Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
It’s talked about in the halls of Congress and the halls of Jennings Elementary.
Its results come in the form of color-coded spreadsheets handed out in school board meetings, committee meetings and from parent-to-parent.
It is student test scores.
Over the past decade, and especially with the passage of the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act, testing of students has gotten more complicated, leading to a national movement of states banding together for common standards. Washington will join in next year.
As for 2011, the Colfax School District received a report from the state superintendent’s office in September on last year’s testing round.
The results showed writing scores as high as 23 percent above the state average, and Colfax’s highest ever in fourth, seventh and 10th grades.
In science, Colfax students had a 28 percent increase and highest ever for fifth grade. Tenth grade science scores were also the highest ever.
For the fourth to eighth grade science testing, it was a new computer-based test on new standards.
Colfax Superintendent Michael Morgan said the teaching staffs at Jennings and at the high school are very encouraged with the writing standard.
“Eighty-four percent passing (in fourth-grade writing) is a lot better than in the past,” Morgan said. “We’re probably more in line with the standards than we’ve probably ever been.”
“I’m very happy with the results,” said Jennings principal Tom Arlt.
Areas where Colfax fell below the state average were fifth-grade math, fifth-grade science (by one percentage point) and sixth-grade reading.
A new element in this year’s testing was the start of end-of-course assessments, in which kids are tested twice a year after they’ve completed a course.
Morgan and staff’s focus is in making sure their curriculum meets the state standards, and looking to see where students didn’t do as well.
For example, the data might show a weakness in calculation skills, but there’s no indication if that is in adding, subtracting or dividing.
To get further insight, for the past three years, the Colfax schools have done MAPS testing twice a year.
Results included math scores which reflected the first year of a new, state-recommended program called “Math Connects.” One highlight in the results is that 41 Colfax eighth graders, 88 percent, met the standard in Algebra, a high school requirement.
“We’re pushing hard in math,” said Arlt. “Our emphasis is paying off.”
“We’ve been very frustrated as a school with the moving targets of math standards,” said Morgan. “We’re doing the best we can on what the students are evaluated on now.”
To help teachers aim for the standards, last year Colfax hired a half-time consultant to help implement a new math curriculum. This year Brenda Kneeshaw, former JES faculty member, is advising on the overall curriculum.
In grade-school science, Jennings Elementary will start an after-school science program Oct. 18, a joint project with Palouse Discovery Science Center. Seven students from each grade will be invited to participate.
From there, Arlt and staff will turn their focus to improving reading scores.
The next issue to address will be the 2012 adoption of Common Core Standards, when the benchmarks change again.
Common Core is the states’ movement toward national standards, though the federal government does not set them.
A total of 43 states have signed on so far.
“This should provide some consistency for years to come,” said Morgan. “It’ll be nice to have 40-some states on the same test.”
Another benefit is that textbook publishers are working to meet the common core standards.
One drawback to the Common Core is that, in the case of Washington, the state has had some high standards in reading and writing. The Common Core expectations will be lower.
“But we’ve decided to go with the group,” said Morgan.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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