Students at North Callaway R-1 and South Callaway R-2 performed relatively well on the new science Annual Performance Review test.
As previously discussed, superintendents are still figuring out how to interpret Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's new scoring system on the individual student level.
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.
For Fulton-58 and New Bloomfield R-3's results, along with a detailed breakdown of the new scoring system, see Wednesday's article "Area schools release science test APR scores" at bit.ly/2rSIFAK.
Because the science test is in its first year, districts received assessments in two categories: status and progress. Status assesses individual gains across two years by students and progress assesses year-to-year progress at the district level.
North Callaway R-1
North Callaway's students scored "approaching" in status and "floor" in progress. "Approaching" indicates performance gains below but approaching the ideal level, while floor is the lowest ranking. However, as those scores reflect percentage gains in performance, they can be deceptive: If a district is already very high-performing, with little room for improvement, they may score as "floor."
With 41.6 percent scoring at least proficient, the district's students outperformed New Bloomfield and Fulton on the new test.
"The district's overall science score is equal to the state average," interim Superintendent Nicky Kemp said. "When we look at the science scores by grade level, our eighth grade and Biology 1 students performed above the state average. The fifth grade science scores fell below the state average."
Subgroup students received a "floor" ranking.
Formerly the assistant superintendent, Kemp took over the superintendent's role Nov. 21 following Brian Garner's retirement Oct. 31.
"While this is not where we want these scores to be, it is comparable to the state average," Kemp said Wednesday. "Now that the district has all of the APR data by district and school, staff will be able to continue breaking down the data into smaller chunks to see what the district, as well as the buildings, are doing well, what areas we need to take a closer look, and make decisions that are best for our students."
South Callaway R-2
South Callaway's students scored "target" and "on track" in status and progress, respectively. On track is the middle rating of the five potential ratings, while target is the second-highest - meaning students are meeting state expectations for improvement.
The supporting data shows South Callaway students performed best on the science test among the county's four districts. Just more than 42 percent scored at least proficient.
"I feel pretty good about our district's performance, but I also say that with caution," South Callaway Superintendent Kevin Hillman said. "We have set our (professional development) focus and work over the last few years and feel that we were very on top of the timeline and focus areas that we needed to improve. We will continue largely in that same focus and direction unless the future of this scoring guide starts to show us that we need to adjust."
He said, overall, he favors the new test and format.
"I feel that it forces districts to take a longer and more detailed look at themselves to fully understand what is happening with our academic areas," he said Wednesday. "I believe that schools fell into the same trap as many outside of districts with looking at a score from the APR in the past and not looking deep enough to find trends and what was happening below the surface."
Much like the administration at other area districts, Hillman is looking into other ways to assess how schools and individual students are doing at mastering material.
"That makes a lot more sense to me then how a student does on a one-time test," he said.
However, the new system means it's difficult for South Callaway to compare this year's performance to that of previous years.
"I think that it is hard for teachers and for parents to understand or see because there is not a score assigned and that is how we measure success and failure with most things in the academic world, at least in the past," Hillman added.