By Derrick ForsytheRecord Staff WriterThe release of the latest state assessment scores provided more reason to celebrate for the Warren County R-III School District.For a second straight year, the district showed improvement in three out of four tested subject areas, but this time the progress was more substantial.“We’ve made attendance and discipline two of our top priorities, and we knew achievement would come from that,” said Superintendent Dr. Jim Chandler. “If we continue to have that support from home, scores will continue to rise.”The district finished above the state average in eight of its 19 tested areas during last spring’s Missouri Assessment Program testing, showing a positive trend over the past five years.From 2010 to 2013, the district was never ahead of the state mark in more than three categories. That number improved to five with the 2014 tests before continuing to climb in 2015.“We’re becoming a district that really studies data,” said Chandler. “The best way for us to be able to compare is against the state scores.”The strongest area for both the district and the state was social studies. The district finished just above the state average of 61 percent advanced and proficient. It was nearly a 9 percent increase from 2014.The district also showed considerable gains in English and language arts, improving from 51.3 percent to 58.2 percent advance and proficient from 2014 to 2015. That lands just below the state average of 60 percent.Science scores rose from 45.8 percent to 49 percent advanced and proficient, still well below the state mark of 55.8 percent.“What we showed is that we continue to get better each year,” said Superintendent Jim Chandler. “We have some areas we continue to work on as always.”One area that saw a tremendous drop in advanced and proficient students across the state was mathematics. The R-III district experienced an 8 percent drop — comparable to the state average — in that category.With a 40.7 percent advanced and proficient mark, R-III is still working toward the state mark of 45.6 percent.“Our concern was middle school math,” noted Chandler.Assistant Superintendent Dr. Jill Schowe says one explanation for the deficiency may be related to the switch to Singapore math that took place in 2011-12. A few of the students who were tested in that area were exposed to a very limited timeframe of Singapore math before moving on to middle school.“It’s the district’s hope that math scores will start improving, because we’ll have more cohorts that have been exposed to Singapore math for a longer time,” she said.While the district still remains below the state average in three of the four testing areas, Chandler noted the district has closed its gap with the state by 48 percent over the past two years.“We know it’s not where we want to be, but we also know we’re moving in the right direction,” he said.Warren Co. R-III