Making the Grade

Roosevelt meets AYP goals

By HEATHER GACH
(EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is the first installment in a monthly series called “Making the Grade” that focuses on the Williamsport Area School District and what it is doing to make Adequate Yearly Progress as measured by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The next installment will be published Nov. 26.)

Roosevelt Middle School has reason to celebrate. The 2006-07 school year marked the first time the school made Adequate Yearly Progress as measured under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Though it fell short in other years since the law’s inception in 2002, administrators note the school showed consistent improvement annually, and that determination to make AYP has finally paid off.

“We have a staff that’s dedicated to the success of our students. We have a ‘don’t quit’ attitude around here,” said Trevor Enderle, assistant principal. “Every child needs an opportunity to succeed and we need to give them that opportunity.”

At the district-level, Williamsport area fell short of making AYP for the 2006-07 year, placing the district under “warning” status. District AYP is based on attendance, graduation rate, test participation and performance targets, and Williamsport made the mark in all except its graduation rate which fell at 71.9 percent when the requirement was 80 percent or growth from the previous year.

With Roosevelt’s strides and successes at other schools, Superintendent Dr. Kathleen R. Kelley shrugs off the notion that the district is “failing.”

This is the first in a new Sun-Gazette series, “Making the Grade,” which explores what Williamsport schools are doing to improve student test scores and keep them up as NCBL continues to raise the bar toward its goal of 100-percent student proficiency on state tests by 2014.

“We attribute the success of the students at Roosevelt to several factors. Curriculum, instruction and assessment are aligned to state standards. Also, several instructional enhancements are in place, such as after-school tutoring and the ‘I Can Learn’ classroom to support mathematics instruction,” Kelley said in an e-mail to the Sun-Gazette. “However, most importantly is the dedication and caring of the staff and administration at Roosevelt. The administrators and staff want students to succeed and help them believe that they can!î

Enderle credits “data driven decision making” for much of the changes implemented within Roosevelt that have helped boost students’ successes.

Looking at areas of strengths and weaknesses, Enderle said teachers have better focused their curriculums to teach students what needs to be taught rather than spending time teaching skills they’ve already mastered.

To determine areas of strengths and weaknesses, Enderle said the school rigorously analyzes student scores on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) math and reading tests, the tests scores used to determine AYP status.

In 2006-07, 54 percent of students had to score proficient or advanced in reading and 45 percent in math at each grade level and in each subgroup to make AYP.

The bar will be raised in the 2008-09 school year when 63 percent of students will be required to be proficient in reading and 56 percent in math.

Enderle said the school administers the 4Sight test about three times a year. The tests indicate how students would do on the PSSA had they taken it on that particular day, allowing teachers to create more targeted lesson plans to prepare for the actual PSSAs.

Complied with the Pennsylvania Value-Added Assessment System which, Enderle said, analyzes individual students’ growth and progress, the school developed a clearer picture of how individual students, classes and the building as a whole were progressing toward AYP.

Last year for the first time, Enderle said the school began sharing student data with parents to show them their child’s progress, expectations for upcoming years and explain intervention options that could help raise achievement.

“It was a pretty unique experience,” Enderle said. “We tried to show parents we have tools to help.”

Some of those tools, Enderle said, include after-school homework clubs and remediation periods within the day for students to receive direct assistance from teachers.

“We’ve seen a real increase in motivation for our students because of all the positive intervention we can offer,” said Judith Bower, instructional support teacher.

Bower said students have even begun arriving to school early looking to work with teachers before school starts. Eighth-grade teacher Michael Lundy said he arrives at school daily around 7:30 a.m. and usually finds students waiting to get in the “I Can Learn” math computer lab to work.

“That’s pretty amazing to me,” Bower said about the students arriving on their own in the morning for help.

In the lab, headsets are connected to the computers allowing students to complete lessons and tests at their own pace. Students don’t have to wait while their peers ask questions as they might in a more traditional classroom setting.

Students who need more attention get more time and more focused instruction while those who’ve mastered certain skills don't have to wait for their classmates to catch up before moving to a new topic.

At the teacher’s station, Lundy and eighth-grade teacher Randy Laird can receive feedback on what lessons and tests the students’ successfully completed, and also can pull up which specific questions students answered incorrectly to provide one-on-one focused instruction with the student.

The lab’s been up and running for about four years now, Lundy and Laird said, and since, the number of students enrolled in algebra has doubled and is nearing the point of tripling soon.

In 2001, they said, only about 30 percent of students scored proficient on Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests in math. The tests are given to determine AYP status as measured under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

In 2006, that number went up to 72 percent.

The two were invited to present at the International Council of Leadership in Education symposium themed, “Meeting AYP and More.”

Lundy and Laird also said the school began a “Tuesday morning math moment” on televisions throughout the school where a math-related vocabulary word is explained to students.

Eighth-grader Donald Kaler, son of Ronald Jr. and Karen Kaler, said he attends the math lab during the day and stays after school for help with reading.

“It’ll help me get better,” Kaler said, adding that the math lab is “pretty fun.”

Enderle said that not only have they stepped up efforts to improve student scores, but also another goal within Roosevelt, he said, is teacher improvement.

Enderle said they’ve tried to kick the traditional “inservice” up a notch. Teachers analyze their classes and students’ scores and data, but also collaboratively discuss best teaching practices and share successes of their own so other teachers can possibly benefit.

“We don’t just bring in research. We want teachers to share ideas and collaborate,” Enderle said, saying they use the term “professional development opportunities” now rather than “inservice” to more accurately define their purpose.

Enderle said the school’s enjoying the satisfaction of a job well done, but noted the job is never completely done. To continue on with this success, Enderle said the school hopes to explore new and exciting ways to improve reading scores, since much of the effort to this point has focused on bettering math scores.

“We offer these opportunities,” Enderle said. “But there’s no reason why we can’t try even harder still for these kids.”