Instead of looking for example at the 3rd grade in 2005 and the 3rd grade in 2006 and the 3rd grade in 2007, etc., a longitudinal chart looks at the 3rd grade in 2005, then follows them to 4th, 5th, and 6th grade and see how one group of students fares over a 4 year period. The charts below represent the growth of four distinct classes from 2005-06 to 2008-09. In both Reading and Math, only the class of 2015 showed any growth from their 2005 scores. This growth was attained by the current 8th grade class whose results were very high both district wide as well as state wide. In fact, a majority of students lost ground over the four year period. It appears that although we have been able to get certain individual groups of students to perform at the proficient level in Reading and Math at certain points in time, these gains do not follow them through the years.