The release of the 2014-15 school year Unbridled Learning: Assessment and Accountability results Thursday, October 1, indicates many bright spots for the schools in the Allen County School District. Overall, the Allen County School District is labeled as a “Proficient” District but district officials do recognize that work remains in the months and years to come.
“When you look at the big picture, they are a lot of positives,” explained Chad Cooper, Instructional Coordinator for the Allen County School District. “But, there are some areas that we need to improve on and work at improving because we slipped this year. But, if you look at the big picture, there are a lot of things in which our teachers are doing great things.”
In reviewing the District’s results Thursday, Cooper offered a glimpse at the current status of the district.
“Three of our four schools are proficient,” Cooper said. “The district’s percentile rank increased from 75 in 2014 to 87 in 2015 and the district is ranked 74 out of 173 districts in Kentucky. All four schools met their participation goals and the district met its Annual Measurable Objective.”
Cooper was quick to point out that the District’s and school’s percentile rank is a number which can be misleading.
“For example, the Primary Center has a Percentile Rank of 75 but that does not mean that we are ranked higher than 75 percent of the elementary schools in the state,” Cooper explained. “Our score is a percentile rank as compared to the 2013-14 goals. The reason that the state done this was where every school could theoretically, be proficient. They set cut scores so the percentile rank is based on the cut scores from 2013-14. This is misleading and confusing so that is why they came out with where schools rank as well.”
Looking at the scores and levels of each school, the Allen County Primary Center (ACPC) is classified as a “Proficient” school. The Primary Center’s overall score is 68.4, a 3.2 decrease from 71.6 in 2014. ACPC is ranked 337 out of 712 elementary schools in Kentucky. The school showed a slight drop in overall achievement scores and a very small decline in gap scores. Specifically, reading scores declined from 38.4 to 4.3 (-4.1) with math scores dropping three points, from 39.2 to 36.2.
The Allen County Intermediate Center (ACIC) showed vast improvement this year. The school recorded an overall score of 69.9, a 9.6 point increase from the mark of 60.3 in 2014. The school met its Annual Measurable Objective and showed increases in achievement, gap, and growth scores. ACIC’s percentile rank jumped from 39 in 2014 to 81 this year.
“ACIC is not only a Proficient school but a High Progressing school,” Cooper added. “The High Progressing designation means it’s in the top-10 percent of improvement in the state. ACIC is ranked 279th out of 712 elementary schools in the state.”
The Intermediate Center showed a 7.8 gain in growth scores. Specifically, social studies scores increased 5.6 points from 12.6 last year to 18.2 this year. A 4.7 point increase was reported in math (from 12.6 to 17.3) and a 4.3 gain was noted in reading (from 13.3 to 17.7). In writing, students increased scores from 9.9 to 13.8 with a slight increase also reported in Language Mechanics.
At the James E. Bazzell Middle School, the overall score was 68.7, a slight 1.1 decrease from 69.8 in 2014. Bazzell dropped from a 2014 percentile rank to 84 this year. The Proficient school is ranked 92 out of 317 middle schools in Kentucky. Despite the decline in overall score, the individual achievement subcomponent scores still improved in every achievement area.
At the middle school, reading scores improved from a 14.8 mark in 2014 to 18.3 this year---a 3.5 point rise. Math slowed a 4.4 point ride, from 15.6 to 20. In Social Studies, the score this year was 23.1 compared to 18.9 last year and in writing, Bazzell scored 13.8 this year, compared to 10.4 one year ago.
“Those individual numbers rising but the overall score declining is hard to explain,” noted Rick Fisher, Director of Instruction for Allen County Schools. “Best we can figure, it may have something to do with us not having a score in science this year as we did last year because of the new science standards coming out.”
At Allen County-Scottsville High School (AC-SH), the overall score was 67.5 which is a 4.1 decrease from the 71.6 score a year ago. The high school’s percentile declined from the 74th percentile last year to the 56th percentile this year.
“The high school is a focus school this year,” Cooper explained. “At the high school, the academic achievement and gap scores stayed the same and gap scores went down one-tenth of a point. We remained constant in the academic area but it was college and career readiness and graduation rates that brought our scores down.”
In specific academic areas, reading scores dropped 2.2 points (from 12.2 to 10) and math declined by point-zero-four (from 10.4 to 10). Science improved from 11.3 last year to 12.9 while writing improved slightly from 10.7 to 11.8. Writing slowed an increase from 9.3 to 9.6 while Language Mechanics dropped from 2.8 to 2.4.
However, the numbers that made the difference in the overall decline were in the graduation rate and college and career readiness. The graduation rate---a number that lags a year behind due to calculation requirements---fell from 18.5 to 17. The college and career readiness mark dropped 3.7 points---falling from 16.2 in 2014 to 12.5 last year.
To be college ready, a student must reach benchmark scores in three of four areas on the state-required ACT test given each spring to all juniors across the state. Juniors who do not obtain the benchmark standards have opportunities during their senior year to reach benchmark through the ACT Compass test, a test taken after the students receive intervention. To be deemed career ready, students can obtain through the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) test or pass a KOSSA (Kentucky Occupational Skills Standards Assessment) exam to obtain industrial certificates in a career field.
“In 2013-14, we were about 55 percent college ready and in 2014-15, between 43 and 44 percent,” noted Fisher, adding that the district has already begun working to address the issue. “We have purchased a program for kids to use who don’t make ACT benchmarks as juniors. The practice tests should give teachers a really good idea when the student should take the Compass test and try and reach that benchmark score.”
This week, juniors at the high school are being introduced to the new program called CERT (College Equip Readiness Tool), a web-based tool designed to help juniors prepare for the ACT and/or prepare for the Compass test if ACT benchmarks are not reached.
“The juniors were taking a benchmark assessment this week,” Fisher added. “The school can offer intervention around the CERT testing and students can also log in and go into the test. It has tutorials and help for the questions they missed. It’s a neat thing. Kids have options on their own.”
The CERT program isn’t the only new method being used to help students raise scores. Last year, virtual class opportunities were enacted to help prevent dropouts---thus raising graduation rates----and create more intervention opportunities for students. In the year to come, these programs are expected to be enhanced to help more students in the district improve scores.
“Our areas of growth goals going forward are to have all four schools and the district at or above the proficient level,” Cooper said. “We want to also be at or above the state average in reading and math at all schools. We want to increase our Gap scores at all schools and our college and career readiness scores at the middle school and high school. We will be providing interventions at all grade levels with students not meeting grade-level benchmarks. We want to expand our virtual classes and re-focus on college and career readiness.”
Looking over the data this week, Fisher still is encouraged by what he sees.
“They are a lot of positive things in these numbers,” Fisher explained. “Our trends are upward. We don’t have any big gaping holes. We are on the verge of reaching a distinguished designation for our schools and our district.”
For a look at Allen County’s results for the district and school, visit the Kentucky Department of Education website at www.education.ky.gov