Triad officials are optimistic about a new school year and their plans to increase test scores among students.
During its meeting Thursday, the Board of Education heard a presentation from Elementary School Principal Lee Claypool regarding strategies teachers will use to boost student testing in the 2023-24 school year.
Board President Chris Millice said he appreciates that administrators and teachers have identified topics students struggled with and are “jumping right into those weak areas.”
For instance, Claypool said diagnostic testing indicated that third grade English-Language Arts (ELA) students were especially challenged by questions that required them to compare one piece of text to another.
Since January 2023, teachers have been doing a weekly two-story comparison with students to strengthen those skills.
Claypool said they are also working to lay the foundation earlier by implementing two-paragraph comparisons in second grade.
Likewise, fourth grade ELA classes are working with science and social studies classes to improve students’ abilities to digest informational texts. Claypool said fourth graders are also being given additional time for writing.
She emphasized that she feels data gathered during mid-year testing clearly aligns with areas students tend to excel on or struggle with when taking state tests.
She said using this information will allow teachers to implement interventions as soon as they notice a deficient area, rather than once it emerges during state testing.
The principal said there is a specific goal at each grade level for ELA, math and the students receiving specialized instruction from the “Flood” intervention team.
She noted that, based on end-of-year testing from the 2022-23 school year, staff has already identified likely intervention groups for the upcoming school year.
“You’re doing a lot of good things over there, Lee,” Millice said.
Board member Matt McConnell said he feels the early interventions being implemented at the elementary school are evident in improved third grade reading scores, which he said used to be a point of concern for the district.
“It’s a pretty good success compared to our other scores,” he said.
Superintendent Vickie Maruniak (formerly Hoffman) said teachers throughout the district prepared during a meeting “opening day,” the first day of classes, to take on the challenge of improving student test scores.
She said staff members were given a book called “The Coffee Bean,” by Jon Gordon and Damon West, who argue that people behave like one of three things when put in hot water: a carrot, which becomes soft; an egg, which becomes hard or a coffee bean, which makes something positive.
Maruniak said the message is ultimately: “you control how you react to those changes.”
The board heard a brief presentation from High School Social Studies Teacher Jason Malone as an example of how to adapt and cater teaching strategies to students in need.
Malone was the teacher of one of several high school subjects that saw increased state test scores last year.
During a special meeting Aug. 7 to discuss test data, High School Principal Todd Schneider highlighted Malone’s work as a testament to the benefits of early intervention.
Malone explained that he identified a group of 22 students based on their diagnostic testing who would participate in an intervention group during their advisory period.
For two days a week, during that time Malone would review topics from his class that students struggled with or subjects that were taught much earlier in the school year, but would appear on the state test.
Of that group, 11 students passed.
Maruniak, though, said many of the students showed significant growth even if they did not meet the state standard.
“There really isn’t anyone on your list that doesn’t have growth,” she said.
Chief Academic Officer Jenna Fograscher said, like Claypool and Malone, staff members are working to use data to bolster weak areas in order to help students improve their scores.