Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Sixty percent of Utah's sophomores passed all three parts of the test required to receive a high school diploma. The rest have four more chances to do so before their senior year is over.
Those that don't will receive a certificate of completion instead of a diploma.
The state Office of Education on Monday released statewide results from the Utah Basic Skills Competency Test, which was created under a 1999 law and piloted for two years before becoming effective this year.
The exam tests students in reading, writing and math, and they need to eventually pass all three sections.
About 16 percent of the sophomores passed two of the three parts, a little over 9 percent passed one part and 14 percent failed all three parts.
Math was the toughest section for the students, with just 67 percent passing that part of the test. Reading was passed by nearly 83 percent and more than 72 percent passed the writing portion.
"We couldn't count on everyone passing," said Mark Peterson, spokesman for the state Office of Education, saying that if everyone passed, it might mean the test wasn't hard enough.
"The results aren't astronomically good, but they aren't bad either," he said.
An achievement gap between whites and ethnic minorities, particularly Hispanics, was pronounced in several districts.
"Because we're so homogenous, those achievement gaps have been masked a long time, and they no longer are," said Louise Moulding, state director of evaluation and assessment. "We cannot explain it all away because of (students learning English as a second language) or poverty. It's like the giant elephant in the middle of the living room -- can't ignore it anymore."
In about a dozen districts, including Granite, Garfield, Murray and Nebo, girls passed the writing exam in greater numbers than boys. In Rich District, the gap was more than 25 percentage points. In North Summit, 100 percent of girls passed compared to 80.6 percent of boys.
"That happens nationally," associate state Superintendent Patti Harrington said. "I find the strongest attribution has to do with verbal abilities of girls vs. boys. Girls develop verbal skills faster ... a lot of that is maturational and brain development."
State, district and school-level results were to be posted on the Office of Education Web site by Tuesday afternoon.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
