Fulton, New Bloomfield districts release new science test APR scores

School buses
School buses

With the release of the Annual Performance Review results for science last week, local districts finally have a complete picture of their APR results.

But under the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's new scoring system, it's still hard to tell exactly how well students are doing, according to Callaway County's superintendents.

The APR assesses student and district progress in a number of areas, including academic achievement, college and career readiness, attendance, graduation rate and subgroup achievement. (Subgroup achievement focuses in on the performance of students who are black or Latino, those who have disabilities, are English language learners, or participate in the free and reduced-priced lunch program.) It also determines whether districts remain accredited with the state.

Most of the 2019 APR results came out in mid-October. Because students took a new science test this year, the release of those results was delayed.

New system

Districts have always been measured in three ways in each area. DESE takes into account a district's three-year average score in each category ("growth"), individual gains across two years by students ("status") and year-to-year progress at the district level ("progress").

But while DESE previously assigned points in each area and combined them into a single, easy-to-digest total score for each category, this year, those three scores are kept separate. They're also not given a single numerical value on the summary sheet provided by DESE. Instead, they're color-coded to show how the district's performance compares to DESE expectations.

For example, if a district had a 5-percent increase in its attendance from 2018-19, its progress in that category would be color-coded blue (for exceeding expectations).

Districts are rated as floor (below standard), approaching, on track or target/exceeding expectations. This can be deceptive: If a district is already very high-performing, with little room for improvement, they may score as "floor."

Relatively new tests in English language arts and math mean district performance in those categories can only be compared to last year. A new social science test is in the field-testing phase, and no results will be released this year.

Most districts saw a sharp drop in student scores on the science test. However, the new test in science makes directly comparing to previous years impossible.

Fulton-58

Fulton's students scored "approaching" in both status (the gains by individual students) and progress (year-to-year improvement at the district-wide level). As this is the first year with the test, DESE couldn't give a growth score.

Approaching is the score below "on track" but above "floor." Of Fulton's students who took the science test, 36.2 percent scored proficient or advanced this year.

"Since science hasn't been tested for last couple years, we didn't know where we're at on that," Superintendent Jacque Cowherd said Monday. "This gives some indication that we're trending with the state; the state average score was slightly lower. Over the next couple years, we'll be able to beef that up."

Provided DESE doesn't make further changes to the test and scoring system in the near future, Cowherd said, the district should be able to do a better job of predicting and improving student achievement.

"Much as I dislike having one-letter score for the entire district, it does show community where our averages are with the state," he said. "The downside is that it doesn't give you any diagnostic information. We're developing our own local tools to use diagnostically and assess student growth on a scheduled basis."

These more-frequent, pop-quiz style assessments will check student mastery of material on a regular basis. In turn, teachers will be able to hone in on trouble areas during intervention time.

"We're targeting kids that have challenges in some areas and sending them to specific teachers (for further study during) what the old-timers would call a study-hall period," Cowherd said. "That's the strategy throughout the district. Our goal is to constantly improve every child, every day."

At the end of the day, Fulton - like all of Callaway County's schools - has retained its accreditation, and that's the main thing, Cowherd said.

New Bloomfield R-3

New Bloomfield's students scored "approaching" in status and "floor" in progress. Of the district's students, 36.8 scored proficient or better on the science test.

"With any test that you only have one year of data on, it is a starting point," Superintendent Sarah Wisdom said. "Once we have a consistent test over a few years, we will be able to use this data more efficiently. Our district will continue to put student achievement as the most important aspect and will use this data as a baseline for the years to come."

She said her district has been working to get a handle on the new system and has noted potential downsides.

"I feel that at glance the reports can be misread without knowledge of what the areas mean," she said. "For example, you could be on the floor for growth if your district saw an increase in growth the previous year. At glance, this is not noticed; one would need more data to compare."

Wisdom said she does like the new look, though.

Her district has spent the weeks between the initial release and now digging into the supporting data and planning goals.

"(Our) focus, as always, will be on student achievement," she said. "Our subgroup of free and reduced lunch students is one area we continue to monitor heavily as we want to ensure we are meeting the needs of all students in the district."

College and career readiness and graduation rates among students who take five or more years to graduate will also receive extra attention, she added.

"Our mission, 'Leading Lifelong Learners,' charges us with the duty to make sure these students are ready for a successful life after high school," Wisdom said.

For North Callaway R-1 and South Callaway R-2's results, plus comments from those districts' superintendents, pick up Thursday's Fulton Sun.