Taking time to appear before the Stanley Boyd Area Schools Board Monday Feb. 26, Elementary Principal Dean Lew gave the latest on the AGR report and test scores at Stanley-Boyd.
Mandated under Wisconsin state statute 118.44 to keep track of in highly aided school districts, the report covering grades Kindergarten through third grade shows plenty to be proud of.
Starting in Kindergarten, the building blocks were laid, with students first learning phonemic awareness and then progressing to identify words and string these together, guided by school staff.
“The elementary staff has really put their time into learning phonics,” Lew said.
Contained in results was the news at the end of the first semester that 90 percent or 52 of 58 kindergartners had scored 90 percent or higher on phonemic awareness, an 85 percent jump from the start of the year. Also in kindergarten takeaways was news that 91 percent of kindergartners or 53 of 58 had scored a 90 or higher on the ESGI assessment for letters and sound, while 76 percent or 44 of 58 had scored a 19 or higher on PALS. Other assessment strategies at Stanley-Boyd include the Wonders Reading Series Unite Tests, daily observations, guided reading instruction, and teacher created quizzes and test.
Then there was math, with 71 percent or 41 of 58 kindergartner scoring a 3 or 4 on counting cardinality, a 69 percent jump from the start of the year. A full 74 percent or 43 of 58 had scored a 3 or 4 on the numbers and operations base, not assessed at year’s beginning but forming an important part of later student success. Assessment methods for math include the district math assessment, daily observations, everyday math quizzes and tests, and teacher created assignments.
“I was talking with another elementary principal and he asked how we could have the math scores we do,” Lew said.
The answer, was consistency, with all teachers teaching the same stuff and working together.
Moving up a grade level to first grade, the goal shifted up as well, with a benchmark that 90 percent of first grade students be able to understand and successfully perform grade level essential standards on the first grade end of year district assessment.
Regarding first grade, the most recent figures show 91 percent or 6 of 6 students score 80 or higher on the ESGI, while 65 percent or 43 of 66 scored 34 or higher on dictated sentences.
For math, the most recent numbers show 30 percent or 20 of 66 students meeting benchmark for the end of year assessment.
With year’s end not yet here, staff was working on skills to ensure students perform well and meet grade level, Lew said.
“Those are being taught now,” he said of skills for the assessment.
Moving up to second grade, the goal set was for 90 percent of students to reach proficient or above scores on PALS and ESGI, with better scores in math than reading. Thus far, 71 percent of second graders at Stanley-Boyd meet the benchmark for the end of year assessment in operations and algebraic thinking.
For reading the second grade scores were lower, with 51 percent scoring a 90 or higher on Wonders Sight Words, as an example.
Moving to third grade, the goal was for 80 percent of students to understand and successfully perform grade level essential standards on the end of year and exact path assessments. Thus far 59 percent scored 985 or above on the exact path, with 64 percent or 39 of 61 scoring 1038 or above on reading. Words their Way saw 62 percent or 38 of 61 score 8 or above, while Wonders Phonics saw 14 of 61 of 23 percent score 16 or above.
With progress being made, staff were recognized by having a day to wear jeans, while students could go outside or watch a movie.
Come Monday, it’s back to work.
“On Monday we’re back to work,” Lew said, saying the staff appreciated the recognition of their efforts to help student grow and learn.
