The annual testing report for the Worth County school brought bad news and good news. The bad news is that the school did not meet the Annual Progress requirements for Communication Arts. The good news is that the school is in the same boat as the rest of the state; the state as a whole did not meet its Annual Progress requirements under federally mandated No Child Left Behind testing. And the school’s students tested either at or better than the state averages on the annual testing for both math and communication arts; in addition, the school’s students tested well above the state averages on science and met the AYP for math.
Superintendent Matt Robinson said that the state was going to switch to a growth model for evaluating schools; he said that with the growth model, the school would have come closer to passing the Communication Arts component of the No Child Left Behind testing. He said that the 2014 goals of the No Child Left Behind legislation were never going to be met and that "it was going to start hurting schools." Previously, the state had switched from a 5-tiered system to a 4-tiered system.
Robinson noted in his written discussion of the results that the AYP was only a single indicator of the school’s academic performance, as measured by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Other factors, such as graduation rates and attendance rates, were considered, and the school met all of these standards.
Robinson said that the previous model had "compared apples to oranges" because it was comparing different kids; the new model would measure how well a particular student did compared to the year before. And he said that the results, in many cases, were close enough that one or two kids could take the school from red (in need of improvement) to green.
In addition, Robinson said that the school was switching from the MAP testing to end of course tests. He said that would ensure that the students were tested on subject matter taught in the schools rather than force teachers to teach to the test. Students from third to eighth grade will still take the MAP tests.
He said that it would get harder every year to meet the Annual Progress Requirements of No Child Left Behind, but he said that it could be done in this area; for instance, he said that Stanberry and Jefferson were gold star schools for their ability to meet the progress requirements.
In addition, Robinson reported that the school’s ACT scores went up as well, continuing a recent trend. He said that was good because more students than usual had signed up to take the ACT. He said that the ability of students to take upper level classes was predictive of how well they would do on the ACT, which meant that the school’s recent move to eight-hour days was a good move; he said that would allow students to take band and FFA and other such activities and still take upper level courses and stay on track to graduate; he said that in a lot of school districts, it was a struggle to make sure that students were prepared for college and that they met new state requirements for graduation.
Robinson said that improving the school’s test scores in Communication Arts, which covers literacy and reading, would involve the whole school and not just the English class. "It has to happen in all classes across the board," he said. Since this is the first year that the school has not met the Annual Progress requirements of No Child Left Behind, there are no penalties that the school faces; if the school fails to meet the Annual Progress Requirements, they would have to come up with a three-year improvement plan. However, Robinson said that he was not waiting for the school to miss the AYP goals next year and that he was already in the process of drawing up an improvement plan for Communication Arts and working with the administration and staff.
Christina Charles, a visitor, requested that the bus stop between 8th street and Lover’s Lane, citing safety concerns and the high number of kids who lived there. There is a bus that already drives by there, but it is full. The board adopted last year’s plan; however, Robinson said that he would continue to look into ways of busing more town students. He reported that he had done some checking and that if there was no extra cost to bus the students, the state would allow them to bus more town students, but that if there was extra cost, such as an extra trip, then there would be a penalty. He said that most of the busses were full right now and that was another problem that had to be addressed; he said that he would be riding busses to see the situation for himself and to evaluate the bus drivers.
On a related note, the school received a spot inspection from the Missouri Highway Patrol, which found that there was only one defect, an upper fender light, which was immediately replaced. Board member Kevin Austin reported that he had heard many positive comments from the inspectors afterwards; they told him that there were normally a lot more problems with busses that they found during random inspections at area schools.
Debbie From of ACES gave her annual presentation to the school board. ACES is a 21-member educational cooperative designed to meet the needs of students who are special education or who are at-risk. They include an alternative school and assist districts with behavioral intervention services.
From reported on the goals and challenges of the program. She reported that the number of suspensions reported by the schools was reduced by 12%, which is over the state goal of 10%. The graduation rate for the member school districts was 95.84%; that exceeds their goal of 95%. The attendance rate last year for students was 86.48%; however, From said that it was closer to 90% this year. She said that the group that skewed the numbers were the 17-18 year olds, who are not required by state law to attend school under the Compulsory Education Act. The goal was 93%.
The number of discipline/incident referral reductions for students enrolled in the program was 38.7%. The goal for the program was 50%; there were 30 students reviewed, and 17 decreased their number of referrals by 50% or greater. From said that they were on the right track, but that it could be better; she said that there were strict protocols for when teachers were to refer students for action.
One of the areas that was in most need of improvement for the program was the number of students who transitioned successfully back to their home school or who received an alternative diploma. For Fiscal Year 2008, only 50% of students met this outcome, down from 71.91% the year before. She said that the reason was that they were heavy on older students; she said that there would be better outcomes with earlier interventions with students. She broke down the data into age groups; the group most likely not to have successful outcomes was the Missouri Options Program students.
The Missouri Options Program is a last chance program for students who are in danger of not getting all the credits they need to get a high school graduation. This is not a GED program, because students still get a High School Diploma through the program; if a student successfully completes the program, schools do not have to count them as a dropout. The program had a 42% success rate because the students enrolled are at high risk for dropping out; by contrast, the 7th to 12th grade intervention program had an 82% success rate and the elementary intervention program had a 100% success rate.
Students at the program met 84.3% of their academic plans, that was an improvement from 2007; the state goal was 80%.
ACES also offers a prevention program for schools; it has served 108 students in their home districts; 82.4% of the students in the prevention program maintained placement in their home districts.
The estimated value of services provided by ACES was $86,469 for each school district. The Worth County School paid dues and tuition for students totaling slightly over $22,000, meaning that the school saves over $60,000 by participating in the program. And board members noted that there were even more savings given the fact that it creates a better environment for students not in need of intervention.
From said that the biggest challenge was getting funding from the state to continue the program. Safe Schools funding will decrease from the current level of $400,000 this year to a maximum of $300,000 next year, depending on the ability of ACES to get funding; they can renew their Safe Schools grant, but it will be a competitive process with similar programs around the state. They will also lose $60,000 in cooperative expansion grants.
Fifth grade teacher Ginny Quick reported on her classroom’s studies. In science, they were studying weather and weather lore, including tornadoes and other extreme weather; they were making brochures about weather emergencies. In English, they were working on writing sentences and writing short autobiographies about themselves; in math, they were working on place values and decimals. Julia Moore talked briefly about her English work at the junior high and high school levels.
Elementary Principal Nancy Lewis reported in her written report to the board that 88% of families attended the Open House on August 18th; school pictures were taken on the 25th and progress reports were sent home on September 5th. The current enrollment of the elementary was 191.
In his written report to the board. Robinson said that the school had gotten a Dollar General Grant for literacy for the Junior High Enhancement class. The grant is for $4,990 and will be used to target reading, including comprehension skills, vocabulary, and fluency, and will target individual deficits as measured on the Stanford Reading Test and the MAP Test. It will be used to purchase books for classrooms, supplies, and professional development.
Robinson said that there was no more state funding for the A+ program and that the school would need to incur the costs from its own budget if they wished to pursue that designation. The renovation of the softball field was progressing; the dugouts are being put in and the fence will soon be up. Starting in October, a new 5-year Comprehensive School Improvement Plan will be developed; a new committee will be formed for that purpose.
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