was also the first year the mathematics assessment was given to both the fourth and eighth grades. Just over 15,000 fourth graders took the test and 15.3 percent were proficient. Some 17,000 eighth graders took it and 35.3 percent scored at or above the proficient level.