I don’t know about you, but math was far from my favorite subject in school.

And while many students, I’m sure, still feel this way, the math team in St. John the Baptist Parish is working hard to change that.

In fact, by the Louisiana Department of Education’s definition, students aren’t just improving their basic knowledge of math skills but are mastering them.

Eureka Math, which provides the math curriculum that’s been used by the district for nearly two years, recently highlighted our school district for its success at increasing the number of students scoring “mastery” and above on the PARCC tests students took at the end of last school year.

A student performing at “mastery” has demonstrated competency with challenging subject matter and is considered well prepared for the next grade level.

This is a level above the “basic” stage, which is what the Department of Education currently uses to calculate how well schools are doing.

Across the district, students in grades 3 through 8 scoring mastery and above went up 6 percentage points from 2014 to 2015. That growth was particularly impressive in eighth grade, where the number of students scoring mastery and above climbed 15 percentage points, and in fifth grade, where it went up by 10 percentage points.

In fact, our district showed more growth in this category than most Louisiana districts.

That’s significant because, eventually, that will be the state benchmark. The fact that more of our students are already reaching that goal shows the high standards already in place and will make that transition easier.

A lot of credit goes to all of our administrators, teachers and students for their hard work. Educators in our district are using several strategies to make these gains.

One is a system of district assessments aligned to the standards that is being used by teachers to set goals and gauge student progress.

Another is teacher collaboration through the use of “data teams,” a group of teachers that meets regularly to break down the standards, identify student needs, collaboratively plan instruction and then examine the resulting student performance data to evaluate student progress.

These strategies are also being used to close the gap for students scoring below mastery.

If you’d like to check out the Eureka Math article, it’s posted on the school district website at www.stjohn.k12.la.us.

The next round of spring testing is just over a month away. Caught in the yo-yo that is standardized testing in Louisiana lately, students will be returning to LEAP — sort of. The tests, at the end of April, will be a combination of PARCC exam questions being answered by students across the country and questions unique to Louisiana students.

However, the goal here in St. John is no matter what tests the state throws at them — and more importantly what math questions life throws at them — our students are ready to answer.

Jennifer Boquet is the communications specialist for St. John the Baptist Parish Public Schools. Email her at jboquet@stjohn.k12.la.us.