Using charts and graphs, Gillespie CUSD #7 building principals led an extensive discussion about how district students are performing on the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC) exams, and how teaching staff members plan to address declining scores in some key academic areas.
OVERVIEW
In general, fewer students met or exceeded expectations during the 2015-16 academic year than the 2014-15 school year at the elementary level. At the middle school level, the number of students meeting or exceeding expectations in English and language arts, as well as math, increased, with the exception of sixth grade students where the number of students meeting expectations fell slightly in math but the number of students exceeding expectations increased. At the seventh grade level, the number of students meeting or exceeding expectations in both math and language arts increased dramatically. GMS Principal Rosentreter, in fact, reported that one seventh grade student last year, Chance Reiniesch, scored 100 percent on the PARCC English and language arts exam.
The number of high school students who met or exceeded expectations in English increased generally, but the number of students meeting or exceeding expectations in math remained flat from the previous year. Ironically, while performing well on the PARCC exam, composite ACT scores for Gillespie High School students declined last year from the previous year.
EXPLANATIONS
Supt. Tieman and the building principals said the district’s academic performance is likely to come into clearer focus within the next few weeks when state-mandated school “report cards” are released. The report cards were expected to be available by the time of Monday night’s meeting but apparently have been embargoed by the State Board of Education until the first week of November. Without the report cards in hand, principals said they extrapolated data from test scoring provided to them at this time to prepare Monday night’s presentation to the board.
Elementary Principal Angela Turcol said teacher efforts to improve scores were stymied because scores were not released until January
BenGil Elementary Principal Angela Turcol said teacher efforts to improve scores were somewhat stymied last year because PARCC scores were not released until January when the academic year already was half over. “This year we had those numbers at the beginning of the year,” she said. “Having the information earlier will give teachers time to respond to weaknesses.”
Turcol said she is responding to weak scoring in math skills by adding 30 minutes of “academic” time to student schedules to beef up the amount of time they are receiving math instruction and practice. She also indicated that educators have discovered that test questions differ in their degree of difficulty from math problems students are exposed to through class materials that are supposed to be consistent with PARCC standards. For example, classroom problems may involve only two math operations, while the PARCC exam questions may involve three or more steps.
“The students were doing two steps and thinking they were done when the correct answer required two more steps,” she said. In addition, there was evidence that students accustomed to working math problems with pencil and paper were less likely to perform well with online PARCC testing. Additionally, Turcol said, some students may have experienced “testing fatigue,” performing at a lower level on tests administered later in the day. To address that issue, she said the school plans to expand the test schedule so students can have a break between tests.
“Going from one year to the next, we are not seeing the kind of numbers we’d like to see,” she said. “We would like to see the numbers for ‘did not meet’ and ‘partially met’ expectations to go down, and the numbers for ‘meet’ and ‘exceeded’ expectations to go up.”
Rosentreter presented a detailed strategy in place at the Middle School to maintain and build upon student strengths in language arts, math and other areas. She said teachers were provided with PARCC scores at the beginning of the year for their students so the teachers can tailor instruction to address weaknesses and build upon strengths. Teachers are expected to meet monthly to compare teaching methods and analyze academic performance. In addition, a School Improvement Team is gathering data and setting goals for this year’s PARCC scores.
We not only met but exceeded our goals and expectations
“We set some goals last year,” she said. “We not only met but exceeded our goals and expectations.”
She reported that numbers for students who did not meet expectations include special education students who do not have the ability to meet the academic expectations PARCC sets for the general student population.
“I’m sorry, but if you’re reading at a third grade level in sixth grade, there is no way you can meet expectations,” she said. “That is a major concern.”
Middle school teachers are not being encouraged to ‘teach to the test’
Middle school teachers are not being encouraged to “teach to the test,” Rosentreter pointed out. Instead, they are urged to “practice excellence” in each of their instructional domains, which is expected to result in academic growth that will be reflected in PARCC scores for 2017.
High School Principal Lori Emmons noted that PARCC scores generally increased last year, but by state mandate Gillespie High School students will not take the PARCC exam this year. Instead, they will be expected to take the SAT exam as a means of evaluating student academic performance.
“It’s frustrating,” she said. “It’s frustrating for the teachers and it’s frustrating for students. They’ve been preparing for two years to take the PARCC exam and now they are expected to prepare for the SAT.”
Emmons had no explanation for the decline in ACT scores last year.
“We went down in everything,” she said. “We went down half of a point in English, the biggest drop was in math and science.” Still, composite scores, while down, were down by only six-tenths of a point–19.5 in 2015, compared with 18.9 in 2016.
Emmons said teaching staff is preparing for the SAT exam by meeting regularly to discuss preparations and accessing resources on the internet. Teachers also have been provided with a manual called “Test Specifications for Redesigned SAT.”
“When they say specifications, they mean specifications,” she said, noting the manual provides sample test questions that not only have the answers but an explanation as to why it is the correct answer. “They left nothing out.”
Tieman said that when he looks at PARCC scores district-wide, they show a 30 percent improvement in English and language arts skills while math scores remained stagnant.
Tieman said that when he looks at PARCC scores district-wide, they show a 30 percent improvement in English and language arts skills while math scores remained stagnant. “That’s the exact opposite of what we had 10 years ago,” he said. “In 2005 and 2006, we were scoring much higher in math than in reading.”
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