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Hancock County schools in top 10

NEW CUMBERLAND — Hancock County ranked in the top 10 West Virginia counties in math scores and in the top 11 or 12 in English language arts scores following the latest General Summative Assessment.

While the scores are preliminary and won’t be finalized until the fall, they show Hancock County Schools to be on an upward trajectory for most of the grades, district officials said.

“In comparison to the other counties in the state that are being taught the same objectives, we’re high or near the top,” Superintendent Kathy Kidder-Wilkerson said.

The scores reflect results from the second year of the General Summative Assessment, a standardized test that students in grades 3-11 take over several days in the spring. The online test, which replaces the WESTEST2, is meant to measure students’ progress toward goals set in the Next Generation Content Standards, which represent West Virginia’s adaptation of the Common Core standards.

Preliminary results released by the West Virginia Department of Education show that 50 percent of Hancock County students are proficient in English language arts, compared to 47 percent in the state overall, and 34 percent are proficient in math, compared to 30 percent in the state overall.

What’s more, 39 percent of Hancock County students in grades 4, 6 and 10 — the only grades that take the science test — are proficient in science, compared to 36 percent in the state overall, the results said.

In all three subjects, Hancock County students showed improvement compared to 2014-2015, the first school year they took the General Summative Assessment.

“We’re looking to increase our scores from the previous year, so, in that sense, we’re in competition with ourselves,” Kidder-Wilkerson said. “We have a lot of work ahead of us, but we’re probably faring a little better than some (counties). You’re always reaching for 100 percent proficiency.”

Kidder-Wilkerson said two Hancock County schools did particularly well — Chester’s Allison Elementary School in math and Weirton Elementary School in English language arts.

The third-graders at Allison Elementary improved their math scores by 24 percent, she said. Eighty-three percent of the third-graders tested proficient in math in 2015-2016, whereas 59 percent tested proficient the year before.

“They did wonderfully,” Kidder-Wilkerson said. “It means they understand, they get the concepts.”

The fourth-graders at Weirton Elementary improved their English language arts scores by 23 percent. Sixty-seven percent of the fourth-graders tested proficient in English in 2015-2016, whereas 44 percent tested proficient the year before, she said.

In science, all three grades showed improved scores over the previous year’s — fourth grade by 19 percent, sixth grade by 16 percent and 10th grade by 2 percent, she said.

Only two grades had scores lower than the state average in math — fifth grade and ninth grade. Kidder-Wilkerson said those two “transitional” grades will require some extra work.

“That’s what we’re going to concentrate on,” she said.

Math education in general will receive a renewed focus. “We know we have a challenge there in math. Our No. 1 goal is to increase math scores,” she said.

To that end, the district has hired two academic coaches to work with elementary school teachers and students in math education, and will hire two academic coaches for the middle schools, she said.

Two issues that continue to be of concern to district officials are the amount of time required to take the test and the computer skills necessary to take the test.

“I think there have been obstacles with the students being able to navigate it effectively,” said Director of Student Services Andrea Dulaney.

The English language arts test includes a computer adaptive test and a performance task, which measure the overall performance of students in reading, writing, listening and research. The math test also consists of a computer adaptive test and a performance task, which requires real-world application and some writing.

“The student has to know how to use the tools and manipulate the tools on the computer. There’s a lot of writing on the math test,” Dulaney said.

The tests can take up to three days, depending on the grade, and scores seem to be linked to the amount of time a student devotes to the test, officials said.

“As the students go from middle school to high school, it should take more time to take the test, and students are taking almost half the time. Those are things we’re looking at,” Dulaney said.

“We need to get our high school students to take a little bit more time and see if that will increase their scores,” Kidder-Wilkerson said, noting that the state should do more to incentivize the test.

“There’s nothing that’s attached to the test. You graduate even if you score ‘novice’ straight through — as long as you have the grades,” Kidder-Wilkerson said. “Until our state attaches some significance to the individual results, it’s going to stay that way.”

The preliminary results for Hancock County proficiency rates in English language arts are as follows:

¯ Third grade — 65 percent (state average: 48 percent)

¯ Fourth grade — 62 percent (state average: 49 percent)

¯ Fifth grade — 51 percent (state average: 52 percent)

¯ Sixth grade — 47 percent (state average: 46 percent)

¯ Seventh grade — 44 percent (state average: 48 percent)

¯ Eighth grade — 51 percent (state average: 47 percent)

¯ Ninth grade — 44 percent (state average: 41 percent)

¯ 10th grade — 45 percent (state average: 44 percent)

¯ 11th grade — 50 percent (state average: 49 percent)

The preliminary results for Hancock County proficiency rates in math are as follows:

¯ Third grade — 71 percent (state average: 44 percent)

¯ Fourth grade — 52 percent (state average: 35 percent)

¯ Fifth grade — 26 percent (state average: 30 percent)

¯ Sixth grade — 39 percent (state average: 26 percent)

¯ Seventh grade — 38 percent (state average: 25 percent)

¯ Eighth grade — 35 percent (state average: 25percent)

¯ Ninth grade — 16 percent (state average: 18 percent)

¯ 10th grade — 18 percent (state average: 15 percent)

¯ 11th grade — 20 percent (state average: 20 percent)

(Huba can be contacted at shuba@reviewonline.com)

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