Assessment Pride (05-18-09)

We have much in which to be proud of our schools Every day we educate our students in a variety of meaningful ways and for our efforts we can point to many outstanding results.

From kindergarten, where our students learn to read fluently, to high school graduation, where most go on to be successful in post-secondary education, the signs of our success are abundant. Our grade schoolers produce amazing projects that line the walls of the grade school, and our high schoolers bring home award after award from state and national contests in every conceivable area. We have scholars, and athletes, and musicians, and thespians, as well as artists and journalists and future business men and women. We produce doctors and lawyers, teachers and journalists, and engineers and mechanics, not to mention the most productive farmers the world has ever known.

Small schools are able to produce these results because we are able to get involved in a positive and meaningful capacity in the lives of our students. We form relationships that have a profound impact in the way our students develop and in the potential they are able to reach.

This week, I reviewed and analyzed our 2009 state assessment data. I compared our current scores with those from previous years, and compared our scores to criteria for the Kansas Standard of Excellence. Considering the abundance of evidence of excellence in our school district, the scores were not surprising. However, our tremendous performance on these state assessments is certainly worthy of our attention and pride.

Let me break it down:

Grade 3-8 are tested every year in reading and math, and the students are tested in these areas once in high school. I will focus on the scores for grades 3-8.

Each class is tested in both reading and math, meaning there is a total of twelve assessment scores (6 in reading, 6 in math) to examine. Last year, we reached 100% proficiency in two of the assessments – 7th grade reading and math. Now this would be an un-heard of achievement for a large school. It is extremely difficult to get everyone in a class to score at proficient or higher. Again, we have an advantage because we know every student and we work with every student. In the words of the federal government’s education mandate, in our school few children are “left behind.”

This year was even better, with SIX assessments showing 100% of scores in the proficient category or better. And the “or better” categories of “exceeds standards” and “exemplary” are where the majority of the students scored on ALL the assessments. Rather than the expected “bell curve” where the majority of student scores fall in the middle range, Hill City has a Nike Swoop, where the majority of the scores fall in the highest range.

Last year, out of the twelve assessments in grades 3-8, our scores earned us the Kansas Standard Of Excellence rating seven times. This earned our grade school a Building Wide Standard of Excellence rating in Reading and Math, and our middle school a Building Wide Standard of Excellence rating in Reading.

This year, I anticipate that our scores in ELEVEN out of the twelve assessments will earn the Kansas Standard of Excellence, and that we will earn Building Wide Standard of Excellence ratings all around.

If you examine these scores over a five-year period, one can see obvious evidence of growth and sustained excellence. In anyway you look at it, our schools are helping students perform consistently at the highest levels.

Take a moment to thank our educators. And take a moment to be proud of your schools.