Little school progress in Valley

Frontiersman

MAT-SU - Over the past three years, academic test scores failed to improve in the Mat-Su Borough School District.

In a report to the Mat-Su School Board last week, educational consultant Gary Whiteley said the district is making little or no progress toward increasing standards-based student test scores from year to year.

&#8220There is a strong likelihood that a student who is not proficient in a content area will remain not proficient from year to year,” he said May 17.

Whiteley based his report on standardized test scores, which are administered annually to students across the state as part of the federally mandated No Child Left Behind law.

After analyzing test scores from the past three school years, Whiteley concluded that Mat-Su students, in most categories, show stagnant achievement levels. In many cases, he said, the percentage of students proficient in reading, writing and math is decreasing slightly each year.

As a whole, one in three Mat-Su students in grades three through nine are not proficient in math, with 23 percent not proficient in writing and 17 percent not proficient in reading.

Despite the NCLB law mandating all students achieve proficiency by 2014, the Mat-Su numbers have changed little in three years.

Whiteley's report and subsequent presentation to all Mat-Su principals is part of an ongoing program to improve the school district's academic achievement.

Bob Doyle, the borough's chief school administrator, said Whiteley's presentation will help the district confront the &#8220brutal facts.”

&#8220We don't just want people thinking that we are all living in Lake Wobegon,” he said. &#8220We are not all above average.”

The road to academic improvement started several years ago, Doyle explained, when the school district purchased a computer program to gather and analyze district data. The next step was training staff how to understand the data. Then, this fall, the school board set rigorous academic standards. Doyle said he wanted the board to see the facts to gain a sense for the work that still lies ahead.

Whiteley offered several improvement strategies based on success stories from school districts that are making considerable gains in student academics. For starters, he said districts have to look at what they can control.

Whiteley said educators often tell him that they don't control much of what happens in schools. Poverty, kids playing hooky and uninvolved parents all are areas where educators tell him they have little control.

While acknowledging the difficulties in public education, Whiteley offered some heartening news.

&#8220I remind them of the research that says there is some very important things in a six-hour period that schools do control,” he said.

One of the most effective tools is to align curriculum instruction and assessment, which helps ensure that educators are teaching the correct material at the correct grade levels and then testing appropriately. The Mat-Su district has worked the last couple of years to align curriculum to ensure students are taught exactly what the state requires.

Other strategies which pay academic dividends include regular classroom assessments to monitor student progress throughout the year. This includes quizzes and in-class tests. Whiteley said it's crucial that teachers have time to assess their teaching styles as well, and adapt them when necessary.

Doyle concurred, and said many of the decisions regarding evaluation, and discussions about academic strategies will be on a school-by-school basis.

&#8220The real piece is making sure teachers have the time to get together to have meaningful discussions,” he said. &#8220There is a lot of hard work to be done and we are ready for it.”

Contact Joel Davidson at

352-2266 or joel.davidson@ frontiersman.com.