Students doing better on standardized tests

By Dan King

The most recent data on standardized testing scores in Whitehall High School show a relative uptick in passing rates.

The data show that for the most part, Whitehall’s students excel in topics likes biology, United States history and English, while struggling with global history and algebra.

Out of the five subjects listed above, Whitehall’s students did best in biology during the 2012-13 school year. In biology, or “Living Environment,” as the state calls it, 89 percent of the total students passed the regents exam, 90 percent of the general education students passed and 83 percent of the special education students passed.

Those statistics show an increase in all three categories, compared to the 2011-12 school year. A 10 percent jump overall, 2 percent for general education and 39 percent for special education.

“We’re pretty strong across the board in biology,” Superintendent Liz Legault said. “We have good instruction, good curriculum, our teachers are very fluent and I think the students enjoy the labs.”

Despite minor decreases from the previous school year, English was the second best topic for Whitehall’s students.

Of all the students, 84 percent passed, which is down a mere 5 percent from a year ago; 88 percent of the general education students passed, down 8 percent from 2011-12; and 50 percent of the special education students passed, that number is the same as the prior year.

United States history was the third best topic and saw a skyrocket in the percent of special education students passing the exam. Special education pass rates jumped from 29 percent to 57 percent, a 28 percent uptick. Overall, there was a minor decrease from 82 percent passing to 75 percent passing; and the general education pass rate dropped from 90 percent to 80 percent.

Algebra was the fourth best topic for Railroaders and saw statistical improvement in all three categories from the previous year. The overall pass rate jumped 10 percent from 65 to 75 percent; 79 percent of general education students passed the exam, up 11 percent; and 56 percent of special education students passed, up 23 percent.

The worst subject for Whitehall students was global history. Only 57 percent of the students who took the exam passed it, which was down 7 percent from the prior year; 61 percent of general education students passed, that was about the same as the year before; and only 28 percent of special education students passed the exam, plummeting 35 percent from a year ago.

“Across the state we hear it is a difficult exam,” Legault said. “The exam has a lot of reading and writing and it covers two years worth of material.”

Legault said that district wide, there is a focus on analyzing the data and instructional methods to get students to pass the global exam the first time around.

Reading Levels

Statistics show as Whitehall’s middle schoolers get older their reading levels don’t necessarily progress with them.

“What happens is there is an upswing from fourth to fifth, seventh you usually see a downswing and then it’s back up in eighth and ninth,” Legault explained.

In sixth grade, only 11 students are reading three or more grade levels below where they should be, that number jumps to 17 in seventh grade and then 26 in eighth grade.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the number of students reading three or more grade levels above where they should does not increase. Seven sixth graders are three or more grade levels above their peers, that number drops to one in seventh grade and three in eighth grade.

Legault said the district is currently looking into potential summer programs to allow the students the opportunity to work on literacy skills over the summer.

“I think the more the new curriculum becomes ingrained, the better we’ll become,” she said. “Down time is an issue, because students don’t read as much during down time. We’re hoping to look into summer programs to get kids reading more.”

Math Levels

A similar trend is noted in the grade-equivalent levels for math students at the middle school.

In sixth grade, only seven students are three or more grade levels below their peers in math. That number leaps to 20 in grade seven and 35 in eighth grade.

However, the number of students who excel in math also increases. Two sixth graders are three or more grade levels above in math. That number doubles in seventh grade and then jumps to 12 for eighth grade.

“The more involved we get the students at home and the more we align our curriculum with keys to literacy and math, the better off we will be,” Legault concluded.