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WEST MILFORD - Test scores drop
(by David M. Zimmer - Staff Writer - September 30, 2008)
WEST MILFORD - The Board of Education presented its annual student achievement report this past Tuesday with optimism in spite of slight declines in six of the eight test categories.
Director of Education Iris Wechling said West Milford is performing adequately and meeting every one of the benchmarks set by the state as well as those that the school district is setting for the students and itself.
To improve the declining scores, the district is going to start collecting data to determine areas where teachers need to adjust their approach, she said. By finding problematic areas through testing, teachers can use that information to focus more on specific needs, which will improve overall success for students on standardized testing, Wechling said.
District Test Coordinator Susan Montgomery said the district would track the progress of students and entire classes with data collection to keep up with growing expectations. She also said the district would work to match its instruction with the tests and add online resources for students to practice on their own time.
To complete these goals, teachers and administrators across schools, departments and grade levels will also be working more closely with each other to correlate lesson plans and make the education process more efficient for the future, Wechling said.
These recommendations come as a result of the release of scores for local students in grades three, four and eight who annually take the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJASK), which is given to all grades three through eight.
This test and the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA), which high school juniors must pass to graduate, are part of the No Child Left Behind legislation to ensure adequate and uniform progress for students across the country.
As a result, districts are required to show progress by meeting certain benchmarks, defined by the percentage of students who need to pass the exams. By 2014, 100 percent of the students must pass these standardized exams.
Third and fourth grades
Last year’s third grade class was well above the state-mandated benchmarks for both math and language arts on the NJASK. With a score of 90.1, which means 90.1 percent of the students passed the language arts and literacy test, the third grade was well above the adequate progress level of 75 and the state average of 86. Nevertheless, the number of passing grades has declined from 91.4 two years ago and 91.3 last year.
The fourth grade class performed similarly during last year’s testing, achieving a score of 88.5, which was well above the state average of 82.6 but slightly lower than last year’s score of 89.5.
Both grades saw improvement in the language arts scores of their special education students, but declines in the general education scores. However, they are still well above the benchmark for 2008 through 2010, which is 82 percent.
District Supervisor of English Margaret Valentine said although the federal and state governments are not satisfied with the district’s progress, the township is trying to do more with less and is improving gradually.
For the math portion of the NJASK, the third grade class was well above the 62 percent benchmark, and also slightly up from last year’s score of 94.4 with a total of 94.6 percent passing the section. A total of 84.2 percent of the special education students passed this section where the state average was 84.8 percent.
The fourth grade performed better on the testing and scored 92.8 percent, which was 2 percent more than the previous fourth grade class. The group was also a full 8 percent over the state average and well above this year’s benchmark of 73 and the 2011 benchmark of 85.
Gretina said she was pleased with the scores, which show that focusing on basic facts and teaching to the test standards are working.
Eighth grade
The 2007 eighth grade class also received improved results over the year before, achieving 87.5 percent compared to 78.2 on the language arts and literacy assessment. Still, the 9.3 percent gain in the district was nearly matched by a 7.5 percent gain for the state as a whole. This timely jump leaves the district and the state in a favorable position, as the 66 percent benchmark is being raised to 76 percent this year.
The gains seen in this portion of the test were due, in part, to a collaborative teaching technique, where the grade’s English teachers correlate lesson plans and teaching strategies, Valentine said. She also said the Macopin Writing Project has been an outstanding success that will likely be broadened into other grades to improve language arts skills.
The results of the math portion were not as impressive for the eighth grade class, but with a score of 71.4 percent it was still above the 49 percent benchmark. However, with a decline of roughly 3 percent over the year before, the new benchmark of 62 percent is perilously close.
The special education results were also not very promising as only 29.5 percent of those students displayed adequate proficiency in mathematics. However, this drop of more than 8 percent on the math scores was countered by a 12.5 percent gain on the students passing the language arts portion, which climbed to 52.5 percent.
Gretina said the district’s current work with data collection would help it monitor the proficiency of teachers, students and classes to make the scores reflect the effort.
Eleventh grade
The HSPA results from last year’s high school junior class also showed overall declines, even dropping below the state average in language arts.
Down from an 87.1 passing percentage the year before to 83.2 percent, the grade managed to slip below the state average of 83.8 percent. The general education score only declined 1.6 percent to 93.8, though the number of special education students who passed the language arts section fell more than 12 percent to 32.8 percent.
While they were above the benchmark of 79 percent on the language arts section, that number will be raised to 85 percent next year, putting the district in a tight situation. Valentine said last year’s juniors really struggled on the test, and the teachers and administrators will be working especially hard to avoid a repeat this year.
Though also in decline, the math results were slightly more promising for the district with a score of 76.2 percent. Down from 79.3 percent last year and 82.6 percent the year before, the passing percentage is inching toward the benchmark, which will be raised from 64 to 74 this year.
The problem seems to again be the scores for special education students, as the general education students saw a gain in passing percentage for 2.8 percent over the year before. With only 19 percent of those students passing the test compared to 42.6 the year before, it is clearly an area in dire need of attention from the district.
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