Test change cited as cause
of decline in math scores
BY SHERRY CONOHAN
Staff Writer
WEST LONG BRANCH — The scores of students at Shore Regional High School took a dive in the mathematics portion of the state High School Proficiency Assessment test (HSPA) last spring and Superintendent/Principal Leonard G. Schnappauf blames the test rather than the students.
"We feel there were certain changes in that test that the students and the teachers were not aware of," Schnappauf said in addressing the "report card" for the school issued by the state.
He said he has talked to other high school administrators who are of a similar mind and noted that most districts did not do as well as the year before on the mathematics section.
"We have had such success with math," he said. "That’s why we were surprised."
In an effort to prevent a recurrence, Schnappauf said staff studied a similar test made available by the state and made adjustments in what was taught this year to cover any gaps.
Only 16.2 percent of the Shore Regional students who took the test last spring tested as advanced proficient in math, compared to 23.3 percent the year before. In similar school districts, 26.4 percent of the students were advanced proficient in math in the spring of 2003, compared to a nearly identical 26 percent the year before.
Even the statewide testing results, at 19.5 percent advanced proficient for last spring, were better than Shore Regional’s. That figure, based on 88,123 students taking the test, was only a slight improvement over the statewide figure of 19.1 percent the year before – which Shore Regional beat by better than 4 percent – when 84,030 students statewide took the test.
Shore Regional did better in language arts proficiency, improving in 2003 over 2002, and testing nearly as good as similar districts and better than the statewide figures.
Schnappauf said students take the HSPA test in their junior year, for the state accounting, then take it again their senior year.
Shore Regional also has bounced around on the scores for the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT).
In the 2002-03 school year, for the 145 students taking the test – 91 percent of those eligible – the score was 510 verbal and 508 math for a total of 1,018. Similar school districts with 11,476 students – or 86 percent – taking the test posted a score of 520 on the verbal and 540 on the math for a total of 1,060. The statewide average, with 60,124 students – or 76 percent – taking the test was 500 verbal and 518 math for a total of 1,018, the same as Shore Regional.
Shore Regional’s average score in 2001-02 was 1,047, and in 2000-01 was 992.
The year before, 1999-2000, Schnappauf said, it was 1,015.
Schnappauf said the school tries not to compare classes in how they test.
"The real issue is some kids are better students than other kids," he said.
In an effort to improve SAT scores, he pointed out that Shore Regional has instituted an SAT preparation course. This is the second year the course has been in place and he has high hopes.
He said learning how to take the test, the experiences students have been exposed to and how much reading they have done over a lifetime figure big in the score they post on the SAT.
The superintendent also bristles over the students whose SAT scores he’s not allowed to count in with Shore Regional’s. They are the students who live in the school district, but attend the career academies run by the Monmouth County Vocational Education Board of Education.
"They could be here," he said, speaking of what has long been a sore point for him. "They (the career academies) take very good students, who are very verbal" and test well.