School board gets report card
McCOOK, Neb. -- McCook Public School students earned an all-time high in reading and writing scores on last years' state testing assessments.
Math scores, while still high compared to the state average, saw the second year in a row drop in overall performance, due to a low score in the seventh grade level (60 percent proficiency in seventh grade compared to the state average of 71 percent). Fifth-grade math scores also were lower than the state average, with 75 percent proficient compared to the state average of 77 percent. Overall, though, the composite score of all grades in math, at 89 percent, is still higher than the state average of 82 percent.
These were some of the statistics Superintendent Grant Norgaard gave to the McCook School Board Monday night at the regular meeting, in a "report card" of how MPS students are doing on state testing.
Each year public school students in Nebraska take a state test called NeSA. The tests are developed to assess how much students know in math, reading, science and writing. Students will no longer be tested in writing because of difficulties assessing those tests, Norgaard said, with writing scores from last year still not released. Instead, new reading tests this year will have a writing component.
Norgaard told the board that math has raised the most concern based off the assessment scores. This is a difficult area to address, he said, as teachers are preparing students to take the 2017 assessment as well as for a new state math test coming in 2018.
The new math test will be different than the current one in use, he said, as the state determined
the former math test was not as rigorous as the Common Core tests used in other school districts. Nebraska is one of six states (Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, Alaska, Indiana) that have not adopted Common Core standards.
Other changes in testing will occur in the 11th grade, where students will no longer take the state test but the ACT test, a college/career readiness assessment that juniors typically take for admission to college. English, math reading and science are measured in a two-hour, multiple choice format.
Teachers are adapting their curriculum because of this change, said McCook High School principal, Jeff Gross. It won't be a two-week or two-month process but more of a year-long process, he told the board Monday night, as there are fundamental differences between the state test and the ACT. Gross gave science as an example, with the state testing on practical application and the ACT on critical thinking. In preparing curriculum for the juniors, Gross said that teachers and staff will "make sure we go through it with a fine-toothed comb."
Board member Loretta Hauxwell asked about an alternative test juniors could take and Gross responded an alternative test is allowed only for students already in an alternative class, such as "LIFT" students.
How well a student believes about him/herself is critical, Norgaard said, another area teachers will address. Research suggests that if a student believes he won't do well in math, then he probably won't, Norgaard said. "The mind has that kind of power....There are high rates of success for those who believe they have the capacity," he said. It may take a little longer for some students to achieve in a certain subject, Norgaard continued, but it can be done.
So teachers will be implementing subtle measures to reinforce that, such as positive feedback, Norgaard said, "to get kids to understand they can succeed and it is possible to learn anything." Research has found that what a student believes about himself is more powerful even than socio-economic factors, such as poverty, Norgaard said.
Board member Brian Esch likened it to coaching, where a good coach can take an average athlete and make him/her into a stellar competitor. Board president Tom Bredvick also weighed in, emphasizing that parents play a crucial role in developing that kind of mindset in their children.