BY JOYCE BLAY
Staff Writer
LAKEWOOD — Public school students here are diverse, but their drive to excel is universal.
That is the predominant finding by Lakewood School District educators following the release of improved mathematics scores in five of the district’s six schools where students were tested under the guidelines of the federal No Child Left Behind program earlier this year.
“We’re heading in the right direction,” said Mary Henry, director of mathematics for the district. “I’m real pleased with the advancements we’ve made in mathematics. We get a bad rap, but look at those math scores — they’re wonderful.”
Henry said she gave a report to Board of Education members on Nov. 8. While she had good news about Lakewood’s mathematics scores, language arts literacy remains an area in need of improvement by many students.
According to Henry, 53.8 percent of Clifton Avenue School fourth-graders who took the ASK-4 test showed proficiency in language arts literacy, while the federal benchmark is 68 percent. Students met the benchmark in math — 53 percent.
The percentage is not a score on the test, but the number of students showing proficiency in the subject.
Only one subgroup, which the federal government designates as African-Americans, did not meet the federal benchmark in mathematics at Clifton Avenue, but did make what is known as safe harbor, which means they showed an improvement of 10 percent.
If the failure rate of a subgroup is reduced by 10 percent from one year to the next, that subgroup reaches safe harbor, Henry said.
In language arts literacy at Clifton Avenue, African-American and economically disadvantaged pupils did not meet the federal benchmark of 68 percent. Those will be areas the district will attempt to address with a plan to remediate the problem, Henry said.
Under federal guidelines, Clifton Avenue was designated a school in need of improvement this past summer. Henry said it takes two years to be designated a school in need of improvement, and two years to be removed from the classification.
At the Ella G. Clarke School, pupils also failed to meet the federal benchmark
in language arts literacy. The standard is the same 68 percent, while 57.3 percent showed proficiency, Henry said. Three subgroups did not meet the benchmark: African-Americans, Hispanics and economically disadvantaged pupils.
In mathematics, the federal benchmark is 53 percent and 54 percent showed proficiency.
“Everybody made it in all subgroups [there],” Henry said. “We have two schools that have outstanding results. We’re doing something right.”
At the Spruce Street and Oak Street elementary schools, pupils in all subgroups met federal benchmark standards. At Spruce Street, 85.2 percent of pupils showed proficiency in language arts literacy. In mathematics, students surpassed the 53 percent benchmark as 78.8 percent showed proficiency.
Henry said student performance was so strong in mathematics at Spruce Street that more than one-third of students there were put into the advanced category, while the state average is 25 percent.
At Oak Street, 85.1 percent of pupils showed proficiency in language arts literacy. In mathematics, 83.5 percent showed proficiency. More than one third of pupils in math were categorized as advanced.
“Last year both schools received an early warning due to subgroups that did not meet federal benchmark standards, so this year they were put on a hold status due to improved scores,” Henry said. “They did wonderfully this year.”
Scores at the Lakewood Middle School were indicative that more work is needed to meet federal benchmarks in language arts literacy as well as improvement in mathematics by some subgroups. Henry remained hopeful that with remedial programs, students will be up to the challenge.
Although the total middle school population failed to meet the federal benchmark in language arts literacy, the students did better in mathematics. 50.5 percent of eighth-grade students who took the GEPA test showed proficiency in language arts literacy, falling short of the 58 percent federal benchmark. However, the total population earned a score of 45 percent in mathematics, surpassing the benchmark requirement of 39 percent.
Middle school students with disabilities did not meet the mathematics benchmark. In language arts literacy, subgroups of students with disabilities, limited English and African-Americans did not meet benchmark standards or safe harbor.
Students fared better in language arts literacy at Lakewood High School. Henry said 74.2 percent of 11th grade students who took the HSPA test in the spring of 2004 showed proficiency in language arts literacy, surpassing the federal benchmark of 73 percent. However, two subgroups — those the federal government designates as limited English proficient and Hispanics — did not meet the benchmark requirements.
“When you have students who speak Spanish and don’t understand you, you can see the writing on the wall,” Henry said. “And when they do learn, they go through that revolving door” by moving away.
Henry said the state is working on a Spanish-language mathematics test. She said the federal government’s goal is to have all students in New Jersey meet the mathematics and language arts literacy benchmarks by 2014.
In math, Lakewood High School students surpassed the benchmark of 55 percent as 59.8 percent showed proficiency. Henry said all subgroups made it.
Henry said the Clifton Avenue and Clarke elementary schools remain in need of improvement. She added that since Clarke pupils met federal benchmarks last year, the school was only given an early warning. The distinction precludes parents from sending any of their children enrolled there to an alternate school as was the case at Clifton Avenue.
In August, Acting Principal Joseph Attardi met with parents of children enrolled at Clifton Avenue to inform them of their right to send children to Spruce Street instead. A total of 10 families (15 children) chose that alternative.
“There are different [federal] sanctions that could [be taken against] Clifton Avenue since they receive Title 1 grant money,” Henry said. “If [students’] test scores do not improve, the next step would be supplemental services. None of our schools are in that [situation] yet.”
Only schools receiving Title 1 funds receive supplementary services, Henry said.
The middle school also has been designated as a school in need of improvement, Henry said. However, since there is only one middle school in Lakewood, she said there was no other institution to which parents could send their children.
She said the district would attempt to improve middle school test scores through after-school programs in math and language arts literacy. In addition, math and language arts literacy coaches would be visiting classes during the day to demonstrate lessons.
All schools will be offering after-school and summer programs in an effort to improve pupils’ test scores, Henry said. She said the high school library has extended its hours to students. Several schools are offering parent workshops and a homework club is also available.
Lisa DeEugenio, director of grants, said the district has many grants it has either received or for which it has applied that will help students as well.
“For example, the ESL (English as a Second Language) populations [would benefit] from the 21st Century Community Learning Center grant provided by the New Jersey Department of Education,” DeEugenio said. “It is a competitive five-year grant that we received a year ago that started in April 2004.”
DeEugenio said that since the grant became available to the district after students were tested in the spring, it would take time to see results. However, the grant has helped fund a bilingual educator to help Spanish-speaking students improve their command of the English language through a partnership with the Lakewood branch of the Ocean County Library. The ESL teacher also will be available to help parents so they can help their children. The program is offered Monday through Friday at the Lakewood library.
“Additionally, through that same grant, we partnered with Ocean County College to send ESL children to Camp Viking, which is a summer enrichment program that provides academics and arts,” DeEugenio said. “It targets that subgroup.”
DeEugenio said that by partnering with Big Brothers and Big Sisters the district hoped to improve the academic performance of other subgroups. She said the Least Restrictive Environment grant was targeted at the needs of special education children. DeEugenio said the grant provided training for teachers in general education classrooms so they could also teach children with special needs.
“For example, teachers would have the ability to modify their lessons to enable students with a disability such as dyslexia to excel in a regular mainstream classroom,” DeEugenio said. “We also have a Comprehensive School Reform grant that encompasses classroom management [and] learning styles.”
She said the district was in the second year of the three-year grant.
James Waters, the president of the Ocean County-Lakewood branch of the NAACP, said he addressed board members after the presentation of the test results at the Nov. 8 board meeting.
Waters said that board President Abraham Ostreicher complimented the principals of the Oak Street and Spruce Street schools. Waters said he told Ostreicher that he should not have singled out only those schools whose students had done well.
“Most of the children who are going to be in the top 15 or 20 percent of the classes are going to do well [on the tests, too],” Waters said. “It’s the others who have to be praised since they work harder to be a C-plus or B-minus student. We’ve got to want all our children to do the best they can do, and [they] need to be applauded for making that effort, too.”
year, the school was only given an early warning. The distinction precludes parents from sending any of their children enrolled there to an alternate school as was the case at Clifton Avenue.
In August, Acting Principal Joseph Attardi met with parents of children enrolled at Clifton Avenue to inform them of their right to send children to Spruce Street instead. A total of 10 families (15 children) chose that alternative.
“There are different [federal] sanctions that could [be taken against] Clifton Avenue since they receive Title 1 grant money,” Henry said. “If [students’] test scores do not improve, the next step would be supplemental services. None of our schools are in that [situation] yet.”
Only schools receiving Title 1 funds receive supplementary services, Henry said.
The middle school also has been designated as a school in need of improvement, Henry said. However, since there is only one middle school in Lakewood, she said there was no other institution to which parents could send their children.
She said the district would attempt to improve middle school test scores through after-school programs in math and language arts literacy. In addition, math and language arts literacy coaches would be visiting classes during the day to demonstrate lessons.
All schools will be offering after-school and summer programs in an effort to improve pupils’ test scores, Henry said. She said the high school library has extended its hours to students. Several schools are offering parent workshops and a homework club is also available.
Lisa DeEugenio, director of grants, said the district has many grants it has either received or for which it has applied that will help students as well.
“For example, the ESL (English as a Second Language) populations [would benefit] from the 21st Century Community Learning Center grant provided by the New Jersey Department of Education,” DeEugenio said. “It is a competitive five-year grant that we received a year ago that started in April 2004.”
DeEugenio said that since the grant became available to the district after students were tested in the spring, it would take time to see results. However, the grant has helped fund a bilingual educator to help Spanish-speaking students improve their command of the English language through a partnership with the Lakewood branch of the Ocean County Library. The ESL teacher also will be available to help parents so they can help their children. The program is offered Monday through Friday at the Lakewood library.
“Additionally, through that same grant, we partnered with Ocean County College to send ESL children to Camp Viking, which is a summer enrichment program that provides academics and arts,” DeEugenio said. “It targets that subgroup.”
DeEugenio said that by partnering with Big Brothers and Big Sisters the district hoped to improve the academic performance of other subgroups. She said the Least Restrictive Environment grant was targeted at the needs of special education children. DeEugenio said the grant provided training for teachers in general education classrooms so they could also teach children with special needs.
“For example, teachers would have the ability to modify their lessons to enable students with a disability such as dyslexia to excel in a regular mainstream classroom,” DeEugenio said. “We also have a Comprehensive School Reform grant that encompasses classroom management [and] learning styles.”
She said the district was in the second year of the three-year grant.
James Waters, the president of the Ocean County-Lakewood branch of the NAACP, said he addressed board members after the presentation of the test results at the Nov. 8 board meeting.
Waters said that board President Abraham Ostreicher complimented the principals of the Oak Street and Spruce Street schools. Waters said he told Ostreicher that he should not have singled out only those schools whose students had done well.
“Most of the children who are going to be in the top 15 or 20 percent of the classes are going to do well [on the tests, too],” Waters said. “It’s the others who have to be praised since they work harder to be a C-plus or B-minus student. We’ve got to want all our children to do the best they can do, and [they] need to be applauded for making that effort, too.”