The results of state tests taken by the students of WessonAttendance Center earlier this year show the school surpassingstate averages mightily on the high school Subject Area TestingProgram examination and largely outperforming other districts onthe younger grades’ Mississippi Curriculum Test.

Wesson Principal Ronald Greer said the scores represent a goodyear for the school, with growth exhibited in several areas. He isnot, however, satisfied with the results.

“Overall, we did a decent job of moving children out of minimumranges from the year before, but the thing we’ve got to focus on ismaking sure we get more kids scoring advanced and proficient,”Greer said. “We’ve got some kids on the borderline of proficiencythat could easily be advanced.”

Wesson’s high school students recorded high scores on the SATP,taking down state averages in three of the test’s four subjects andbarely missing the fourth.

Wesson was one of the only schools in the area to record aperfect score on the SATP, with 100 percent of students passing theU.S. History portion of the exam. The state average in history is96.9 percent.

But perhaps the students’ most impressive feat was outscoringthe state average in English II, where the state’s lowest scoreswere tallied this year. Wesson students scored 80.3 percent passingin that subject, beating the state average of 69 percent passing bya healthy 11.3 percent. Wesson students also placed a wide marginbetween themselves and the rest of Mississippi in Biology I, wherethe local score of 97.7 percent passing was enough to beat thestate average of 87.6 percent passing by 10.1 percent.

Algebra I was the only subject in which Wesson students failedto beat the state average, which was 72 percent passing. Seventypercent of local students passed that portion, missing the stateaverage by only 2 percent.

Growth rates for Wesson were split from 2008, with scores in twosubjects improving and scores in the other two going down. Theschool’s Biology I average climbed 5.1 percent over last year’saverage of 92.6 percent passing, while the U.S. History scoreclimbed 3 percent over last year to reach its perfect plateau of100 percent passing in 2009.

The school’s Algebra I scores took a painful dive, however,falling 12.8 percent from last year’s average of 82.8 percentpassing. English II scores also slipped a little, fallingnine-tenths of a percent from last year’s score of 81.2 percentpassing.

“In Algebra I, we took a little hit, but we’ll bounce back,”Greer said. “We had some eighth-graders taking Algebra I who scoredvery well on the test.”

Wesson’s younger students handled the MCT2 as well as theirstatewide counterparts and in some areas, better. Students ingrades three through eight beat state proficiency and advancedaverages in 16 of 24 scoring columns.

An impressive 73.9 percent of sixth-graders recorded proficientand advanced scores on math portion of the test, while 70.3 percentof fifth-graders scored proficient and advanced scores on the sameportion.

Wesson’s eighth-graders turned in the school’s lowest scores,with 24.7 percent of that grade recording only minimal scores onthe math portion of the MCT2, and 21.6 percent of them scoringminimal on the language arts portion.

“We dissect these (scores), look at the different areas they’retested on and try to find strengths and weaknesses to focus on,”Greer said. “You really have to individualize instruction as muchas you can.”