Testing

Portsmouth Schools Our mission is to create a comprehensive teaching and learning environment which provides opportunities for all students to become, to their fullest potential, responsible citizens, self-directed individuals, and life-long learners.

TESTING INFORMATION

The Portsmouth School Department has a comprehensive testing program. In addition to group testing, individualized testing for diagnostic purposes is done by personnel when appropriate. The group testing includes the Gesell School Readiness Screening Test (Spring - Kindergarten), the Boehm Concept test, the Stanford Achievement Test, 9th Edition (Grades 2-11), and the ACT Career Planning Program Test (Grade 8). Students are also encouraged to participate in the College Boards' Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) in Grades 11 and 12.

The Boehm and Gesell tests are used to plan the best possible primary program for children. The Stanford 9, given in grades 1-11, is used to compare achievement against the national norm group, provide indications of program strengths and weaknesses, follow individual student achievement from year to year, help determine special program participation and to provide parents with standardized information. The ACT (Career Planning Program ) provides data to parents and students which is useful in planning for the student's high school program.

Data included in this section is updated annually and is presented for general information.

Portsmouth Achievement Testing - Spring 1998

National Percentile Rankings

Grade Subtest	Number Tested	Composite Score	Math	Reading	Language Arts
1	208	76	73	72	75
2	226	60	60	55	63
3	228	75	74	73	74
4	210	72	68	73	70
5	205	67	64	65	70
6	201	75	70	74	74
7	216	73	66	77	67
8	195	74	71	76	69
9	197	69	66	72	65
10	186	62	61	61	59
11	176	62	63	61	56

The scores listed are the national percentile scores of our student average. In the normal population the average would be 50 with half the students scoring below the half above. A percentile of 80 in the chart above means that our average student scored better than 80% of the students who took the test when the test was normed nationally.

General Statements Regarding Achievement Test Performance

The College Board's Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is available to students in Grades 11 and 12. The mean scores are presented below for seniors. For comparison purposes the State, Regional and National scores and the percent of students taking the test are listed.

1997-1998

	Portsmouth High School:	Rhode Island:	National:
Verbal	552	501	505
Math	543	495	512
# of students	133	6,836	1,772,779
	(82% of Seniors)	(70% of Seniors)	(42% of Seniors)

Follow-up studies indicate that 78% of our graduates continue with some form of post-secondary education. The graduation rate is 92.85% and our attendance rate is 94.31%.

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This page was last modified May 07, 2001
Michele Polselli, Webmaster