Posted by (+112) 14 years ago
Maybe Mr.Regan should worry more about the test scores than President Obamam giving a speech.
Thursday, Sept. 10
Schools improve, but districts miss mark
By Joseph Boushee
Neither of the two districts in the Miles City Public Schools system met Adequate Yearly Progress goals this year.
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), a provision of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, is a measure of yearly advancement toward meeting accountability goals in the subjects of reading and math.
Students are required to achieve certain benchmarks in the subjects. The requirements are currently an 83 percent proficiency rate in reading and a 68 percent rate for math. Benchmarks remain the same next year but go up after that.
Scores for 2009 were reported during Tuesday's meeting of the Miles City Unified Board of Trustees.
The standards are expected to rise in both subjects to a 100 percent proficiency requirement by the 2013-2014 school year.
"I don't know if it's a winnable battle," said Superintendent of Schools Jack Regan, during the meeting.
Looking at each school individually, kindergarten to sixth-grade schools actually made AYP standards.
Garfield Elementary scored an 85 percent in reading and 67 percent in math, just under the required standard. But the school still achieved AYP under "Safe Harbor," a sort of "safety net." Garfield qualified for Safe Harbor because it showed a significant enough improvement in its math scores over the previous year.
Highland Park met AYP standards with scores of an 89 in reading and an 81 in math.
Lincoln School also made AYP with a different scoring process than the other schools.
Washington Middle School, part of the elementary district, didn't make AYP. If one school in a district does not make AYP, the whole district does not.
WMS, when factoring the scores of all students, scored an 85 percent in reading and 75 percent in math, but did not make AYP overall because one tested subgroup didn't reach the benchmarks.
AYP scores are broken down into certain subgroups. If a school has less than 40 students in a group, that subgroup is not counted in the scoring process, said WMS Principal Jon Plowman. Subgroups that apply to the public schools are "Students with Disabilities" and "Economically Disadvantaged."
Overall scores for the whole elementary district were an 86 percent in reading and 71 percent in math. Elementary district students in grades three through eight are tested.
Custer County District High School, which is in its own district, scored 76 in reading and 63 in math. Only sophomores are tested in the high school district.
Regan later noted that the scores are not reflective of a poor school system.
"Test scores are just a small fraction of what a school does," Regan said in an interview Wednesday. "A test score like that should just be one part of the puzzle as far as determining what kind of school you have."
Teachers are working to improve the yearly scores at the schools. Among their efforts, they make tutoring available to students and take time to review incorrect answers from the test.
According to a press release from the office of Denise Juneau, the state Superintendent of Public Instruction, scores and overall AYP numbers at schools across Montana are improving.
The release reports that 603, or 73 percent of the state's public schools achieved the standards. That's an increase of 14 schools over last year.
In other business at the meeting, district-wide enrollment numbers are down compared to last year.
Total enrollment is 1,567 - down from 1,594.
K-6 enrollment is 777, down from 786. But K-8 enrollment is up overall, to 1,003, compared to 997.
Total 7-8 enrollment, which is Washington Middle School, is up to 226, from 211.
High school enrollment is 564, down from 597.
On maintenance issues, some projects at buildings around the district are done or near completion.
The lighting retrofit project at Garfield is finished, as is the chiller installation project at the high school. Heating system upgrades at Jefferson and Highland Park were nearly finished as of Tuesday.
Thursday, Sept. 10
Schools improve, but districts miss mark
By Joseph Boushee
Neither of the two districts in the Miles City Public Schools system met Adequate Yearly Progress goals this year.
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), a provision of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, is a measure of yearly advancement toward meeting accountability goals in the subjects of reading and math.
Students are required to achieve certain benchmarks in the subjects. The requirements are currently an 83 percent proficiency rate in reading and a 68 percent rate for math. Benchmarks remain the same next year but go up after that.
Scores for 2009 were reported during Tuesday's meeting of the Miles City Unified Board of Trustees.
The standards are expected to rise in both subjects to a 100 percent proficiency requirement by the 2013-2014 school year.
"I don't know if it's a winnable battle," said Superintendent of Schools Jack Regan, during the meeting.
Looking at each school individually, kindergarten to sixth-grade schools actually made AYP standards.
Garfield Elementary scored an 85 percent in reading and 67 percent in math, just under the required standard. But the school still achieved AYP under "Safe Harbor," a sort of "safety net." Garfield qualified for Safe Harbor because it showed a significant enough improvement in its math scores over the previous year.
Highland Park met AYP standards with scores of an 89 in reading and an 81 in math.
Lincoln School also made AYP with a different scoring process than the other schools.
Washington Middle School, part of the elementary district, didn't make AYP. If one school in a district does not make AYP, the whole district does not.
WMS, when factoring the scores of all students, scored an 85 percent in reading and 75 percent in math, but did not make AYP overall because one tested subgroup didn't reach the benchmarks.
AYP scores are broken down into certain subgroups. If a school has less than 40 students in a group, that subgroup is not counted in the scoring process, said WMS Principal Jon Plowman. Subgroups that apply to the public schools are "Students with Disabilities" and "Economically Disadvantaged."
Overall scores for the whole elementary district were an 86 percent in reading and 71 percent in math. Elementary district students in grades three through eight are tested.
Custer County District High School, which is in its own district, scored 76 in reading and 63 in math. Only sophomores are tested in the high school district.
Regan later noted that the scores are not reflective of a poor school system.
"Test scores are just a small fraction of what a school does," Regan said in an interview Wednesday. "A test score like that should just be one part of the puzzle as far as determining what kind of school you have."
Teachers are working to improve the yearly scores at the schools. Among their efforts, they make tutoring available to students and take time to review incorrect answers from the test.
According to a press release from the office of Denise Juneau, the state Superintendent of Public Instruction, scores and overall AYP numbers at schools across Montana are improving.
The release reports that 603, or 73 percent of the state's public schools achieved the standards. That's an increase of 14 schools over last year.
In other business at the meeting, district-wide enrollment numbers are down compared to last year.
Total enrollment is 1,567 - down from 1,594.
K-6 enrollment is 777, down from 786. But K-8 enrollment is up overall, to 1,003, compared to 997.
Total 7-8 enrollment, which is Washington Middle School, is up to 226, from 211.
High school enrollment is 564, down from 597.
On maintenance issues, some projects at buildings around the district are done or near completion.
The lighting retrofit project at Garfield is finished, as is the chiller installation project at the high school. Heating system upgrades at Jefferson and Highland Park were nearly finished as of Tuesday.