All six school districts in the lake area failed in at least one category of the most recent Missouri Assessment Program scores released earlier this month by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Every school district failed in communication arts while three districts passed in mathematics.
MAP tests are given to evaluate a school’s mathematics and communication arts. A set level of performance has been set each year and increases until all students are expected to be proficient by 2014. 
It wasn’t just schools in the lake area that found it difficult to meet adequate yearly progress. According to a press release issued by DESE, only one-quarter of school districts and about 40 percent of school buildings met this year’s proficiency targets.
In 2009, 59.2 percent of all students are expected to score at a proficient level in communication arts and 54.1 percent in math.
In addition to district-wide scores, scores are calculated by individual schools and in subcategories.
It has become increasingly difficult to meet the standard expected each year, according to lake area school officials.
“This is the first year where we fell in that category where we did not meet AYP,” Macks Creek superintendent Donna Herman said. She pointed out in one year, the expected proficiency level grew by nearly 9 percent.
“Most students are not going to make a 9-10 percent jump in one year. Every student is not an A student,” Herman said. “Students fall at different levels of proficiency.
“I believe the program’s intent was good from the start. It did make schools improve their standards. All schools made changes,” she said.
Camdenton School Superintendent Maurice Overlander said the size of the school and the various groups can have an impact on the scores.
The district was one of the few in the lake area that passed in math. It failed to meet communication arts by less than 1 percent.
“As a whole, our math scores are very strong,” Overlander said. “And I am really proud of our communication arts scores in middle school.”
“Our goal is to grow every year, increase the number of students that fall within that level of advanced or proficient with all groups in both subjects. For the most part, we have done that.”
Officials said MAP scores are only one of several ways to evaluate how students are learning in the classroom.
Attendance, graduation rates and personal skills development are all a part of the learning process, Eldon School District Superintendent Matt Davis said.
“We may not meet the national standards, but we are working on improvements,” Davis said. “We are teaching the whole child and that is what we are hoping to improve.”
For a full list of results for each school district, go to www.dese.mo.gov.
Contact this reporter at charisp@lakesunleader.com