Some students ahead, others behind in tests

The state last week released its annual Department of Education New Jersey School Report Card of all public schools in the state.

By: Lea Kahn
   Lawrence high school students’ scores on all three sections of the SAT exceeded the statewide average last year, but standardized tests taken by township children in grades 4-6 show they’re lagging behind in math skills.
   The results were contained in the cornucopia of details released by the State Department of Education last week in its annual New Jersey School Report Card of all public schools in the state. Academic performance, class sizes, staff and student attendance rates, and salaries are among the wide range of information included in the document.
   The New Jersey School Report Card revealed that Lawrence students performed well on the SAT essay portion, scoring an average of 503. The statewide average is 493. The average SAT math score for LHS students was 542, compared to 516 statewide. The average verbal score on the SAT for LHS students was 503, as compared to the state average of 494.
   Younger students in the district scored better than their counterparts statewide on the language arts literacy portion of the various state-mandated tests for children in grades 3 through 8, and grade 11.
   But Lawrence students in grades 4 through 6 did not score as well as other their counterparts around the state on the mathematics portion of the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge tests.
   At the Lawrence Intermediate School, 76.6 percent of fourth-graders scored proficient in math, as compared to 82.3 percent statewide. In science, LIS fourth-graders scored 80.1 percent proficient. Statewide, 82.3 percent scored proficient.
   LIS fifth-graders scored 79.6 percent proficient in math. Statewide, 81.7 percent of fifth-grade students scored proficient. The sixth-graders scored similar results, with 67.7 percent of LIS students scoring proficient in math as compared to 80.6 percent statewide.
   The fifth-graders and sixth-graders are not tested on the science portion of the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge.
   However, Superintendent of Schools Philip Meara said he was satisfied with the overall results of the annual report card.
   "Overall, I am pleased," Mr. Meara said Monday afternoon. "Is there room for improvement? Absolutely. In terms of math and science, we have just completed rewriting the math curriculum. We will be looking to make a decision on the curriculum materials, and that would include textbooks."
   Mr. Meara said the school district has been involved in a PILOT (Payment In Lieu of Taxes) program, called "Math Out of the Box," at Lawrence Intermediate School for the past three years. The PILOT program is co-sponsored by the Educational Testing Service and Clemson University, and funded by DuPont Inc.
   "Our initial assessment results indicate that students who are in Math Out of the Box do score higher on the assessment tests," he said. "If they studied geometry, they score higher in that area than students who were not involved in Math Out of the Box." When the overall scores of different groups of students are analyzed, he said, one group that needs more help is special education students. School district officials are planning to bring back into the district more students who are being sent to special schools outside of the district. The district will have more control over those students’ education, he said.
   Mr. Meara said that under the direction of Assistant Superintendent of Schools Crystal Lovell, who is in charge of curriculum, the district is placing more emphasis on analyzing test score data and using the results to shape classroom instruction.
   "We need to give the teachers the information from the assessments," Mr. Meara said. "We want to be sure the whole staff gets the assessment information in a timely way so they can use it to drive their instruction."
   "I am very optimistic for our future," he said. "I don’t think I could ask my teachers or administrators to work harder. In my mind, the question becomes primarily one of resources and training — how can I give them the resources they need to do what their talent gives them the ability to do."
   Mr. Meara also said he was pleased with the district’s SAT scores, but he noted that the last group of Washington Township high school students will graduate from Lawrence High School this year. Washington Township built its own high school and, therefore, won’t be sending its high school students to LHS.
   "We know that Washington Township students are leaving us and we know how bright and gifted they are, so my high school teachers will have to work even harder to maintain students’ high scores (on the SAT)," he said.
   "The other factor that is influencing this is that our school population is becoming more diverse," he said. "When you look at the K-3 population, it is a more diverse population than at the high school."
   At LHS, 14 percent of students are Asian, which includes Indian, Chinese and Korean students, he said. At the four elementary schools, 20 percent of the K-3 students are Asian. Black students make up 17 percent of the high school population and 14 percent in the elementary schools, while Hispanics account for 9 percent of the student population at the high school and the elementary schools.
   "This diversity is what attracted me to the Lawrence school district," said Mr. Meara, who took over as superintendent last March. "It is a much more rewarding place to teach and to prepare our students for the society they will meet when they graduate, but at the same time, it presents challenges. There are 47 different languages spoken in the district."
   In addition to the test scores, the New Jersey School Report Card reported that the average length of the high school day statewide is 6 hours and 49 minutes. At LHS, it is 7 hours.
   Statewide, the school day is 6 hours and 29 minutes long for students in grades K-8. In Lawrence, the school day ranges from 6 hours and 40 minutes for grades K-3 to 7 hours and 5 minutes at Lawrence Intermediate School and 7 hours at Lawrence Middle School.
   The average class size statewide is 19.2 students in grades K-12, but 16.7 in the four Lawrence elementary schools. At LIS, which handles students in grades 4-6, the average class size is 20 students and at LMS, which is for seventh- and eighth-graders, it is 25.8 students. At LHS, the average class size is 14.7 students.
   The report card indicates that the average salary for an administrator is $105,960 statewide, but $104,568 in the Lawrence district. The average faculty salary statewide is $53,871, but $51,410 in the Lawrence district.