Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Jim McBride says an uptick in students' scores on this year's statewide assessment tests, which were plagued by technical problems, reveals a resilient student body. McBride says he believes the scores would have been higher if there hadn't been so many setbacks. Most of last spring's test was done on computers, and software problems caused answers and work to disappear at times. Also complicating matters, some protractors supplied with the math portion of the test were inaccurate. Still, Wyoming students scored better this year than last on the exams. McBride noted significant improvement in writing scores and attributed it to a greater emphasis being place on the subject over the past year. Now, he says that same dedication needs to spill over into math and reading.
