While students performed well on the tests overall, when the test results for subgroups of students such as special education or minority students are considered separately, many did not reach the required goals.
By: Donna Lukiw
Manville school officials learned the district is struggling to meet testing standards for subgroups of students, and began wrestling with strategies to raise the scores for the students at the Tuesday Board of Education meeting.
As part of the requirement of the No Child Left Behind Act, schools must not only meet proficiency goals for all students but also achieve benchmarks for the subgroups.
While students at Weston Elementary School, Roosevelt Elementary School and Alexander Batcho Intermediate School performed well on the tests overall, when the test results for subgroups of students such as special education or minority students are considered separately, many did not reach the required goals.
For example, during Tuesday’s meeting, Weston Elementary School Principal Don Frank said the school’s goal was to have 50 percent of special education students test proficient in math but only 42.1 percent did so.
"Overall, we’re beyond the state standards," Roosevelt Principal Michael Magliacano said. "It’s the subgroups we’re trying to target."
Board members discussed how the standardized tests don’t assess students fairly, especially special education students, who have various mental, physical or emotional problems that may prevent them from scoring as well as the general education students even though the requirement is the same.
"They’re special needs for a reason," board member Janice Mathewson said.
While students are being assessed year to year, administrators said students cannot be accurately assessed when new students are entering different grades each year.
For example, current eighth-graders may score well on the Grade Eighth Proficiency Assessment (GEPA) one year, but a new class of eighth-graders the following year may not do as well, forcing test scores to drop.
Board member Ned Panfile asked the principals what could be done to help the students in need, suggesting pulling students out of their normal classroom routine for a couple hours and initiating one-on-one tutoring during the school day.
Mr. Weston, Mr. Magliacano and Dr. Brunn confirmed that this is already being done but Mr. Panfile said something more needs to be done in order to help those students in need.
At Roosevelt Elementary School, students in four subgroups didn’t fare well in the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJ-ASK) tests but Mr. Magliacano said the teachers and administrators will keep on trying to reach the state standards.
The fifth-graders were expected to reach 75 percent in language arts after taking the NJ-ASK V tests but special education, limited English proficiency, black and economically disadvantaged students failed to meet the standards.
Out of 22 special education students, 13 reached proficient or advanced proficient; none of the three students with limited English proficiency met the proficiency requirements; one of four black students scored proficient and out of the 22 economically disadvantaged, 14 reached proficiency.
For the test’s math section, three subgroups did not reach proficiency or advanced proficiency after trying to attain at least 62 percent proficiency special education students (59 percent proficient), the limited English proficiency students (0 percent) and black students (25 percent).
In the sixth-grade’s language arts testing, the proficiency goal was 75 percent, 25 percent of special education students and 60 percent of the black students met the goal. None of the Hispanic, white, economically disadvantaged and noneconomically disadvantaged subgroups scored proficient or advanced proficient.
Again for math, the same subgroups in sixth grade failed to meet proficiency.
The seventh-graders who took the NJ-ASK 7 were expected to reach 75 percent proficiency in language arts but the special education students, limited English proficiency, black and Pacific Islander students did not pass.
For the math portion of the test, out of 17 special education students three reached proficiency but 10 students were expected to pass.
Black, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, white, economically disadvantaged and noneconomically disadvantaged also did not pass the math portion.
Eighth-graders taking the language arts portion for the GEPA were expected to reach a minimum of 66 percent proficiency but again five subgroups failed to meet the standards while six subgroups did not meet proficiency for the math portion.