Public school students’ performance on the state’s standardized English language arts test improved across the board this year and the largest gains were made in the third grade.
A recent report from the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama attributes 63% of third-graders scoring proficient in English, a 9-point gain from 2023, to the state’s recent focus on early reading.
This year was the first that the state’s 2019 Literacy Act was in full effect. The law put new resources and requirements on reading in the early grades, and now has a hold-back requirement for students not proficient in reading by the end of third grade. The report also notes that last year’s third graders are farther removed from COVID-19-caused education disruptions. While they missed part of pre-K and kindergarten, their first-, second- and third-grade years were not affected.Students in third through eighth grade take the annual Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program in English, math and science.
While the percentage of total students achieving the proficient marker in all three subjects has trended up, there are some caveats.
The percentage of students scoring proficient in math was up in every grade but third, according to PARCA, but the gains were not as large as in English. Fourth and fifth graders both saw three percentage point increases in proficiency compared to students a year prior. In third grade, 42.2% of students scored proficient in 2024 compared to 43.6% in 2023.
State educators are still implementing the 2022 Numeracy Act which requires more early intervention in mathematics.
Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, sponsored the literacy and numeracy legislation in the Senate.
“These are encouraging results after the Covid delays but we need to keep the ‘petal to the metal.’” Orr said about the PARCA report. “Our children cannot proceed into adulthood being functionally illiterate as has been the unfortunate history of far too many.
“Similarly, we continue to ramp up numeracy and mathematics support so that it follows this preliminary success of the Literacy Act.”
Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, sponsored the Literacy Act legislation in the House.
“I truly feel the quality of the Literacy, Numeracy and TEAMS Act with professional development and coaching and higher standards are making a difference and will continue to lift student achievement,” Collins told Alabama Daily News.
The TEAMS Act became law in 2021 and pays qualified math and science teachers an additional $15,000 per year, plus an extra $5,000 for those who teach in “hard-to-staff schools.”
In science, fourth graders scoring proficient climbed from 41% to nearly 44.5%, but eighth graders scoring proficient declined to 38.7% compared to 41.1%
Economically disadvantaged students’ proficiency increased by six percentage points across all grades and subjects, PARCA noted. Meanwhile, Black student proficiency climbed by 3.4 percentage points, a larger gain than white students.
However, white students’ grade-level proficiency rates were in the range of 20 percentage points higher in English and math than Black and Hispanic students’ scores.
Asian students continue to outperform their peers on the tests.