August 16, 2012 I The Lovell Chronicle I 13
District No. Two students score well on PAWS
BY PATTI CARPENTER
The Big Horn County
District No. 2 school board
caught a glimpse of stu-
dent performance at their
regularly held school board
meeting on Monday night.
Curriculum Director Nancy
Cerroni presented an over-
view of PAWS scores for all
grade levels tested within
the district.
"Overall, students did
really well," said District
No. 2 Supt. Dan Coe. "We
are pleased with the re-
sults."
PAWS is a state test re-
quiring reading and math
to be tested in grades 3
through 8 and grade 11.
Science is tested in grades
4, 8 and 11.
Most grade levels in the
district tested at or above
the state average. Grades 6,
7 and 8 tested slightly below
the state average in reading
but tested at or above state
averages in math and sci-
ence.
"Improvements in read-
ing is always a goal," said
Cerroni. "There is a heavy
focus on this skill in our
curriculum based on com-
mon core standards."
READING
Third graders tested
at 84 percent proficient in
reading, which is well above
the state average of 69 per-
cent. Fourth graders tested
at 95 percent compared to
the statewide average of 80
percent. Fifth graders test-
ed at 85 percent compared
to the statewide average of
79 percent. Sixth graders
fell slightly below the state
average at 78 percent com-
pared to a state average of
82 percent for their grade
level. Seventh graders were
68 percent proficient com-
pared to the state average of
76 percent. Eighth graders
scored 74 percent proficient
compared to a statewide av-
erage of 78 percent for their,
grade level. Eleventh grad-
ers scored very high at 92
percent proficiency com-
pared to the state average
of 78 percent. Overall, the
combined scores for the
district totaling 82 percent
were five percentage points
higher than the state aver-
age, which is 77 percent.
A comparison of the
reading scores over a five-
year period painted a pic-
ture of steady progress to-
ward a goal of 100 percent
proficiency. The elementary
school students showed an
increase in their proficiency
in reading from 74 percent
in the 2007-08 school year
to 88 percent in 2011-12.
The middle school stu-
dents tested increased their
proficiency overall scor-
ing 73 percent proficient
in the 2011-12 school year
compared to their score of
67 percent five years ago.
However, they did experi-
ence a slight dip in perfor-
mance, scoring five percent-
age points lower in reading
than they did the previous
year.
The high school stu-
dents tested showed the
most dramatic increase in
performance from 49 per-
cent proficiency in the
school year 2007-08 to a rel-
atively high score of 92 per-
cent proficiency in the lat-
est round of tests.
MATH
The district as a whole
scored very high in math
compared to the state with
a combined score of 89 per-
cent proficiency compared to
the state average of 79 per-
cent. Third graders scored
100 percent compared to a
statewide average of 90 per-
cent. Fourth graders scored
91 percent compared to a
82 percent compared to the
state average of 63 percent
for their grade level. Eighth
graders scored 62 percent
proficient compared to the
state average of 53 percent
and llth graders scored 73
"If we can think of PAWS as no
different than a measurement tool
like a thermometer or a yardstick
that is intended to measure school
performance in relation to a set of
standards, we can use this tool to
see if we've met the goals of our
school improvement plan."
- Curriculum Director Nancy Cerroni
statewide average of 82 per-
cent. Fifth graders scored
89 percent compared to a
statewide score of 83 per-
cent. Sixth graders were
right at state average with
a score of 80 percent. Sev-
enth graders scored well
at 94 percent compared to
state average of 79 percent
for their grade level. Eighth
graders also scored rela-
tively well with a percent of
86 percent compared to the
state average of 74 percent.
Eleventh graders scored 86
percent compared to the
state average of 66 percent.
Overall the district scored
a full 10 points higher than
the statewide average of 79
percent proficiency in math-
ematics.
SCIENCE
The three grade levels
tested in science scored well
above the state average at
72 percent compared to the
statewide average of 56 per-
cent. Fourth graders scored
percent compared to the
state average of 51 percent.
Overall the district
scores when combined
showed an increase in pro-
ficiency in science from 45
percent to 72 percent over
a five-year period. The
high school students tested
showed a slight dip in per-
formance of two percentage
points over the previous
year. While the elementary
and middle school students
showed steady increase in
proficiency in science over
the five-year period.
"We have all of the in-
gredients for success in our
district," said Cerroni. "We
have good family involve-
ment, community support
and the hard work of our
students, and it shows in
the scores."
Cerroni pointed out
that PAWS is only one test
measure the students par-
ticipate in over the school
year.
"We look at all of the
data from several forms of
testing to analyze how our
students are doing," said
Cerroni. "Any time you take
a test result in isolation, you
are doing somebody an in-
credible disservice because
it is only part of an overall
assessment package."
PAWS is the statewide
test mandated by the No
Child Left Behind (NCLB)
federal law. The test is ad-
ministered once a year,
usually in March over a
two-week period of time.
"We belong to the Ad-
vancEd school improve-
ment process," explained
Cerroni. "We are accred-
ited through this process.
As a part of the process we
are required to do a district
and school improvement
plan and the plan has to
be based on measurable re-
sults and that is one of the
ways we use PAWS. So, if
we can think of PAWS as no
different than a measure-
ment tool like a thermom-
eter or a yardstick that is
intended to measure school
performance in relation to a
set of standards, we can use
this tool to see if we've met
the goals of our school im-
provement plan."
Cerroni will continue
to analyze PAWS results at
the next school board meet-
ing, which will be held on
Sept. 10. All school board
meetings are open to the
public.
In other matters, Coe
announced that full accred-
itation has been bestowed
on the district through the
AdvancEd process.
"It takes a lot of work to
receive full accreditation,"
said Coe, who congratulat-
ed all of the administrators
who were present at the
meeting.
Coe also gave the board
an update on how the high
school remodel is progressing
holding up a one-inch thick
document recently signed
by the SFD as an example of
how complicated the process
has been.
"This is why it took four
months," said Coe, holding
up the contract.
Cerroni noted that AYP
results (an acronym for Ade-
quate Yearly Progress) have
not been received yet and
she will be reviewing those
results with the board at the
next meeting. AYP is a mea-
surement of how students
perform according to bench-
marks created under the fed-
eral NCLB standards law.
In personnel matters,
the board formally approved
several assistant coaches
and accepted recommenda-
tion for two staff positions.
The coaches included: LHS
assistant volleyball coach
Mykel Anderson, LHS as-
sistant football coach Craig
Lundberg and LMS assis-
tant football coaches Mike
Jameson and Wil Zollman.
Stacey O'Tremba was
approved by the board for
the position of Tier Two Co-
ordinator and will report
directly to Cerroni. Sabrea
Hauge was approved for
the position of special edu-
cation paraprofessional at
Lovell Elementary School.
The board also dis-
cussed a special teacher
evaluation system they are
piloting as part of a state
program. Board chairwom-
an Judy Richards noted
that several board members
and administrators were
impressed with the system
after attending a "learning
session" about it recently.
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