Offering more Advanced Placement and dual credit college classes helped the Marion County School District jump from a C to a B in state ratings.
The district’s overall score jumped five points from 590 to 595 on a 1,000-point scale and much of that increase came from students’ participation and performance in those courses.
The district has added more advanced classes starting in the fifth grade. The plan is to “promote accelerated growth opportunities” for the top 25 percent of students in middle school to prepare them to eventually score higher on the ACT and be more competitive for scholarships, the district said in a report assessing the 2017 test results. It also said teachers will be participating in professional development over the next three years related to teaching AP courses.
Superintendent Wendy Bracey and Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Michael Day presented the information to the school board during the Nov. 13 meeting.
“This is why our high schools went from Cs to Bs,” Day said. “The principals and teachers put into play programs years ago before any of us came here to make sure our children were prepared to go to college. They put into play rigorous classes in middle school and high school to give those kids the skill sets to be successful after high school. The number reflects what’s called participation and performance and acceleration, which really measure your AP and dual enrollment classes. Five more kids in a dual enrollment, 10 more kids in AP, every child we can push to the next level makes these numbers grow. These are row points that are added to that 1,000 point total. In this case, we got 44 points; that’s a lot of points. You as a school board have supported this and look what it did to the scores.”
The Board also learned about the scoring on the state tests.
“Our goal is to show all students proficient and showing growth in all of the assessed areas,” Bracey said. “I’m very pleased that our school district was above the 588 cut for a B. Last year, we had a 590 and this year, our principals worked very hard to show an increase. We had the same kind of test two years in a row and moved from a 590 to a 595.”
Her are some other key points from the presentation about the state accountability scores:
• The graduation rate, which receives the most weight out of the 11 factors the state uses to calculate the accountability scores, was up to 86.8 percent in 2017 from 83.6 in 2016.
• The district’s passage rate on the third-grade gate exam was 95 percent versus a state average of 92 percent.
• Despite both West Marion and East Marion high schools increasing their letter grades from a C to a B, the average ACT score fell at both schools. West Marion students averaged a 16.2 in 2017 after a 17.2 in 2016, and East Marion’s average fell from 17.4 to 16.8. Those numbers are based the entire junior class taking the exam.
• The district did well in terms of how much students learned in kindergarten. Kindergarteners are given a test at the beginning of the year and then the end of the year. Marion County School District students averaged a 482 in the fall, 20 points below the state average of 502, and improved to a 705 in the spring, just 5 points below the state average of 710.
• A bright spot was algebra. With a state average of 31.4 percent scoring at least proficient on that exam, East Marion High School had 66.7 percent and West Marion High School 47.6 percent.
In English Language Arts, Marion County third graders beat the state average in terms of the percentage scoring proficient or advanced on the tests, but they were below the state average in fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth grades. Seventh grade tied the state average.
In math, the results were mixed. The district beat the state average in fourth grade, with a particularly strong performance from West Marion Elementary. It had 56 percent score proficient or advanced versus a state average of 35.8 percent. Third graders at East also showed large improvement. They jumped from 15.9 percent scoring proficient in 2016 to 41 percent in 2017, which beat the state average of 40.1 percent. However, the district was below the state average in math in the other grades.
Both high schools made Bs, while West Primary and West Elementary both received Cs. East Elementary made a D.
“Out ultimate goal is for all of our schools to be As and Bs,” Bracey said. “We want our district to be an A or a B.”
“It’s important to be able to get down deep in the data and see what’s going on in each grade,” Day said. “The principals are doing really well in analyzing the data and breaking it down, looking at specific fields on specific tests so we can see where we can build on them.”
The Board also learned about the high graduation rates at both East and West Marion high schools.
“East Marion High still has one of the highest graduation rates in the state,” Day said. “They’re in the Top 10. That is a credit to Ms. (Cindy) Newsome and her team; they’ve maintained that for a couple of years now. It’s harder to maintain it when you’re on top, but they’re trying to keep each child in school and getting them the support system they need so they don’t drop out. It is important that every child goes to school and stays in school.”
At West Marion High School, Principal Gigi Dunaway had to begin a dropout prevention program two years ago; now the school’s rates have increased.
“We want to keep that trend going,” Day said.
