Frazier taking additional measure for proficiency
PERRYOPOLIS – The Frazier School District is taking additional measures to ensure that all of its students will be proficient by the 2014 school year under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) starting with reviewing individualized reports of each student and changing the kindergarten grading scale. The district’s three principals on Thursday presented school directors with a summary of student achievement prepared in conjunction with the latest test scores from the Pennsylvania State System of Assessment test (PSSA) issued through the state Department of Education.
The lengthy documents outline specific data-driven information that administrators will use to compare and hone in on the needed skills to have all students proficient ahead of time.
“This benefits all of us because we now have specific data on grade levels all the way through,” said Ken Meadows, elementary principal.
Meadows added such information will enable Frazier to get the true picture of each student’s performance and what areas need improvement.
Under NCLB, the PSSA is now being administered to students in grades three to 11.
Meadows, along with Don Martin, high school principal and Kathleen Janci, middle school principal, agreed the PSSA is mirrored by the 4Sight test they are currently administering.
The 4Sight test is a state-sponsored assessment used to determine math and reading proficiency and is available to all 501 school districts online through the education department.
“We have a lot of schools asking us for the magic pill but what we have is a very intense focus with student achievement,” said Meadows.
This year, Meadows said fourth grade students were given the PSSA in math and reading for the first time and scored well above the state level while fifth and eighth graders also did well on the writing test.
“This is actually our baseline and where we have to build from,” said Meadows.
By approving the change in the kindergarten grading scale, Meadows said school directors have provided the staff to help improve readiness skills.
The primary revision includes the addition of highly proficient with a score of 80 to 89 percent under advanced from 90 to 100 percent.
Proficient was also changed from 70 to 79 percent from 70 to 84 percent while basic remained at 60 to 69 percent and below basic at 0 to 59 percent.
Since this was the first year for reading and math in the sixth grade, Janci said PSSA scores could not be compared with previous data, however the 4Sight program enabled teachers to get a heads up on their students at the beginning of the year.
“On a child’s individual report it breaks it down to which specific anchors they do well on, which they can hold their own on and which they need help on and that’s where the teacher takes that data and decides the instruction,” said Janci.
Martin said all school districts have some type of grow network that breaks the PSSA down into standards that students perform well in and ones they need work in.
While Frazier is highly competitive in its math and reading scores, Martin said the high school staff took the scores a step further by reviewing the areas of deficiency and measurement.
“When you get into the nuts and bolts of things of PSSA it really is far beyond one day of testing and a big part of it is preparing,” added Martin.