Breakdown of latest test scores spells out district's challenge Monday, August 28, 2006 • By DANIEL HAUSMANN • The Express-Times PHILLIPSBURG | Recent standardized test scores don't tell the whole story about student performance, according to school district officials. Superintendent Gordon Pethick and George Chando, the district's secondary education director, said understanding the results of the latest round of testing under the No Child Left Behind Act requires careful examination of all the scores. "To really understand it, you have to see there are subgroups," Pethick said. Students at the elementary, middle and high school levels are tested annually on their proficiency in math and language arts. The results are sorted by 10 subgroups analyzed within categories such as overall student population, race, special needs and economic status. Failure within any subgroup can result in the school coming up short. Last week, New Jersey Department of Education officials announced students at Andover-Morris, Green Street, the high school and middle school missed federal benchmarks for annual progress in language arts, math or both as defined by the No Child Left Behind Act. "It's not really failing," Pethick said. According to results for specific subgroups, the required number of overall students for each school reached the federal mandates or at least showed enough improvement over the prior year's scores to pass. With all the schools and specific subgroups combined, the district fell short in eight of 160 categories. Chando said students from one subgroup can overlap as students in another group. "You really have to bat a thousand to get a school to pass," Chando said. At the elementary school level, the students within the disabilities subgroup at Andover-Morris met the mark, but those at Green Street did not make adequate yearly progress. Other groups missing the goal at Green Street included Hispanic students and those economically disadvantaged. Chando said three students within the Hispanic subgroup did not score high enough and two of those students failed the test by one or two questions. "It gets disheartening when you get into a situation where a few students missed a question," Pethick said. The middle school missed the mark for the fifth year in a row because students with disabilities missed proficiency in both language and math. According to Chando's statistics, that group saw a decline in language arts scores over a four-year period while other student scores increased. In math, the group's scores grew at a rate 12.5 percent less then general students. At the high school level, to achieve adequate yearly progress (AYP), students must score a 79 percent proficiency in language arts and 64 percent in math. General education students scored 86 percent proficient in math and 94 in language arts. Special education students at the high school level scored 24 percent in language arts and 16 percent in math. "That is something the district will put on a priority," Chando said. Not all subgroups affect AYP scores. Each subgroup needs at least 20 students to be a factor in AYP. There needs to be 35 students for the special education category to affect the scores. Chando said district administrators target specific subgroups that would affect future scores and identify students in need of supplemental instruction. "Students we target are required to attend after-school programs for additional help," Chando said. Pethick said officials may convene a meeting of principals and special education personnel to help the students with disabilities raise their scores to federal standards. School board President Paul Rummerfield said he is concerned with the test results, particularly the math scores. "I'd like to get some input from teachers and parents," Rummerfield said. "Something is lacking in the delivery." Reporter Daniel Hausmann can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by e-mail at dhausmann@express-times.com. © 2006 The Express-Times. Used with permission.