WHS Numbers Dip
BLYTHEWOOD – The community’s two high schools saw some dramatically different results from their 2014 High School Assessment Program (HSAP) test scores, according to data released last week by the State Department of Education.
Blythewood High School’s numbers improved significantly in two key areas – the percentage of students scoring at Level 1 (competence not demonstrated) and percentage of students scoring at Level 4 (exceptional). For first-time test takers in English Language Arts (ELA), tested in their second year of high school, only 4.4 percent scored at Level 1 at BHS, down more than 50 percent from last year’s 8.7 percent. The percentage of student scoring at Level 4 jumped from 22.7 percent in 2013 to 40.8 percent in 2014. The percentage of students scoring well enough to meet HSAP standards grew from 91.3 percent in 2013 to 95.6 percent in 2014.
BHS outscored the Richland 2 School District as a whole in ELA, in which 8.9 percent tested at Level 1, 31.5 percent at Level 4 and 91.1 percent met the standards.
In Mathematics, BHS also showed improvement, with 14.5 percent testing at Level 1 (down from 24.5 in 2013), while 28.9 percent tested at Level 4 (up from 13.7). The percentage of students meeting the standard increased 10 full points, from 75.5 a year ago to 85.5 percent in 2014.
BHS’s math scores also outpaced R2 overall, which had 21.9 percent scoring at Level 1, 22.2 percent at Level 4 and 78.1 percent meeting the standard.
Westwood High School, on the other hand, saw its numbers trend downward across the board, albeit with well over 80 percent of students still achieving standards in one of the two subjects tested. In ELA, 12.7 percent scored at Level 1 (up from 6.3 percent last year), while 18.4 percent scored at Level 4 (down from 22.7 percent). The percentage of students scoring well enough to meet HSAP standards fell from 93.8 percent in 2013 to 87.3 percent in 2014.
In Mathematics, 32.1 percent of WHS students scored at Level 1 (up from 12 percent in 2013), with only 11 percent (down from 13.7 percent in 2013) scoring at Level 4. The percentage of students meeting standards fell from 88 percent a year ago to 67.9 percent in 2014.