From the Superintendent's Desk
December 13, 2007
U.S.D. #223 District Update
I would like to take the opportunity to share some information with you about the educational excellence of our district and how our students (and staff) have performed on the state assessment from the spring of 2007.
The Kansas assessments (tests) for spring of 2007 represented the second year of a new cycle of testing for students in the state of Kansas. The test items measured identified specific indicators from the revised Kansas Reading and Math Standards. The entire Kansas assessment program changed in 2006. This means that the performance of students in years previous to 2006 cannot be compared with results from 2006 or 2007.
Students in grades 3 through 8 were tested in both reading and math. These grade levels are mandated by the No Child Left Behind legislation. NCLB (No Child Left Behind) also mandates that at least one grade level be tested in high school. In USD #223, students were tested for reading in grade 11 and for math in grade 10.
All reading/math test items were multiple choice with one correct answer. On the reading tests, the number of items measuring single indicators ranged from three to six times. On the math tests, the number of items measuring single indicators ranged from three to eight times. The Kansas Assessments are not timed. All students have as much time as they need to finish each section of a test.
For all available assessments in 2007, five categories of student performance were defined: Exemplary, Exceeds Standards, Meets Standards, Approaches Standards, and Academic Warning. Classification in a performance level category is defined by the student’s total score on a particular assessment. Cut scores are used for this purpose. A student’s performance is considered “proficient” if his/her score falls in exemplary, exceeds standards, or the meets standards category.
I am honored to announce that as a district 90.8% of the students taking the math test were considered proficient. This meant that we had 138 of 152 students scoring meets standards or above. The state cut score for math was 66.8% for K-8 and 55.7% for 9-12. As you can see our district did a tremendous job.
In reading we performed even better. USD #223 had 140 of 149 scoring proficient. This is 93.9% meeting standards or above and that is phenomenal. The goal of NCLB is to have everyone proficient in reading and math by the year 2014. As you can see, U.S.D. #223 Barnes/Hanover/Linn is well on their way to achieving that very lofty goal.
Another area that helps recognize schools and students for exceptional work on these assessments is called the Standard of Excellence. There is a formula to achieve this and the basic premise is to have a certain percentage of students in the upper levels of categories and few if any in the lower levels.
There were 17 individual class Standard of Excellence possibilities for each building and 6 building level categories. Again I am honored to inform you that Hanover received 5 of 6 at the building level and 11 of 17 for individual classes. Hanover achieved the Standard of Excellence for the following categories: Building—K-8 reading, K-8 math, high school reading, high school math, and high school writing. Individual classes were: 3rd math, 4th reading and math, 5th math, 6th reading and math, 7th reading, 8th reading, 11th math, reading, and writing.
Linn received 4 building level awards and 14 of 17 individual class recognitions. At the building level they received a Standard of Excellence for K-8 reading, K-8 math, high school reading and high school writing. The individual class recognition was for 3rd reading and math, 4th reading and math, 5th reading and math, 6th reading and math, 7th reading and math, 8th reading and math, and 11th reading and writing.
Our goal is to do a better job today than we did yesterday. I am pleased to share this information with you. During these high stakes testing times for schools, please remember how hard everyone is working and take the time to thank them for all their fine efforts. Our students truly are receiving a wonderful education in District #223 and we can all be thankful for the tremendous effort put forth by all of our staff members.
Superintendent
Steve Joonas
