A district analysis of student scores on the ninth-grade Ohio Proficiency test over the past five years has Cincinnati Public Schools officials convinced their programs are working.

        “We are moving in the right direction,” said CPS spokeswoman Jan Leslie.

        The nine-page report released this week by administrators states that 32 percent of ninth-grade students passed all required elements of the test during the current school year.

        Fifty-five percent of 10th-graders during the same period passed all sections — reading, writing, mathematics, citizenship and science — while 71 percent of CPS 11th-graders did the same.

        And 79 percent of district 12th-grade students passed all exam sections.

        These scores have increased steadily since the 1997-98 school year, in some cases by as much as 10 percentage points.

        Ms. Leslie said the district has worked hard to improve student reading skills in the lower grades and “we're more focused and better able to get skills input.”

        While students at some neighborhood schools such as Withrow High School didn't do as well as others at magnet or specialty schools such as Walnut Hills High School, the district is working to correct the disparities.

        “This is what makes our re-structuring of neighborhood high schools so important,” she said. “We need to decrease the class sizes so students can have more individual attention from teachers.”

Delta talks at a crossroads
Residents question UC's motives on donated home
OxyContin maker agrees to plan
RADEL: Light rail
Two accused of assaulting MRDD clients
Danger lurks for kids on Net
Study finds activism strong here; more urged
Winter wasn't as bad as we thought
New day dawning for New Miami
One century of life earns them honor
Crime Stoppers gets $10,600 shot in arm
Group opposes textbook decision
Aging classrooms faulted
BellSouth wires Ky. to Internet
Bill would let condemned request DNA evidence test
Black churches confront AIDS
Chemical fire draws lawsuit
Cincinnati schools see test-score progress
Hotel-abduction suspect to be tried in N.J.
Legal Aid opens new building
Man gets six years for sex offense, declared predator
New runway study posted on Web site
New team pushes technology
Ohio district awaits new era
Police seek help in search for missing man
River searched for body; Boone Co. man charged
Senate passes bill limiting telemarketing
Senate starts in on garbage
UK cloning advocate to leave
Kentucky News Briefs
Tristate A.M. Report