November 21, 2009
What's Inside:
District reveals MAP scores
Superintendent says district is improving
Superintendent says district is improving
The state of St. Joseph School District students’ academic performance depends on the ruler.
According to the No Child Left Behind ruler, district students are increasingly struggling to catch up with rising expectations.
According to district administrators’ ruler, students are becoming more successful with time.
“One measure is not a measure of their complete improvement,” Superintendent Melody Smith said Thursday about the annual Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) test results. “When you put all the measurements together, we are improving.”
Dr. Smith said measurements outside of MAP results include how well the district prepares students for college, the work force and life. As an example, she pointed to the success of district programs that prepare students for engineering and medical careers.
During a Thursday press conference, district administrators discussed the 2008 MAP results.
Student goals for MAP are tied to No Child Left Behind, the federal mandate that aims to bring all students to proficient levels in math and communication arts (reading) by 2014. Goals, also known as Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), rise each year, and districts that don’t reach the goals face punishments, including loss of federal funds.
Here are some details from the latest results:
Overall, the percentage of students scoring advanced or proficient remained steady compared to last year.
In communication arts, 44.8 percent of students finished in one of those two top categories. In math, 49.3 percent of students scored advanced or proficient.
For the second year in a row, the district, along with 75 percent of the districts in the state, made a “district improvement” list. This is because black students, Hispanic students, students living in poverty, students with limited English proficiency and students with developmental disabilities did not meet goals.
As a result, the district has to divert a portion of its federal funding from reading support and other programs that serve the poorest students to professional development (staff training).
As the percentage of students that must score advanced or proficient in order to reach goals has risen, the number of district schools not meeting the goals has also risen.
This year, eight of the 25 elementary, middle and high schools fell short. Some of those schools will have to turn in detailed improvement plans to the state as a result.
Middle school student scores saw the biggest gains in the past year. District administrators said they had focused on improving middle school scores in recent years. Lagging middle school scores has been an issue nationwide.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled with our middle school results,” said Cheri Patterson, the district’s director of curriculum, instruction and assessment.
Nancy Hull can be reached at nancyhull@npgco.com.
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No Child Left Behind and MAP are a joke. I agree with the concept of No Child Left Behind but the way they are running it is unrealistic and therefore damaging. The MAP test scores are not an accurate telling of what our students know and what the teachers are teaching because they cram for these tests at the expense of other subjects of study. They don't teach kids the information, they have to teach them how to write it down. The MAP tests don't care that the answer is correct, even in Math, they care how they student wrote it or if they "borrowed" words from the question or restated the question in the answer. Just like a lot of government programs teh concept might be good but who in the world comes up with the silly way they run it? I feel badly for the students who will suffer for this and I feel the district is fighting a loosing battle with these scores as are many other districts in the No Child Left Behind radar.
The emphasis that is placed on the "almighty test scores" due to the No Child left Behind Act is absurd. We are "growing" students that are "non-thinkers" and unable to problem solve. Teachers are unable to truly teach since they have to "spoon feed" students the questions and answers to the test. There isn't room left for any creativity in teaching as the teachers are fearful of job loss if their students score poorly. Tests are not a measure of success. They are only a measure of "rote learning". Not to mention that many students have test anxiety which is compounded by the trickle down effect of the pressure the teacher's have placed on them. I do believe our district understands many of the flaws, such as students with developmental delays being expected to perform at the same level as those who are not delayed and students that are non-english speaking. It is going to take a ground swell of people across the nation to "wake up" our nation's leaders to the fact that test scores are not a measure of our student's intelligence nor their ability to succeed in the 'real world". Test scores also do not measure a teacher's ability to teach students the important skills needed to succeed outside of the classroom.