The Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) test scores show that while Missouri students are improving in Math and English, they’re still not meeting projected goals. 

Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Chris NiCastro says she’s pleased with the trend that Missouri students are doing better each year. The MAP scores show that 53 percent of Missouri students are proficient in Math and English … the state was striving for 67 percent. But, NiCastro says MAP testing is a measure by which school officials can get an overall view of student performance, but it doesn’t show the whole picture. She says the department is working to implement a better system for tracking individual performance, so that instruction can be catered to the students that need the most help.

NiCastro says each district will need to look at the results and see how its students are performing so they can figure out where more instruction is needed.

The federal No Child Left Behind law requires all students to be tested in math and communication arts each year in third through eighth grades, as well as once in high school.