The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released preliminary results of the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) on Thursday. 

Students in third through eighth grade take the Missouri Assessment Program test in math and reading each spring. The tests fulfill requirements laid out under the No Child Left Behind Act, a program that is designed to have 100 percent of students testing at grade level by the year 2014.

State benchmarks get more difficult the closer it gets to 2014. This year, in order to meet the goals and make "Adequate Yearly Progress," Missouri schools had to have 72.5 percent of students test at grade level in math and 75.5 percent test at grade level in reading.

Groups of students are also expected to make the goals and if even one subgroup doesn't meet the goals, the school doesn't make Adequate Yearly Progress and is classified as failing to meet the goals. State officials look at subgroups including white students, black students, students with low socioeconomic status and students with disabilities, among others.

Just 92 of the 557 districts in the state met the benchmarks for achievement in math and reading this year, according to the preliminary results released Thursday. Nearly 75 percent of schools across the state failed to meet the mark.

When schools fail to meet the goals, they face sanctions that range from having to pay for additional tutoring for students to having to allow students to switch to another school in the district that met the benchmarks. Schools that receive federal money based on the number of students who qualify for free and reduced lunches based on income are classified as Title 1 Schools and may face tougher sanctions. 

In Fort Zumwalt, while district scores continue to improve overall, students district-wide fell short of meeting the annual proficiency targets. 

Preliminary MAP Test Results

*The Annual Proficiency Target or goals for math and reading are the percentage of students expected to score proficient or advanced on the state test in a given year.

There is no data for Joseph L. Mudd and St. Peters Elementary schools because they only have students in kindergarten through second grade.

While some schools appear to fall short on the test scores, other factors such as rate of improvement weigh in and can bump scores to meet MAP standards. 

For the Fort Zumwalt School District, 5 of 21 schools met both MAP standards and 5 met either math or reading. 

Last year, Lewis and Clark Elementary, a Title 1 School, failed to meet math standards and faced sanctions, but this year the school met benchmarks in both categories.

Title 1 Schools Dardenne and Hawthorne Elementary met reading and math goals last year, but will face sanctions after falling short in both categories this year. 

Emge Elementary has achieved Adequate Annual Progress (AYP) for two consecutive years.

Overall as a district, in reading, 63.6  percent of students who took the reading test scored proficient or advanced this year, compared to 60.8 percent last year. Fort Zumwalt achievement on the math test increased with 59.4 percent of students scoring at grade level, up from 57.5 percent last year.

Check back with Patch next week for more information on Fort Zumwalt MAP scores.