CARL JUNCTION R-1
2012 Assessment Results
October 22, 2012
Philosophy:
The testing program of the Carl Junction R-1 School District involves sampling students’ performance in a formative and summative manner in order that judgments and decisions may be made concerning individual students, groups of students, and educational programs of the district. The testing program is built on the principle that various abilities, aptitudes and skills appear at different ages for different people and if students are to have the opportunity to realize their own unique potential, their strengths and limitations must be identified as early as possible. The primary justification for assessment is that the information obtained can be used to make better and more informed educational decisions or judgments.
Overview of 2011-2012 Testing:
MAP/EOC: Students were given the MAP test in Communication Arts (Grades 3-8,) Mathematics (Grades 3-8,) and Science (Grades 5, 8 & Biology). HS students were given required End-of-Course assessments in English II, Algebra I, Biology and Government and JH Algebra I students took the Algebra I EOC. All voluntary EOC assessments available were given in English I, Geometry, Algebra II and American History.
ACT: CJ was a testing site again this year for two of the ACT assessments (October and February.) For the October, 2011, testing session, 75 students took the regular test with 6 taking the additional writing portion. The February assessment date saw 136 students (41 students were 7th graders through Duke TIP) regular testing with 14 adding the writing portion of the test. Currently, there are 99 students registered to take the October, 2012, ACT assessment at CJ.
Advanced Placement: There were 20 AP exams given during the 2011-2012 school year. Exams were given in English Literature and Composition (10 students) and Biology (8 students.) With 1 as the lowest score possible and 5 as the highest score possible, of the 12 students taking the AP English Literature and Composition exam, there were three scores of 4, six scores of 3 and three 2s. Two students scored a 3, two scored a 2 and four scored a 1 on the Biology AP assessment. No AP Chemistry assessments were given due to a lack of students taking AP Chemistry. One student took the course online and did not choose to take the assessment. For the 2012-2013 school year, CJ currently offers AP courses in AP LA IV and AP Biology, AP Chemistry and AP Studio Art—Drawing.
Local Assessment: All teachers wrote and administered MAP/EOC-like common assessments which assessed each objective in their curriculum. In addition, teachers wrote high-quality formative assessments which helped identify student needs as they worked toward mastery in the content. Common assessment data was input into Learning Tracker and printouts were available for evaluation. Teachers met to evaluate the data and the assessments, making revisions when necessary. Full day PD days and PLC time was very beneficial for this practice. An electronic program called Build Your Own Assessment (BYOA) was purchased and will be used for the 2012-2013 school year to administer both formative and summative assessments as well as evaluate data. The data will be used to change instructional practices in the classroom in order to individualize for student needs.
Annual Performance Report (APR)-Pages 16-18
The final Annual Performance Report (as we know it) has been released and we scored 14 out of 14! This is the 9th time out of the last 10 years that we have earned Distinction in Performance recognition and the 9th out of the past 11 years that the Distinction in Performance award has been given. We earned the Distinction in Performance award in all years except for the first year, 2001-2002 and 2005-2006. Since this is the measuring stick by which DESE has accredited school districts, this speaks very well for CJ! Students, teachers, administrators, school board members and the community can take great pride in this!
Notable this year is that CJ earned the Distinction in Performance award outright, scoring “met” in all 14 areas. In addition to that though, CJ also earned bonus points for Gap Bonus for 6-8 Math and 6-8 Communication Arts, MAP Achievement, and subject area (science) and voluntary EOC assessments. It is great that we earned almost all bonus points available but even better that we did not need to use any of the bonus points to have a perfect score. Continuous improvement is exactly what we want and this indicates such.
Schools can meet APR criteria in each of the 14 areas in one of two ways, Status or Progress. Status means that scores are consistently high. Progress means that scores may not have been as high as they needed to be, but improvement was made. Our goal is to maintain high scores so we always want to meet by Status alone. This year, we met in 12 areas by Status alone. The areas we didn’t meet with Status was Graduation Rate and College Placement.
Although we had to use progress measures to meet the Graduation Rate requirement, it was the highest it has been in five years at 89.8%. The high school staff continues to focus on this issue and should be commended for their work in creating and implementing programs that provides dropouts the opportunity to graduate from school in a way other than traditional attendance and credits. The Missouri Options program continued as well as the Flex program. In addition, high school administration and faculty made personal efforts to contact dropouts and encourage them to return. These programs, along with the CJU Alternative School and credit recovery options, were instrumental in helping increase our graduation rate this past year.
This is the first year in the last four years that the College Placement numbers combined with the Career Education Placement numbers did not combine to meet the status requirement. College Placement was met through status plus progress this year. This is a focus area for the district and in addition to being diligent in following-up with students and coding correctly in Core Data, we have begun discussing and promoting college as a “given” for students. We are focusing on “where” the students will be attend college rather than “if” they will attend college. This is a push beginning in kindergarten and will continue throughout school. We are also continuing to give college placement tests such as the ACT and Advanced Placement assessments as well as continuing to offer and increase the number of dual credit offerings. We are looking at the possibility of giving students the Compass test as well this year.
This is the final year for the MSIP IV Annual Performance Reports. It has been a great 11 years for Carl Junction Schools and when reviewing the reports, it is apparent that we rose to the occasion and improved each year. Cycle IV set some hefty goals for school districts, just as MSIP 5 will in the future. We should be proud as a district that we met the challenges set for us and give us confidence that we will go much farther with the challenges set for us with MSIP 5.
2012 ACT Results
The ACT results this year declined from previous years. Although all areas declined, CJ’s composite score remained above the national composite score. CJ’s composite score is below the state composite score though. The 2012 CJ scores were comparable to the scores earned in 2008. It is important to note that the percentage of students taking the ACT was the highest it has been in the last five years and very similar to the percentage taking the assessment in 2008, and in a comparison of CJ scores to the comparable district scores, only one other district tested more students (see chart below.)
FIVE YEAR ACT AVERAGE SCORES FOR TOTAL GROUP
Percent of CJ Grads who took ACT / 2007-200876% CJ Grads / 2008-2009
70.9% CJ Grads / 2009-2010
70.3% CJ Grads / 2010-2011
72.7% CJ Grads / 2011-2012
76.2% CJ Grads
D / S / N / D / S / N / D / S / N / D / S / N / D / S / N
English / 21.2 / 21.4 / 20.6 / 22.4 / 21.5 / 20.6 / 21.9 / 21.5 / 20.5 / 22.1 / 21.5 / 20.6 / 21.7 / 21.4 / 20.5
Math / 20.9 / 21.0 / 21.0 / 20.8 / 20.9 / 21 / 21.4 / 21 / 21 / 21.2 / 21 / 21.1 / 20.2 / 21.1 / 21.1
Reading / 21.7 / 22.0 / 21.4 / 22.5 / 22.1 / 21.4 / 22.1 / 22 / 21.3 / 22.7 / 21.9 / 21.3 / 21.6 / 21.9 / 21.3
Science / 21.2 / 21.4 / 20.8 / 21.2 / 21.5 / 20.9 / 21.9 / 21.6 / 20.9 / 21.8 / 21.6 / 20.9 / 21.0 / 21.5 / 20.9
Composite / 21.4 / 21.6 / 21.1 / 21.9 / 21.6 / 21.1 / 22 / 21.6 / 21 / 22 / 21.6 / 21.1 / 21.3 / 21.6 / 21.1
D=District S=StateN=National
Carl Junction ACT scores are historically higher than other districts in the area and have consistently been above the state and nation but not this year. When comparing 2012 CJ ACT scores with the 11 comparable school districts, CJ ranked 10th. In previous years with the same comparisons, CJ would have tied for 3rd Place. Because CJ has a consistent trend of high scores, we believe that this year’s dip in scores is an anomaly and we project that scores will rebound with the 2013 group of graduates. In a preliminary analysis of 2013 graduate ACT scores, 48% of the students have taken the ACT and their current composite score is 22.3. While this is encouraging, remember that we typically have around 75% of our students take the assessment so there is room for movement in that composite.
The chart below shows trends for Carl Junction students over the past five years. As you can see, trend lines indicate that our students have been generally inconsistent. Overall, each of the areas experienced declines with Science and Math showing consistent declines over the past three years. ACT scores are of high importance to high school teachers and the district and they are a focus area, just like EOC assessments. Strategies in place for improving ACT assessment scores include increasing the rigor within the classroom, using/administering ACT-like assessments, using formative data to track students and inform instruction and the use of technology programs to improve instruction such as BYOA, ALEKS, and USA Test Prep and the Learning Express Library. The high school is offering ACT Prep enrichment home rooms for Communication Arts, Mathematics and Science, and ACT test prep seminars in October and February through the ZAPS Learning Company. In October, 17 students participated in the ZAPS seminar. The junior high has offered the ACT TIP (Talent Identification Process) program to the 108 7th Grade students who have scored at least at the 95th percentile on any Terra Nova assessment.
The math program has been revised this year to consolidate both traditional instruction and integrated instruction. The Algebra 1 teachers worked together this past summer to write curriculum that incorporates both. The track system is no longer offered (except for one Integrated 3 course) to students and support classes have been formed. Math intervention homerooms have been put into place for students struggling in math as well and for the first time, classes will be offered off-schedule which means an Algebra 1 first semester class will be offered during the second semester and vice versa.
Science instruction has been a focus for several years. In order to understand what successful programs do, science teachers observed at Nixa during last school year to help direct their program. The current two-track system was maintained but new teaching materials are being used to focus on basic knowledge and terminology. Teachers are working toward more consistency in instruction across both tracks. In addition, students scoring below a 60% on any biology assessment will serve a mandatory tutoring time.
The high school administration and staff meet on a regular basis to discuss the ACT scores and each department monitors formative data to improve the ACT scores. Currently, all high school departments are writing common formative assessments, evaluating those and making changes to instruction due to their findings.
An important aspect of the ACT is its ability to tell if a student is "college ready." This means that it can determine if a student is ready for designated college courses. ACT defines "college ready" as a student who scores an 18 on the ACT English portion, 22 on Math, 21 on Reading, and 24 on Science. The following chart compares CJ scores to state scores. CJ scores were higher than the state scores in English and Reading, with the math, science and composite scores below state scores. As stated above, the district’s math and science programs are being reviewed and revised to ensure that all students are successful in those areas.
Spring 2012 MAP/EOC Results-Pages 22-31
MAP assessments were given in Communication Arts, Mathematics, Science, required EOC assessments and optional EOC assessments. Required EOC assessments were given in English II, Algebra I, Biology and Government. Optional EOC assessments were given in English I, Algebra II, Geometry and American History. Overall, 64% of the district MAP/EOC scores improved from the previous year with 82% of district scores above the state average. Both of these percentages have shown increases over the same percentages from the 2010-2011 MAP/EOC assessmentswhich were 50% and 73% respectively.
Beginning with the data from the 2011-2012 school year, the district will compare itself to 11 other schools of like demographics. These comparisons indicate that Carl Junction ranked 6th in highest scores out of the 12 school districts in 2012 a move up from 7th place in 2011. We are pleased with our current ranking but not satisfied to stay there. Goals have been written across the district at all MAP/EOC grade levels/content areas to move up at least one quartile to eventually be in the top quartile every year. Teachers presented to the board in early October and discussed their current state of reality, their goals and how they planned to meet their goals. This was a great experience for the teachers and school as a whole and I believe it will be an impetus to continue to improve scores.
Special Education (IEP) & Free and Reduced Lunch (FRL)
The No Child Left Behind Act required school districts to focus on subgroup populations to ensure that they are improving in academic achievement, not only on a yearly basis, but to close the gap between that subgroup and the population of students not in that subgroup. In addition, the MAP Index score, which DESE uses to analyze school districts, takes into account all students scoring in each achievement level. For these reasons, and because inherently, we want ALL kids to be successful, CJ is focusing on our subgroup populations.
Carl Junction Schools has identified two subgroup populations, Special Education (7.52% district-wide in 2011-2012) and Free and Reduced Lunch (38.2% district-wide in 2011-2012) . The percentage of IEP and FRL students scoring proficient and advanced were analyzed and results are below. In both of these subgroups, scores at all grade levels and in all content areas are below that of the regular population of students. In fact, in four of the seven EOC assessments, no IEP students scored proficient or advanced. (Note: Less than five IEP students took the Algebra 2 EOC so no IEP scores were returned for this assessment.)
Subgroup achievement is an area that must be a priority in order to improve overall MAP Index Scores. It has been a priority and will be even more so this year. The Intermediate was asked to join a state initiative for decreasing the subgroup gap and we are participating. Subgroup achievement is discussed below under each content area.
Communication Arts
There was a slight increase in number of communication arts comparisons showing improvement in 2012 with four of the eight areas showing an increase in the MAP Index. In 2010-2011, CJ showed improvement in three of the eight areas. Any increase is good but since our goal is to show continuous improvement, we are looking for more. The lag in improvement for CA has been and is being investigated. We implemented MRI reading strategies and processes and one focus area for us this year is to ensure that integrity of instruction in being implemented and maintained. As teachers become more adept at the process, scores are expected to improve. RtI strategies in both the K-6 buildings as well as the Junior High buildings are being strengthened each year and students are receiving specific interventions based upon their reading deficiencies. A new 7th Grade class was implemented during the 11/12 school year which focused specifically on improving reading skills in the student’s showing the most need. For the 12/13 school year, the 6th Grade reading focus will change from fluency to comprehension and formative data will be used to identify students which need interventions so that teachers can provide individualized instruction when needed.
Cohort Group Achievement
Cohort group achievement, a comparison of the same group of students year after year, shows that all groups have a trend of improving except for this year’s 6th and 7th Graders. For both groups, a decline has been seen every year since they first tested in 3rd Grade. Teachers in the Intermediate grade level have been made aware and work is being done to improve. Professional Learning Communities are being implemented in the Intermediate Building this year. For the first time, teachers at each grade level are given time to meet as a group and discuss student needs, instruction and assessment data. Each group meets with their grade level one time a month and then all grade levels meet together on the fourth week of the month. The Intermediate teachers are an excellent group and have always worked very hard to do what’s best for students but each one has been working independently. With the implementation of PLC work, these teachers can now use each other to help improve scores, thus working smarter, not harder. This process, so far, has been warmly accepted by teachers and there have been several “aha” moments. I believe this is the start of good conversation and positive changes to instruction for that building.