Mehlville School District students are performing well above the state standard in mathematics with 65.7 percent performing at the proficient or advanced level, according to preliminary Missouri Assessment Program, or MAP, scores.

In communication arts, 59.7 percent were proficient or advanced, according to a district news release. The performance targets for this year were 51 percent of students proficient or advanced in communication arts and 45 percent of students proficient or advanced in mathematics.

Initial calculations for Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, as formulated in the federal No Child Left Behind, or NCLB, program also were released. NCLB is designed to close the achievement gap among various subgroups of students to ensure the academic needs of every student are met.

To reach the goal of 100-percent student proficiency by 2014, schools must meet an annually increasing performance target in communications arts and math to meet AYP. The district met AYP in five of the eight student subgroups.

If one subgroup does not reach the standard, the district does not meet AYP and qualifies for needs-improvement status from the federal government.

“Overall, our students are succeeding. However, there are still challenges in moving all of our students to the proficient and advanced level,” Superintendent Terry Noble stated in the release. “Even though some of our student subgroups did not meet the proficiency and advanced levels, those scores have improved from last year.”

Final MAP and AYP results will be released in mid-September.