Friday, October 01, 1999
Covington regroups after low test scores
Schools' new focus on spring exams
BY ANDREA TORTORA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON — Now that educators and the public know how schools fared on Kentucky's test of basic skills, the push is on to improve scores when students are tested again in spring.
No school district knows this better than Covington.
All five of the district's elementaries ranked at the bottom in overall scores, out of the 58 elementary schools in Boone, Campbell, Gallatin, Grant, Kenton and Pendleton counties. First District was the lowest-scoring elementary in the state, earning a 33.4 out of 140.
“It is quite obviously disappointing to the district and to the teachers at that school that test scores are low,” Superintendent James Kemp said.
Yet the low performance is not a new issue. First District consistently has been a poor performer on the state exams.
Scores released last year served as a wake-up call, Mr. Kemp said. Since then, First District adopted a new school reform model, and the district implemented more than a dozen new strategies to improve testing success.
Gerald Bracey, an independent testing expert from Alexandria, Va., said poor districts often have to spend time and money on many nonacademic difficulties.
“Poverty and the issues that come with it are a problem,” Mr. Bracey said.
Other obstacles include poor attendance, a geographically scattered student population, and the school's location in the downtown business district, rather than a residential area.
Bob Sexton, director of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence in Lexington, Ky., said the best schools aim to give every child certain skills.
“That is the lesson, especially in schools with lots of problems,” Mr. Sexton said. “Schools need to stand back and look at their teaching practice and each child and what it is they need to do to make a breakthrough with each child.”
That is Covington's strategy. Last year, teachers were trained in new methods. New programs were designed and resources were reallocated.
The result:
• Pupil personnel services are working directly with stu dents and families to improve attendance.
• Student abilities were assessed at the start of the year to determine what each child knows and what lessons need to be taught.
• Every school is now wired to the Internet, and more lessons incorporate computers.
• Professional development for teachers is tailored to technology.
• After early September, students are not allowed to transfer between schools unless there are extraordinary circumstances. This is to prevent the large number of students changing schools — some as many as three times a year.
• Reading is the districtwide academic emphasis.
“Our students certainly are as astute as any others in the state, but the one thing that stands out with our students is that the weakness in language arts hurts them the most,” Mr. Kemp said. “If you can't read, you can't perform well in certain tasks that are set out to you on the state test.”
First District is using Success For All this year, a program that requires every student to spend 90 minutes a day on reading. Students who need the most help will get extra 20-minute tutoring sessions every day: 30 percent of first-graders, 20 percent of second-graders and 10 percent of third-graders.
Identified last year as a school “in decline” based on test scores, First District is required by the state to develop a plan to improve, Principal Betty Wiley said.
As part of that plan, Jan Ising, the school's Family Resource Center director, is making connections between parents and teachers, so students will continue to learn, even outside the regular school day.
“There are 10 million details and we are at 32,000 now,” Mrs. Ising said. “But we're getting really good at this.”
FIRST DISTRICT SCORES BY SUBJECT
Scores based on a scale of 0 to 140, with 100 the goal:
• Reading: 47.91.
• Math: 29.13.
• Science: 32.85.
• Social studies: 31.86.
• Arts: 14.13.
• Vocational: 19.43.
• Writing: 32.92.
• Overall total: 33.4.
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