www.eagletimes.com
www.eagletimes.com
Standardized test shows Springfield students improving, still behind By KATY SAVAGE ksavage@eagletimes.com Springfield School District COURTESY SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — Test scores improved slightly in the Springfield School District this year after falling below state averages. It’s unclear how students’ scores this year compare to state averages. State scores were not yet available on Monday, but Springfield Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment David Cohn predicted the improvements would not be enough. “We’re still going to be far off the state averages in many of these areas,” Cohn said as he presented the scores to the Springfield School District board at a meeting Monday night. “The importance is growth. My hope is that we’ll be able to close that gap a little bit.” Springfield students have ranked far below the state in previous years. Seventy-eight percent of grade-3 students in Springfield scored “below proficient” in math last year, compared to 47 percent statewide. Sixty-four percent of Springfield students were below proficient in English, compared to 46 percent statewide. This year, 35 percent of Springfield third graders were proficient or better in math and 45 percent were proficient or better in English. Cohn couldn’t point to a specific reason for the improvements. English and math scores for grade 3 were the highest they’ve been since the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) was administered four years ago. Grade 4 students also improved in math and english. “We’re hoping there’s a ripple effect as those kids push through the system,” said Cohn. In 2015 the SBAC test replaced the The New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) test. The SBAC measures English and math skills, placing more emphasis on a student’s ability to think critically, write analytically and problem-solve than did the NECAP. About 578 Springfield students in grades 3-9 sat for the test this spring. During the previous three years, grades 3-8 and grade 11 were tested. The Vermont Agency of Education eliminated the 11th grade test and created a grade 9 test to reduce the burden on 11th-grade students preparing for college. New initiatives have been put in place to better Springfield’s schools during that time. The school district implemented Professional Learning Communities about three years ago, where teachers meet with each other weekly to discuss what they are teaching. “I think it’s a matter of teachers being more confident and comfortable,” said Cohn. “With much of the work we’re doing in Springfield, we’re looking for the long game. We’re looking for systems that sometimes take a few years to take root.” While some grade levels did better on the test, other grades did worse. Fifth-grade students did more poorly in English this year compared to last year. Sixth- and eighth-grade students did poorly in math. “I think it was more of a motivational issue,” Cohn said, explaining older students may not have taken the test seriously. He also said teachers may be a factor. “You have certain teachers who philosophically don’t believe in this assessment,” Cohn told the board on Monday. “That, in any grade level, can play a role.” Agency of Education Director of Educational Assessment Michael Hock estimates 5 percent of schools in the state are like Springfield; student performance doesn’t meet standards. This fall, those schools with dwindling test scores will be assigned a consultant to address areas of weakness. “Our priority groups are schools that have low scores and haven’t shown improvement in bringing those scores up” Hock said. The list of schools identified in need of extra support will be available in the fall. Most students who take the test in Springfield attend Union Street School and Riverside Middle School. Three principals have led Union Street in the last four years. The school will be under new leadership again next year when Principal Nancy Wiese leaves and Phil Trejo of Detroit takes over. Cohn acknowledged there was still work to do. “I’m still not satisfied in where we are right now but I’m confident with the systems we have to increase student performance,” he said. Cohn is conducting a three-day retreat this summer for teachers. The emphasis will be on creating more rigorous assignments. “We’ve been focused on the ‘what’ teachers are teaching,” Cohn told board members. “We’re going to get back into the ‘how’ next year.”
“We’re still going to be FAR off the state averages in many of these areas,” (David Cohn, director of curriculum,)
ReplyDeleteThank a teacher.
More likely parents who don't value education, who think having the right political views are all that is necessary. And that goes for both sides! Even good news isn't good enough for them!
DeletePeople often don't like to hear the truth, but the growing demographic of families in Springfield is likely a big part of the reason for low test scores. Sadly Springfield is one of the State's receptacles for people experiencing poverty, disability, and mental illness. It's a wonder the schools do as well as they do given the influx of students that are not ready to learn, and the behavior challenges some of them come with. Yes, it's parents who don't value education, and who often shouldn't have had kids to begin with. God forbid we hold parents accountable.
ReplyDeleteAre the parents' parents responsible in turn?
DeleteIf we were a world-class school system, we would have only one test, given in the final year, for all students. It would measure the student and not the school. But nobody in Springfield wants to consider having a world-class school system, even though it would cost about 30% less. The shop town mentality hangs on!
ReplyDeleteAnd the broken record continues to spin...
Deletechuck sorry bud but we all took tests to prove that we knew the subject. this whole teaching to the test was and is bs. we all had mid terms and finals that had to be passed.also i find it hard to believe 65 kids a grade level come from junkys. it sounds like the teachers just suck.
Delete6:31, the tests are not to grade the kids; they're to grade the school. We can have a system that does much better for much less. But we're waiting for Superman to do it for us-- and we will be very sorry if that happens.
DeleteI am glad that the overall scores are improving. But God Chuck Gregory, pretty sure everyone is tired of listening tonyou take your soapbox stand. Why don't you run for school board, since you have so much to say? Or are you just content holding you "Honk for Peace" sign on the corner, enticing people to break the law? Because honking your horn unless signaling a lane change or avoiding an accident in the state of Vermont is ILLEGAL!!! Whimsicaly beeping for a bullshit cause. Because honking our car horns in Springfield Vermont is stopping war across the globe!!!!
ReplyDeleteYou are annoying Chuck, why don't you try for REAL change.
^ X2
ReplyDeleteWas not aware Chuck was part of that group, but they annoy me every time I drive by, I'm not sure what satisfaction they get from that, nor what they believe they are going to change.
DeleteYes Roger, he is. It's ridiculous, and changes nothing. I have nothing against improving our schools, as my children attend them. But I try for real change. Like attending the school board meetings, and voting on budgets and such. I don't whine and soap box about it every day while effectively doing zilch like good ol' Chuck. (By the way, my student received an award at the middle school for most improved in Math and English in his grade for the SBAC testing.) Something has to be working.
DeleteWell, until people like you, 5:26, want real change, I can't change anything. What do you have against making Springfield's school system world-class?
ReplyDeleteChuck, your solutions mandate liberal indoctrination and spending as solutions. Alternatively, highly successful private schools achieve excellence by recruiting the most talented facility, and demanding the highest standards from their pupils. There are no participation awards. They groom winners.
DeleteMeanwhile, our children suffer the backlash of hideous incompetence protected by a union. As proof my impoverished grandmother attended a one room school house in very rural VT over 100 years ago for only 8 years. She had an amazing command of English, grammar, geography, civics, math and formal etiquette. She taught me long division and decimal conversion with ease. Skills few Springfield elementary students possess today due to wholesale staff incompetence.
And may I add, calculators and smartphones. Both of which if you know what the symbols mean you can do the math (except calculus) and find the USA on the map of the earth. As well as your backyard.
DeletePrivate schools have the luxury of rejecting students who they believe will perform poorly. This usually means the less affluent. Public schools are required to teach everyone, which makes things more difficult. You want to talk indoctrination? How about believing the private sector is better at everything, regardless of how bad, how expensive, and how corrupt it is? You on the right are textbook examples! You hate Unions, but you don't even know why! I do; it's been passed down through the generations, going back to the antebellum South. The word UNION means THE UNION, led by Abraham Lincoln. Phrases like "outsiders trying to destroy our way of life" is another antebellum Southern expression! It took me several years living in the Deep South to understand this. You guys are still fighting the Civil War, and you don't even know it! Or maybe you do; I've seen a few Confederate flags around town.......
DeleteNothing against changing the schools, just your constant pestering while ineffectively doing nothing. Whine and carry on but not go to the school board meetings or anything. Have you ever spent time in one of our classrooms? We actually have some amazing teachers in our schools. Try to actually get down to the nitty gritty and take a tour. See then inner workings before you speech your opinions.
Delete@1:18 PM, The embarrassing test results speak for themselves. The school is a failure. 165th out of 169 schools.
DeleteWay past due for a faculty house cleaning.
https://www.schooldigger.com/go/VT/schoolrank.aspx
As a person in the world's best school system once said, "Put an American teacher in our system, and you will get excellent results. Put one of our teachers in an American system, and you won't."
ReplyDeleteHaving great teachers does not work, for two reasons: 1) The "great" ones move on to more attractive situations. 2) There will never be a sufficient number of "great" ones unless the system supports them.
My several years of being a volunteer to teach a group of children ranging in age from 6 to 14 (any teacher can tell you the challenges present in that!) impressed upon me the importance of letting the teachers set the structure. What we have right now is a handcuffed school board and a system that is expected to be inspired not by the joys of education, but the threat of punishment.
As a world-class school system would be an asset that could do what Precision Valley did for Springfield, we ought to be working to get it to turn the town around. But there's still an awful lot of the shop town mentality out there....
As for private schools-- wake me up when they start accepting ALL kids, not just the ones who meet their qualifications.
Face it people...the one defining fact that keeps our schools at the bottom of the heap.....ALL CHILDREN ARE GUARANTEED AN EQUAL EDUCATION! No they shouldn't be, despite how touchy-feely those words sound some children need to be OUT of schools as well as some low performing TEACHERS! Accept mediocrity....live with mediocrity, and I'm using the term 'mediocrity' liberally, should instead use 'FAILURE'! Springfield is a failed school system, charter schools are the only live preserver for my children's future!
ReplyDelete....I have auto-correct turned OFF on my computer (because I proof - read before publishing), yet this site CONSTANTLY corrects my posts....sometimes to the detriment of my intended meaning, and oftentimes skewing it entirely. STOP IT!!!!
ReplyDelete,
The Deep State is EVERYWHERE! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHH!
Delete8:44 hits the heart of the matter! "Equal education" should not mean: the same number of hours, the same emphasis on the same subjects, the same standardized tests for mastery. "Equal education" is: giving each student the opportunity to learn what she/he can do in this life. That means shifting from expecting all students to be above average in STEM to nurturing each student's individual potentials. It's being done in the world's top school system at thirty percent less than we pay here.
ReplyDeleteLet the phone be Smart, so you can be Dumb. That is what we strive for today.
ReplyDeletePlus you can play games all day sitting on the couch or even at work!! Wait my phones a buzzing, got to go and text text, I better look up cause I'm driving 50 thru town.