Alexander Local School District made improvements in scores on the writing portion of proficiency tests overall and increased its graduation rate, but most elementary proficiency test scores remained below the state standard on the district's state report card.
Alexander met nine of the 18 state indicators and received a state rating of continuous improvement on its district report card for the 2003-04 school year, according to the Ohio Department of Education Web site (http://www.ode.state.oh.us)
The report cards, released by the department in late August, measure attendance and graduation rates and districts' achievement on proficiency tests, according to the Web site. The state has standards for each of these areas and assigns each district a rating based on how well it performed in each area.
Though all of the ninth-grade proficiency standards were met, most of the fourth-and sixth-grade proficiency test scores were below the 75-percent passage rate, according to the Web site. Writing is the only proficiency test subject the district met state standards for at both the fourth-and sixth-grade levels.
These numbers are a result of the format of the tests, said Karen Boch, curriculum director for the district. The elementary school tests ask for written explanations in the science and math portions. While students in the district are well-trained for writing an expository paper, explaining the logic behind math and science problems in writing is something with which they still struggle.
She said fourth-and sixth-graders are just starting to formulate logical thinking skills.
One of our big initiatives we've been working on over the past five years is Write Track. It gives them (the students) a framework or a process for different types of writing
Boch said. We've had great success with that.
Write Track is a system for teaching students how to write essays and has been used in the elementary school for several years.
Though the district achieved a continuous improvement rating, it failed to meet its Adequate Yearly Progress, a weighted factor in determining a district's rating based on how students in different ethnic, socio-economic and special needs groups score on the tests, according to the Web site.
Basically what we try to look at is that the curriculum has to stay the same. All students should be able to know and do what they need by 12th-grade regardless of (socio-economic) class
so we have to change instruction practices
Boch said. If that means getting a tutor
giving them more frameworks
fine.
The district's graduation rate jumped from 84 percent two years ago to 91 percent last school year. The district started an advisor program two years ago, which paired faculty members with students in hopes of improving graduation rates.
Lee Raines, the assistant principal of the high school, attributes the jump in the district's graduation rate to other factors as well. She said special committees, such as the Individual Assistance Team, have been set up to give students extra attention in areas where they need improvement.
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