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Results of the latest state Math and ELA assessments have come in, and with changes in the test and its scoring method, Wayland-Cohocton administrators have been scrutinizing what the results really mean.
“Some things that jump out to me that are great, and I think to be applauded, is our grade three ELA,” Wayland Elementary Principal Todd Campbell said to the Board of Education during last month’s regular meeting.
Seventy seven percent of Way-Co third graders met or exceeded standards for English Language Arts, which ranked them first place out of the 22 schools in the Genesee Valley Education Parterships region in ELA scores.
On the flip side, fourth grade ELA scores were a little concerning, Campbell said. While 54 percent of students scored a level 3 (out of four levels), not a single fourth grader scored a level 4, the top level.
“How can one student not score a level four? That to me is bizarre,” Campbell said.
Way-Co fourth graders ranked 15 out of 22 in the GVEP region for their ELA results.
Campbell said students had to score higher on the test to reach level 4 — a drastic step up from last year — which has dropped the scoring placements of all schools in New York State.
About rankings in general, Campbell said he’s not impressed by the idea of districts competing against each other. He said tests should be about charting and encouraging individual student growth.
“That’s really, I think, much better than trying to rank us and compete amongst different schools. I don’t see a lot of benefit in that.”
Rankings don’t always match with test scores, Kelly Murray, Cohocton Elementary principal pointed out.
While 77 percent of students met or exceeded standards in third grade ELA, placing them in the top spot; 71 percent of Way-Co fourth graders met or exceeded proficiency in their math test, but were ranked 15 out of 22.
“So there’s just a lot to look at, and it’s not just as simple as looking just at their ranking.”
Murray also said that there is a significant jump in the types of questions between third and fourth grade tests, which she said isn’t bad, but schools have to know how to be better able to anticipate those changes.
Campbell said that those types of changes are another reason why he doesn’t like to look at rankings, even when students are ranked well, because, “what does that really mean? That’s why I think the growth model...is much more meaningful.”
Results of the latest state Math and ELA assessments have come in, and with changes in the test and its scoring method, Wayland-Cohocton administrators have been scrutinizing what the results really mean.
“Some things that jump out to me that are great, and I think to be applauded, is our grade three ELA,” Wayland Elementary Principal Todd Campbell said to the Board of Education during last month’s regular meeting.
Seventy seven percent of Way-Co third graders met or exceeded standards for English Language Arts, which ranked them first place out of the 22 schools in the Genesee Valley Education Parterships region in ELA scores.
On the flip side, fourth grade ELA scores were a little concerning, Campbell said. While 54 percent of students scored a level 3 (out of four levels), not a single fourth grader scored a level 4, the top level.
“How can one student not score a level four? That to me is bizarre,” Campbell said.
Way-Co fourth graders ranked 15 out of 22 in the GVEP region for their ELA results.
Campbell said students had to score higher on the test to reach level 4 — a drastic step up from last year — which has dropped the scoring placements of all schools in New York State.
About rankings in general, Campbell said he’s not impressed by the idea of districts competing against each other. He said tests should be about charting and encouraging individual student growth.
“That’s really, I think, much better than trying to rank us and compete amongst different schools. I don’t see a lot of benefit in that.”
Rankings don’t always match with test scores, Kelly Murray, Cohocton Elementary principal pointed out.
While 77 percent of students met or exceeded standards in third grade ELA, placing them in the top spot; 71 percent of Way-Co fourth graders met or exceeded proficiency in their math test, but were ranked 15 out of 22.
“So there’s just a lot to look at, and it’s not just as simple as looking just at their ranking.”
Murray also said that there is a significant jump in the types of questions between third and fourth grade tests, which she said isn’t bad, but schools have to know how to be better able to anticipate those changes.
Campbell said that those types of changes are another reason why he doesn’t like to look at rankings, even when students are ranked well, because, “what does that really mean? That’s why I think the growth model...is much more meaningful.”
The student growth model is expected to be implemented by the state in the 2014-15 year, and will be an assessment on how much a student has learned since the beginning of the year.
Superintendent Michael Wetherbee explained to the Board that with the growth model, “[New York State is] going to acknowledge student improvement, and you’re going to get credit for that, whereas in the past that was never the case.”
Wetherbee went on to say that, “if they follow through with that, I think that’s going to be a much more powerful tool for boards of education to know how classroom instruction is than just simply looking at a random percentage of students scoring in a particular range.”
