|
News Release T: 605.773.3455 |
||||||
| For Immediate Release 28 March 2002 Board
of Regents Review Fall 2001 Proficiency Exam Results MADISON-The
South Dakota Board of Regents, at its regular business meeting on the Dakota State
University campus, heard a report today on the results of the fall 2001 administration of
the proficiency examinations taken by sophomores enrolled in the six regental
universities. A system-wide total of 2,163 rising juniors were required to sit for the
proficiency exam for the first time in fall 2001. "Once
again the regental university system mean exceeded the mean for the national comparison
group in all four areas tested within the examination. South Dakota students are
continuing to perform strongest in the areas of science and mathematics," said
Regents President Harvey C. Jewett. "Our universities are doing an excellent job of
increasing students' knowledge in these subject areas." According
to the report, in the area of science reasoning 99.9% of students taking the proficiency
exam for the first time in fall 2001 obtained a score at or above the minimum level of
performance. In mathematics 98.7% scored at
or above the minimum level of performance, 95.4% did so in reading and 92.7% in the area
of writing skills. "A
self check, the proficiency exam determines the value added to the education of students
through the general education curriculum. We administer the proficiency exam to ensure
that our universities are increasing the knowledge of their students. Even though the students are taking the exam the
universities are also being tested. And the results continue to show that the value added
to education at South Dakota universities exceeds national averages," said Regents
Executive Director Robert T. Tad Perry. The
fall proficiency examination report only includes information on those students who sat
for the examination during the fall 2001 semester. The
annual report that is presented to the Regents in June will provide information on the
entire 2001-02 cohort of students, therefore more trend information will be available this
summer. The
tables below display the results of the fall 2001 proficiency exam.
Passing
Rates by Test Area
Comparison of Test Score Means
|
|||||||
