County Superintendent John Hudson announced that 13 of 15 schools made the grade.
“It is with great pleasure I share the good news about Boone County Schools,” said Hudson. “We are very proud of our administrators, teachers and students.”
Hudson added that it remains the goal of the public school system to make AYP for all schools in the county.
“We will be targeting the two schools that didn’t make he grade and we will not be satisfied until we have all of our schools meeting the new standards,” he said.
Hudson and Boone County Schools Assistant Superintendent Dr. Lisa Beck explained that West Virginia has raised the rigor of its curriculum to match national and international standards.
“Boone County students are meeting the challenge,” Dr. Beck said. “Results on the West Virginia Educational Standards Test 2 (WESTEST2) show improvement in math and reading/language arts.”
Hudson says as part of Global 21, students deserve it.
“The world demands it,” Hudson said. “The West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) updated its CSOs to include rigor, relevance and 21st century performance skills.”
Traditional subjects, including math, science, English, social studies and foreign languages, remain at the core of Global 21, Hudson said.
“But the foundation is strengthened with the addition of performance skills, including critical thinking and problem solving,” he said.
Hudson said this year the WVDE has updated its scoring system.
“WESTEST2’s new scoring system is reflective of a more rigorous curriculum,” he explained. “Mastery is now defined to better reflect the rigorous schoolwork needed to succeed in a global economy. This is accomplished by requiring students to show greater comprehension of what they are taught in school. That means students need to score higher on the WESTEST to be considered to have mastered the material.”
For example, Hudson explained, on the math section, third graders needed to score 557 points to achieve mastery in 2009. In 2010, they need to score 581 points to achieve mastery, he said.
“What is valued throughout West Virginia and in Boone County is constant improvement in student achievement and learning,” stated Hudson. “Even as the NCLB standards become more rigorous, our schools continue to work to close the achievement gap.”
AYP is determined by a school’s graduation rate, their attendance rate, and by WESTEST2 scores, Dr. Beck added.
“NCLB accountability requires all schools that do not meet AYP to identify areas for improvement,” she said. “In Boone County, NCLB accountability focuses on closing the achievement gap between various student subgroups.”
The two schools in Boone County that did not make AYP are Van Jr./Sr. High School and Madison Middle School.
“It is important to point out that if a school is identified as not meeting AYP, the status should not reflect on the teachers or students,” said Hudson. “A school can be identified for a variety of reasons and we will make certain to assist the school as it improves its student achievement levels.”
Van Jr./Sr. High School actually did a good job on improving their WESTEST2 scores from one year to the next scoring the highest in the county in high school mathematics and language arts, according to Hudson.
“Their reason for not making AYP was a decline in their graduation rate,” he said. “This year, support structures will be in place to work with the students to better insure a higher graduation rate for the students attending Van Sr. High School.”
Hudson said Madison Middle School did not achieve the required score in two of their subgroups.
“However, this past term the students showed a marked improvement in both mathematics and language arts,” Hudson said. “Their 6th grade students from one year to the next showed a gain of eight percentage points in language arts and MMS’s 7th grade students showed a gain of 15 percentage points in mathematics. Overall their incoming 8th grade students showed an outstanding gain of 12 percentage points in mathematics and 15 percentage points in language arts. As these types of improvements are made for MMS, they will continue to focus on research based instruction and professional development, along with continued support from the district.”
Hudson says Boone County will use the recently released data to analyze students’ academic strengths and weaknesses and, in turn, develop specific improvement initiatives.
“Currently, the county is focusing on high-quality professional development for all teachers and administrators and in a strong and rigorous curriculum, focused on 21st century skills, that includes research-based reading and standards-based mathematics programs, integrated with technology across all grade levels,” he said.
Dr. Beck added that parents should note that all schools in Boone County would issue WESTEST2 student score reports along with an explanation letter and brochure to students on Friday, Sept. 3.
For additional information about Boone County Schools, WESTEST2, or 2010 AYP, visit the Boone County Schools web site www.boonecountyboe.org or visit the West Virginia Department of Education’s online web site at :http://wveis.k12.wv.us/nclb/public10/nclbmenu.cfm
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