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By John Lyon LITTLE ROCK - Arkansas is doing a more than adequate job of providing pre-kindergarten education to its neediest children, but the state needs to improve its college completion rate and other measures of progress in education, the Southern Regional Education Board says in a report scheduled for release today. The number of children enrolled in public pre-kindergarten in Arkansas is more than double the number of children living in poverty in the state, according to a 58-page report titled "Arkansas: Moving Ahead." SREB issued reports today evaluating how well all 16 of its member states have met a slate of goals that leaders from the states agreed upon in 2002. Arkansas had a child poverty rate of 25 percent in 2008, 7 percentage points higher than the national average and 3 percentage points higher than the average among SREB states, the board said in the report. Enrollment in Arkansas' pre-K program in 2008 was estimated at 218 percent of 4-year-olds living in poverty in the state. The SREB also credited Arkansas with narrowing the achievement gap between black students and white students on National Assessment of Educational Progress tests in fourth-grade reading and eighth-grade math between 2003 and 2009. Between Hispanic students and white students, the achievement gap on NAEP tests narrowed in eighth-grade reading but widened in fourth-grade reading, according to the report. Arkansas' standards for eighth-grade reading appear low, the SREB said. Last year, 71 percent of the state's eighth graders met state standards. On NAEP tests, 69 percent scored at the basic level or above, but only 27 percent scored proficient or above. "This means Arkansas' state standards for eight-grade reading appear somewhat low because they are similar to the NAEP basic level but lower than the NAEP proficient level," the SREB said in the report. The board said 61 percent of eighth graders in Arkansas met state standards last year, while 67 percent scored at or above the basic level and 27 percent scored proficient or above. "This means Arkansas' state standards for eighth-grade math appear about right because they fall between the NAEP basic and proficient levels," the SREB said. The report also questioned how well prepared Arkansas eighth graders are for Algebra I. In 2009, 41 percent of the state's eighth graders took Algebra I or a more advanced math class, up 9 percentage points from 2005, but only 27 percent scored proficient or above on NAEP tests. The SREB credited the state with increasing its percentage of graduating seniors taking at least one Advanced Placement exam from 8 percent in 2000 to 34 percent in 2009. Arkansas' college enrollment rate of recent high school graduates was 62 percent in 2008, the same as the regional rate and 1 percentage point lower than the national rate, according to the report. Among Arkansas students who entered a four-year college or university as a first-time, full-time freshman in 2002, 37 percent graduated within six years at the same institution. The national rate was 55 percent and the regional rate was 53 percent. "All SREB states need to raise substantially the numbers of students who earn two- and four-year college degrees and career certificates in the coming years," the board said. Julie Thompson, spokeswoman for the state Department of Education, said officials hope new Smart Core curriculum requirements and lottery-funded scholarships will improve the state's college completion rate. "You'd hope those two things are going to really combine to turn things around," she said. Thompson said Tuesday she had not yet seen the report, but it sounded like a fair assessment - though it conflicted in some ways with reports that looked at different statistics to measure progress. "We've still got a long way to go, and we know that. I think you see a lot of work being done at all levels, though, to make those positive changes," she said. |
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