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Improved test scores at CHS takes school off state target list
Coffeeville High School is no longer in need of state intervention, as indicated by the latest test scores released by the State Department of Education. The school, which had been on Title I School Improvement, is now considered to be performing at an acceptable academic proficiency level. “We met our goals for the number of students being tested and our dropout rate as well as improving the test scores,” Principal Joe Shanks said.
Reading program helped “One of the things we started to improve test scores was a reading program. It’s called DEAR, ‘Drop Everything and Read,’ and every morning the students read. They are required to read four books every semester and they are tested to make sure they are comprehending what they read. We also did a good bit of remediation. With Title I funds we were able to hire a remediation teacher. We feel these things helped us out a great deal. “I am proud of our teachers and our students. I congratulated my teachers, even before the test scores came out, for the job they did. Some of them provided their services after school and during their planning periods. And once the students realized how important this was, they began to work harder to improve the scores.” Until the 2004-2005 school year, the Stanford Achievement Test was used to gauge a school’s accountability. The federal No Child Left Behind legislation felt the test did not adequately test the schools’ proficiency and mandated that each state find a test to check that certain criteria was being met academically. Alabama’s new test, the Alabama Reading and Math Test, or ARMT, was given to fourth, sixth and eighth graders last year. The High School Graduation Exam was used for eleventh graders. There was an exception made for eighth grade math because of textbook and funding problems. “We will still use the Stanford results for instructional purposes, but the ARMT will be used for school accountability,” explained Clarke County system’s test coordinator Julia Ann Deas. The scores from those tests will serve as a baseline for schools to use when making changes to their curriculum in order to improve scores. The NCLB legislation is hoping that with the new accountability testing, those changes will be made where needed and academic performance will improve. The projected outcome will be that by 2014 all students in the state will be proficient in reading and math.
Students generally did well Student groups, as a whole, taking the tests in Clarke County schools all met their schools’ proficiency goals, which means at this point none of them will require state academic assistance. However, the groups are also broken down into sub-groups, divided by race, economic status and special learning needs. Scores for these sub-groups indicate which students are not meeting proficiency goals and where improvements are needed. The proficiency goals for each school are determined by academic performance, test participation and attendance. The percent participation goal for each school is 95 percent. The proficiency index goal for each school is 0.00.
Some challenges expected Test data was released recently, but some of it is being contested. Many schools across the state, including several in Clarke County, have found errors in the data. “These scores are what we have now, but we have found inaccuracies and we’re going to get those cleared up before we go to the next step,” Deas said. Coffeeville High School had 100 percent participation on the reading and math portion of the test. The proficiency score for reading was -3.06 and for math was -4.8. Although the scores were under the goal they were within a confidence interval and the school is considered to have met its proficiency Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, goals. CHS met all five of its AYP goals. Coffeeville Elementary School had 95 percent participation. The proficiency score for reading was -2.43 and for math was -3.21 and the proficiency AYP goal is considered met. CES also met all five of its AYP goals. At Grove Hill Elementary School 94.9 percent of students took the reading portion of the test, which did not meet the participation goal and 96 percent took the math portion. The proficiency score for reading was 2.2 and for math was -2.2, meeting the proficiency AYP goals. GHES met eight of its 13 AYP goals. Wilson Hall Middle School had 100 percent participation on both tests. Their proficiency score for reading was -1.71 and for math was 7, therefore the school met its proficiency AYP. WHMS met 13 out of 15 AYP goals. At Clarke County High School, the participation goal was not met. On the reading portion, 92.77 percent took the test and 93 percent took the math portion of the test. The proficiency score in reading was 0.3 and for math was -4, so the school met its proficiency AYP. CCHS met 10 of its 13 AYP goals. Jackson Intermediate School had 97.11 percent participation in reading and 98 percent participation in math. the proficiency score in reading was 4 and in math was -0.2 and the school met its proficiency AYP. JIS met 10 of its 17 AYP goals. At Jackson Middle School 95.64 percent of the students took the reading portion of the test and 98 percent took the math portion. The proficiency score for reading was 4.8 and for math was 10.7, which means the school met its proficiency AYP. JMS met 12 of its 19 AYP goals. Jackson High School had 97.48 percent of the students take the reading portion of the test and 98 percent take the math portion. The proficiency score for reading was 8.6 and for math was 22.5, therefore the school met its proficiency AYP. JHS met 16 of its 17 AYP goals. Student scores were divided into four scoring categories. Level I-Does not meet standards; Level II-partially meets standards; Level III-meets standards; and Level IV-exceeds standards. “We’re working to have all our students performing at Levels III and IV,” Deas added.
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