Post by gatormom on Mar 13, 2007 7:45:09 GMT -6
Waubonsie Valley, Still show improvements on test scores
March 13, 2007
By BRITT CARSON Staff Writer
As test data slowly continues to emerge from the state, good news was delivered to Indian Prairie School District 204.
On Monday, administrators were pleased to announce that Waubonsie Valley High School and Still Middle School made great strides in increasing their test scores. Last year Waubonsie Valley failed to make "adequate yearly progress" toward the goals of federal No Child Left Behind legislation in six areas. But this year it was able to pull scores up to meet adequate yearly progress in five out of the six categories.
"That is incredible," said Patrick Nolten, director of assessment, research and evaluation for District 204 of the improvement in one year. "You just don't see that."
Waubonsie Principal Jim Schmid said the increase in scores on the Prairie State Achievement Exam is due to a combination of staffwide efforts.
"I am more proud of continuous movement over a period of time," Schmid said of the scores. "This is all due to a collective effort by staff."
Schmid said staff members have changed the design and time allotments for certain classes and in the fall will make the class time for Algebra II twice as long as it currently is to help ensure students are getting the help they need and understanding the material.
The PSAE is taken by all high school juniors. Although the results are compared year to year, each year represents an entirely different group of students.
Schmid said the key is to start getting students into classes earlier so they are ready for the PSAE.
"We are not there yet, but we are making great strides," Schmid said. "I feel a lot better than I did a couple years ago."
The one area Waubonsie Valley continues to struggle is the subgroup of African Americans in math. Schmid acknowledged he was disappointed those scores did not rise, but is determined to double the school's efforts. He said the staff is moving farther away from the traditional math class to teaching methods that emphasize hands-on activities and relevancy to real life.
Neuqua Valley High School also failed to make AYP in the subgroup of students with individualized education plans in the area of math.
Overall in all the recent test data, Nolten said scores have increased 5 percent. Composite ACT scores also increased at both high schools. The ACT is part of the PSAE test.
The other area in the district that saw significant gains was Still Middle School, where ISAT scores jumped 40 percent in math in the black subgroup.
Kathy Duncan, assistant superintendent of instruction, said Still took a proactive approach and was determined to bring its scores up. For students who were struggling in math, it instituted extra time for math, either taking students out of their advisory or Connection programs or students used time for electives for math.
"We used progress monitoring on a weekly basis," Duncan said. "We could see right away whether the student understood or needs to revisit the topic."
The progress monitoring is part of a new program called Dashboard which enables teachers to use a computer software program to monitor how much their students are learning at different intervals.
Duncan said in order to ensure scores continue to rise, the school is starting "Jumpstart Math." The two-week program will be offered to incoming sixth graders who are identified as struggling in math.
"We want to make sure they are getting off on the right foot," Duncan said. "We need to look at the primary students and ensure we are providing every opportunity for them so when they get to middle and high school they succeed. This is just one more piece of the whole puzzle."
March 13, 2007
By BRITT CARSON Staff Writer
As test data slowly continues to emerge from the state, good news was delivered to Indian Prairie School District 204.
On Monday, administrators were pleased to announce that Waubonsie Valley High School and Still Middle School made great strides in increasing their test scores. Last year Waubonsie Valley failed to make "adequate yearly progress" toward the goals of federal No Child Left Behind legislation in six areas. But this year it was able to pull scores up to meet adequate yearly progress in five out of the six categories.
"That is incredible," said Patrick Nolten, director of assessment, research and evaluation for District 204 of the improvement in one year. "You just don't see that."
Waubonsie Principal Jim Schmid said the increase in scores on the Prairie State Achievement Exam is due to a combination of staffwide efforts.
"I am more proud of continuous movement over a period of time," Schmid said of the scores. "This is all due to a collective effort by staff."
Schmid said staff members have changed the design and time allotments for certain classes and in the fall will make the class time for Algebra II twice as long as it currently is to help ensure students are getting the help they need and understanding the material.
The PSAE is taken by all high school juniors. Although the results are compared year to year, each year represents an entirely different group of students.
Schmid said the key is to start getting students into classes earlier so they are ready for the PSAE.
"We are not there yet, but we are making great strides," Schmid said. "I feel a lot better than I did a couple years ago."
The one area Waubonsie Valley continues to struggle is the subgroup of African Americans in math. Schmid acknowledged he was disappointed those scores did not rise, but is determined to double the school's efforts. He said the staff is moving farther away from the traditional math class to teaching methods that emphasize hands-on activities and relevancy to real life.
Neuqua Valley High School also failed to make AYP in the subgroup of students with individualized education plans in the area of math.
Overall in all the recent test data, Nolten said scores have increased 5 percent. Composite ACT scores also increased at both high schools. The ACT is part of the PSAE test.
The other area in the district that saw significant gains was Still Middle School, where ISAT scores jumped 40 percent in math in the black subgroup.
Kathy Duncan, assistant superintendent of instruction, said Still took a proactive approach and was determined to bring its scores up. For students who were struggling in math, it instituted extra time for math, either taking students out of their advisory or Connection programs or students used time for electives for math.
"We used progress monitoring on a weekly basis," Duncan said. "We could see right away whether the student understood or needs to revisit the topic."
The progress monitoring is part of a new program called Dashboard which enables teachers to use a computer software program to monitor how much their students are learning at different intervals.
Duncan said in order to ensure scores continue to rise, the school is starting "Jumpstart Math." The two-week program will be offered to incoming sixth graders who are identified as struggling in math.
"We want to make sure they are getting off on the right foot," Duncan said. "We need to look at the primary students and ensure we are providing every opportunity for them so when they get to middle and high school they succeed. This is just one more piece of the whole puzzle."
