BY ELAINE VAN DEVELDE
Staff Writer
TINTON FALLS — To drive by the Mahala F. Atchison School is to see the marquee that boasts the school’s having won the Governor’s Schools of Excellence Award. But to know exactly what that distinction means to this school in particular is another story.
Superintendent of Schools Leonard Kelpsh was more than happy to elaborate.
“It’s based upon an outstanding level of two-year growth demonstrated by the school and measured by improvement in test scores and precisely what programming was implemented to get that increase,” he said. “What it means, first of all, for us, is that we get $25,000 to put back into the school. Obviously we are very pleased and have plans to put that money to very good use.”
The growth experienced at Mahala, Kelpsh said, was primarily a 17 percent hike in reading/language arts standardized test scores in the two-year period. Specifically, the mean scores went from 68 percent to 80 percent.
“The state has been emphasizing growth in that area,” he said. “Math scores went up as well, but only by about four points. It has only been a year since the new math programs have been in place, though. Give them another year and those scores will go up significantly, too.”
To attain the goal of higher test scores, Kelpsh said, the school did several things. Namely, a few teaching methods and programs were added to an otherwise standard system.
For one, “looping” was added to the mix of teaching methods.
“What it means is that students have the option of staying with the same teacher for two years in a row, so that their growth under one teacher can be more effectively tracked,” Kelpsh said. “For some, it’s a good option. They get used to one teacher and respond to those teaching methods as well.”
Then there are also “multi-age” classes, which could have, for instance, second- and third-grade students in the same class.
The intent of those classes, Kelpsh said, is to “gear academics to ability rather than age level.”
Partner teaching was another innovative method employed. In elementary school, he said, the intent of that program to split teaching duties in a classroom between two teachers, is to “emphasize teaching strengths rather than having one teacher teach all the subjects all day long.”
It also gives the students the opportunity to have a little change during the day when they would otherwise be with one teacher the entire day.
Then there are other small additions that Kelpsh said have contributed to garnering the award as well.
There is a 100-book reading challenge, which is intended to promote youngsters’ desire to read a lot in each year of their education.
Pacing guides are also used to ensure that milestones in education are met by each student effectively.
And there are writing prompts which, from the start of the elementary education, teach students to learn how to write according to how the standardized tests are geared.
While Kelpsh does not know exactly how the $25,000 for the school’s win will be put to use, he did say that the majority of the money will go back to individual teachers to use in their classrooms.
Mahala has about 40 teachers, he said, including specialists and special education teachers.
Some money will also be used for staff development, but “we’ll have to wait to see exactly what the guidelines are for using the money first,” Kelpsh added.
In the meantime, he is getting geared up to claim the award at a ceremony in Trenton Nov. 23.