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ANDERSON ? Three of Madison County?s five largest school systems performed at or above the state average on ISTEP+ English and math results released Wednesday by the Indiana Department of Education.

South Madison had the highest overall test scores for school corporations in the county, followed by Frankton-Lapel and Alexandria schools, all of which met or exceeded the statewide average in math and English.

Meanwhile, Anderson and Elwood schools on the whole continued to underperform statewide averages on standardized tests given to students in grades 3-8.

None of the school systems approached Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett?s goal of 90 percent of students passing ISTEP+.

New elements of the ISTEP+ make comparisons to previous years difficult.

ISTEP+ was administered in spring instead of fall, as past tests were. ACS interim Superintendent Lennon Brown said the tests measure student aptitude at their current grade level, whereas past ISTEP+ tests measured student achievement at the grade immediately below their current level.

Also, science testing was expanded to include grades 4 and 6, and a social studies test was given for the first time in grades 5 and 7.

Corporationwide, Anderson Community Schools students had a pass rate of 58.5 percent on the English and language arts portion of the test, well below the state average of 70.8 percent.

In math, ACS students averaged a pass rate of 60.2 percent compared with 72 percent for the average Indiana school system.