News
LOCAL SCHOOL SCORES UP IN RATING SYSTEM
By Larry Fugate/ Special to The Commercial
Thursday, April 2, 2009 10:22 AM CDT
Eleven Southeast Arkansas schools received “schools of excellence” in academic progress designations in the state Department of Education’s new school rating system.
A number of area schools posted improvements on the Arkansas Benchmark Exams over the past two years. Eighty-four state schools received the highest rating of a “5” based on the new system, while
214 public schools received a rating of 4 on the 1-to-5 scale.
That makes them “schools of excellence” in student academic progress, according to the state’s new way of gauging the progress of individual students in public schools.
The Dollarway School District had one school rated 5 and the White Hall district had two.
Schools ranking 4 and 5 are eligible for cash awards if the General Assembly appropriates a pool of money for the awards.
The 2008 School Performance Report is being mailed this week to parents and guardians of Arkansas’ 450,000 public school students. High school students who did not participate in the Benchmark exams are not included in the rating system.
Under the rating system, a school classified as:
Level 1 is in need of immediate improvement;
Level 2, on alert for lack of student achievement gains;
Level 3, meeting improvement standards;
Level 4, exceeding improvement standards;
Level 5, schools of excellence for improvement.
The ratings as required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act and state law are designed to identify which students repeatedly fail to meet the state’s minimum achievement requirements on the Benchmark Exams. Those schools are placed on a state improvement list and sanctioned.
The new system recognizes schools in which students made significant academic gains from 2007 to 2008 in literacy and math.
Fordyce Elementary School is classed as being in Year 4 of school improvement based on low student test scores. However, the new gains rating for Fordyce Elementary is a “5,” making it a “school of excellence” for improvement.
The breakdown on Southeast Arkansas school districts:
Dollarway: Altheimer-Martin Elementary, 5; Townsend Park Elementary, 3; and Dollarway Middle School, 3;
Pine Bluff: Belair Elementary, 3; Broadmoor Elementary, 1; Greenville, W.T. Cheney and Oak Park elementary, 2; 34th Avenue and Southwood elementary, both 1; Southeast Middle School, 3; and Jack Robey Junior High, 2;
Watson Chapel: Coleman Elementary, 4, and Watson Chapel Junior High, 1;
White Hall: Hardin and Gandy elementary, both 5; Moody and Taylor elementary, both 4; Redfield Junior High, 4; and White Hall Junior High, 2;
Cleveland County: Kingsland Elementary, 5; Rison Elementary, 4; and Rison High School, 2;
Dermott: Dermott Elementary, 5, and Dermott High School, 2;
DeWitt: DeWitt Elementary, 3; DeWitt Middle School, 2; Gillett Elementary, 1; Gillett High, 3; Humphrey Elementary, 2;
Drew Central: Drew Elementary, 5, and Drew Central High, 1;
Dumas: Reed Elementary, 1; Dumas Junior High, 2; and Reed Intermediate, 3;
Fordyce: Fordyce Elementary, 5, and Fordyce Middle School, 2;
McGehee: McGehee Elementary, 4, and McGehee High School, 1;
Monticello: Monticello Middle and Intermediate, 4 each;
Poyen: Poyen Elementary, 4, and Poyen High, 1;
Sheridan: Sheridan Middle and Intermediate, 3 each, and East End Intermediate, 2;
Star City: Brown Elementary and Star City Middle schools, 4 each;
Stuttgart: Park Avenue Elementary and Meekins Middle School, 5, and Stuttgart Junior High, 3;
Warren: Thomas C. Brunson Elementary, 5, and Warren Middle School, 3;
Woodlawn: Woodlawn Elementary, 4, and Woodlawn High, 3.
On the Net:
www.ArkansasEd. org
Print this story | Email this story
|
