Schools across the state, locally see lower ISTEP scores

Area school corporations are seeing the same results as many school districts across the state — lower ISTEP scores. 
The Indiana Department of Education recently released the scores and West Central and Eastern Pulaski Community school corporations are seeing a mix of results. 
According to the Indiana Department of Education,  66.1 percent of students across the state in grades 3-8 passed the English/language arts section, 58.9 percent passed the mathematics section and 51.6 percent passed both sections. In the science section of the testing, 64.9 percent of fourth and sixth-grade students passed and 64.2 percent of fifth and seventh-grade students passed the social studies section. 
At the 10th-grade level 59 percent of students passed the English/language arts section, 34.6 percent passed the mathematics section and 32.2 percent passed both sections. In the science section, 58.8 percent of the students passed.  
Locally, 60.5 percent of students in grades 3-8 passed English and language arts at West Central, while 55.4 percent of students passed math and 43.7 percent passed both. In 2015, there were 52.5 percent that passed both math and English. In the science section, 71.8 percent of fourth-graders passed science and 53.6 percent of sixth-graders passed. At the fifth-grade level, 61.1 percent of the students passed science and 58.9 percent of seventh-grade students passed. At the 10th-grade level, 44.6 percent of the students passed the English and language arts, while 22.6 percent passed the math. There were 47.7 percent of 10th-graders who passed science.   
Eastern Pulaski School Corporation also saw a mix of highs and lows in the percentages of students who passed. According to the results, 75.3 percent of 3-8 grade students passed English and language arts, while 65.9 percent of students passed math and 61 percent passed both. That is a slight decrease from 2015 when 68.5 percent of students passed both subjects. In the science portion of the testing, 80.6 percent of fourth-grade students passed, 73.5 percent of sixth-grade students passed, 78.8 percent of fifth-grade students passed, and 87.3 percent of seventh-grade students passed.  At the 10th-grade level, 42.1 percent of students passed the English and language arts portion of the testing, while 40.7 percent of the students passed math. There were 63.2 percent of students who passed science.