Most schools show adequate progress; math scores increase
Morgan County Schools met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standards for all but two accountability cells in the 2010 WESTEST 2 student exams. County schools met standards for 306 out of 308 cells.
All schools met adequate yearly progress except for Warm Springs Intermediate School and Warm Springs Middle School. Math scores rose across the county.
Warm Springs Intermediate School met standards in all areas except for students with disabilities in reading/ language arts.
The school improved from last year when it didn’t meet adequate yearly progress in four cells—students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged students for both math and reading/language arts.
Warm Springs Middle School met standards in all areas except for economically disadvantaged students in reading/language arts.
The school improved from last year when it missed making adequate yearly progress for special education students in reading and math.
Above state average
County third, ninth and tenth grades scored above the state average in reading/language arts, said Terry Riley, Morgan County Schools Director of Special Education and Assessment.
County seventh, ninth and tenth graders scored above the state average in math, he said. Riley said he was very pleased with the math scores increasing across the county.
Improvement
The intermediate school and Greenwood Elementary showed improvement in all areas, Riley said.
The middle school improved their scores for special education and economically disadvantaged students and also in math across all grades, he said.
Paw Paw Elementary showed significant gains in reading and Paw Paw High School showed great improvement in math, Riley said.
Berkeley Springs High School improved test scores for special education students, all students and also economically disadvantaged students in reading/language arts.
Pleasant View Elementary had percentages of student proficiency in math and reading/language arts that were significantly above the starting points, Riley said.
They also showed improvements in math schoolwide and with economically disadvantaged students in reading.
More rigorous test
Riley said that the WESTEST 2 was brought more in line with national and international tests. Students had to achieve higher scores to meet mastery levels on the test than before, he said.
The goal is to have students be successful in the global work force with more rigorous curriculum standards and testing. They are requiring that students show greater comprehension of what they’ve learned in school, he said.
The focus is continual improvement in student achievement and proficiency. Schools are stressing the growth model in how to move kids from one level of learning to the next, Riley said.
Areas of focus
Priority areas of focus include economically disadvantaged students countywide, students with disabilities, elementary writing scores, rising seventh grade class-math and reading, rising sixth grade class-reading and keyboarding and technology skills in primary grades, Riley said.
The county’s biggest challenge was focusing on economically disadvantaged kids and needed differentiated instruction as well as special education, he said.
Riley and School Superintendent David Banks said they were pleased with the WESTEST results, but both noted that there was room for improvement.
Standards rose
Standards were raised for the test. Banks said that compared with last years’ scores, our schools have shown significant improvement. Individual students may not have improved on the same scale because of the rigor of the test, he said.
He felt much of the success was from teachers being focused on standards based lessons, small group instruction and teaching to the content standards and objectives.
Reading and math coaches have helped teachers make changes in instruction and administrators are much better at monitoring instruction than before, Banks said.
Special education continues to be an area of concern, he said. Banks felt the schools have made improvements. They are trying to reach those students while they are younger and still in regular education classes through the Response to Intervention process, he said.
Students’ individual test scores will be released in September. Parents are encouraged to contact their child’s school if they have any questions about their test results, Riley said.
