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| Assessment Testing Well Underway |
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| Education | |||
| Written by Kevin Gray | |||
| Wednesday, 11 March 2009 09:00 | |||
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Students at Trojan Elementary School and at Osawatomie Middle and High schools have begun taking their Kansas state assessment tests. Teachers and the building principals have taken time to offer students encouragement to do their best and seek higher standards in reading, writing, math, English, social studies and science. The district is about half done with testing at this point, and things seem to be going well, said Susan Gorman, director of student improvement. “Most of our students take the computerized assessment online, so we are able to see preliminary results as soon as they finish all parts of the test. So far, we are pleased with the results,” she said. Osawatomie Middle School Principal Dan Welch said he was pleased with the results he is seeing from his students. “We expect to see the status quo, if not better,” he said. “We have just begun and will complete all the reading tests by March 12. Math testing will begin after the spring break, which will be followed by writing, social studies and science. We’re always anxious to see how our students perform on the assessments. As you know, it becomes a bigger challenge each year as the bar is raised and motivating students must continue. We’re proud of our performance over the past several years and expect our students to continue to perform at a high level.” When districts first started the assessment testing, Welch said, 50 percent of students were expected to master the material on the test. Now, 80 percent of students must bed proficient at the middle level, Welch said. “And, we do like to add Standards of Excellence banners to our building,” he said, adding that by 2014, 100 percent of students must be proficient. As far as rewards, Gorman said, the focus is on encouraging kids to put forth their best effort on the test. “Students at Trojan are rewarded with a bowling trip at the end of assessments. The majority of students taking assessments at the high school level are sophomores, and they are rewarded with a day off right before spring break. The middle school likes doing a good job on testing in order to make their end of the year trip to Worlds of Fun,” she said. The middle school ties the reward with a group effort, Welch said. “We will reward a whole class if they do well and take them to Worlds of Fun. If they don’t make it, they don’t go. We like the team approach instead of the individual one,” he said. “This is why we don’t test after 1:30 and have moved schedules around to test only in the morning.” Trojan Elementary and OMS, Gorman said, provide an after-school tutoring program in third through eighth grades during the year from November through March for students who could benefit from extra help in reading and math. The school provides transportation for these students. “Teachers reinforce good habits such as getting plenty of rest, using good reading strategies such as highlighting key words and phrases, and double-checking. In math, we emphasize using a problem-solving strategy to help sort out the information needed and choose the correct process to answer the question being asked,” she said. “We feel that these are all good life skills as well as helpful for testing.” Gorman said the district knows how inundated students are with so much information in today’s world. “This is why it is important that kids learn to not only read the words but also be able to discriminate between necessary and unnecessary information, to follow written directions, and to read a persuasive piece of writing and sort fact from opinion,” she said. Title 1 reading teacher Kimi Wilson said the Trojan students take Skills Focus classes. “These are 20-minute classes given three days a week in reading and math September through October. We give the students pretests, and if the subject matter has been mastered, they go on to an enrichment class,” Wilson said. “If they don’t, they go to that week’s class. This is for third through fifth grades. Teachers also give practice assessment tests to help with their test-taking skills and to help them learn how to eliminate silly answer choices quickly.” “Do Your Best on the Test” is the big phrase teachers are promoting at Trojan, said Principal Jeff White. “Our students take practice tests from January through February so they know what to expect when the assessments begin. They also have rewards to look forward to,” White said. “The fourth and fifth grades will have their own assembly where the high school basketball team will come and talk to the kids about doing their best and working hard. They will also show them some dribbling skills, for example, and different basketball skills. The second- and third-graders are treated to an assembly with the middle school cheerleaders who will do some cheers and talk to the kids about doing their best on the tests.” White said all the kids get to go bowling when the assessments are done. “I have a friend in Lawrence who owns a bowling alley. All the kids third through fifth get to go. Even the second graders get to go because they will begin taking the assessment the next year,” White said. “Plus, they have sold their trail mix, a money making experience where they are taken to the bank, buy the ingredients to make trail mix, and sell it, which helped them earn enough money for the trip. Otherwise, Partners in Education helps pay for the trip.” Assessment testing, said Osawatomie High School Principal Doug Chisam, is going very well at the high school. “Our teachers do an excellent job preparing our students to do their very best. We are finished with the reading test, which is mostly sophomores, and were testing in math last week and this week which again is mostly sophomores. Our social studies and science tests will be the first two weeks in April,” he said.
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