2008 School Report Card Reflections and What Now?

By now, you may already know that the 2008 School Report Cards were released early this morning. Although the release is very recent, the ratings on the report card are not a surprise to us. We knew when we saw last year's test scores that Kellett's report card rating would not be satisfactory to any of us. Based on last year's testing results, JN Kellett received an absolute rating from the state of "below average". That is based on a statistical analysis of our 2008 PACT scores. JN Kellett's improvement rating was 'at risk". The improvement rating means that our test scores declined rather than improved for the 2008 administration of PACT. We have long since come to terms with that performance last year and have been implementing specific plans to address those issues all year long.

Let me say now as I have before that we are proud of the efforts of our faculty and staff, and of the efforts of our students. Our faculty and staff have raised the bar of expectations and our students and families have answered the call. There is ample evidence that our testing results will improve in 2009. Our attendance is at an all time high. The winter administration of MAP yielded the results we envisioned when we drew up out MAP improvement plan. In Language Arts our students posted an average RIT score gain of 8.04. In Math they improved by an average RIT score gain of 8.58. In Reading, the average score improvement was 7.61. A 10 point gain is typical for a whole year of instruction. These results were accomplished in 13 weeks of instruction.

Please don't misunderstand me. While we are justifiably proud of this significant progress, but we know in our hearts and our heads that we can do better. Already, new plans are in effect to make sure that our students continue their growth so that they can close the gap between themselves and the national norms.

We have implemented plans to prepare for the new state-wide test, the PASS. Although little is known about PASS, we do know the criteria for scoring the writing sample to be done on March, so we are hard at work making sure that our students understand how their work will be judged and teaching them about the writing process. We remain convinced that, with continued focus on teaching and learning, our students will improve their performance on the state-wide test. This is not the time educators, students, or parents to rest on our laurels. Only by maintaining our effort and focusing on implementing our plans, will JN Kellett meet its goals for student achievement in 2009. All stakeholders are invited to join us in our quest for continuous improvement.