Testing boosting accountability with scores, schools find|[10/16/05]

Published 12:00 am Monday, October 17, 2005

More than a month after Vicksburg Warren School District officials received results of the Mississippi Curriculum Test, they and teachers have decided tweaking is necessary to further boost achievement levels in the elementary and intermediate grades.

&#8221We know all our students need to read better, comprehend better and computate math better, and we’re making the changes in curriculum to ensure that they will,“ said Superintendent James Price.

He said the Mississippi Curriculum Tests and Subject Area Tests make teachers feel a special accountability for what is taught and how it reflects on them, their students and the district.

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&#8221Principals can’t hold teachers accountable unless they know what and how they’re instructing in the classroom every day. Now we’re all accountable,“ he said.

The Mississippi Curriculum Tests and Subject Area Tests, now in their third year, were taken by nearly all 9,000 students in the district in May. Although results were released in early September, an in-depth analysis of the data by the district was delayed until now due to Hurricane Katrina.

Principals and teachers were given copies of the analysis to determine which areas need the most focus.

&#8221All of the areas need to be our focus, but this shows teachers how they are doing in the classrooms from year-to-year for their own knowledge and understanding,“ Price said.

For example, Beechwood Elementary remained at a Level 3, meaning the school met its minimum growth expectation and was rated successful. The analysis showed school and district officials that if two more students in the school had scored proficient or better on the Mississippi Curriculum Test, the school could have moved up to a Level 4.

Warren Central Junior High moved from a Level 3 to a Level 4 this year, and analysis showed the school could have reached Level 5, superior, if 124 more of the nearly 800 students had scored proficient or above. Currently, Bowmar Elementary, the district’s only magnet school, is the only Level 5 school in the district.

&#8221There were no true problem areas, and the only areas of concern were the two intermediate schools. We anticipated the problem with test scores being skewed by having all fifth- and sixth-grade students together, so we’ve already corrected that,“ Price said.

By returning to community schools this year, fifth- and sixth-grade students are spread out all over Warren County rather than being concentrated at two schools.

The state enacted the testing system before the federal No Child Left Behind Act took effect in 2002, requiring all schools to chart and achieve year-to-year scores.

The district has incorporated two pre-test programs that allow teachers and students to better prepare for the end-of-the-year state tests.

One is weekly benchmark tests for third through sixth grades written by lead teachers from each school. Price said those grades are the focus because that is who is tested on the MCT.

&#8221We’ve been writing the software for five years, and the teachers spent all summer making the tests with actual MCT benchmarks,“ Price said.

None of the teachers see the tests before they give them to students, so it prevents them from teaching only test material, Price said.

&#8221All the schools have the same curriculum order to teach now to ensure all the students are learning the same things,“ he said.

&#8221The weekly tests help teachers, principals and district officials know how we’re doing on a weekly basis and knowing what to work on rather than waiting to get the results back at the end of the year and saying, ‘Whoops. We really screwed up in that area,’“ Price said.

Linda Turner, lead teacher at Vicksburg Intermediate, said the weekly benchmark tests, which will soon be totally computerized, are quite beneficial for teachers.

&#8221It gives us instant feedback on how our students and teachers are doing. It also tells us what the bad test questions are if all the students missed the same one,“ she said.

Turner was also one of the teachers who researched Orchard, the district’s new computer software, which also is aimed at improving test scores.

&#8221Orchard is based on the same MCT benchmarks we test weekly, but the program gives pre-tests for the students in different areas, called ‘trees,’ of science, reading, math and language,“ she said.

Turner said the students use the programs during computer lab time and the software gives feedback on the different Orchard &#8221branches“ with which the students need help.

&#8221It’s a fun program for them, and it’s easier for teachers to pull skills for additional practice. It’s also easy to reinforce skills missed when a student is absent,“ Turner said.

Price said Orchard is a supplemental program in which the curriculum can be updated each year.

&#8221It’s getting the best use of our federal money, and it gives us more depth and flexibility in our curriculum,“ Price said.