No celebrations for local schools as they receive their state reports cards

It was another day of reading, writing and arithmetic at Cotton Belt Elementary School on Thursday. So normal that it was almost anticlimactic, said school principal Jennifer Bolin.

In years past, the day after receiving its state report card, Cotton Belt celebrated. There was cake, punch, lots of smiles and celebratory high fives.

For the past three years, students’ test scores and other academic measures earned Cotton Belt the honor of a Title I Distinguished School. It was something for the school – where 73 percent of the students meet one or more federal poverty measures – to brag about, Bolin said.

This year, there were no ratings for schools attached to the state report card. The state suspended “grades” and other honors for the schools as it revamps its academic standards.

This report card was the first for the ACT Aspire test. Educators cautioned that the ACT Aspire lacks historical data and widespread use. Currently, only South Carolina and Alabama administer the test statewide.

With the state writing its own educational standards, it is still unclear what tests will be part of the next year’s report card. The state could use ACT Aspire for a second year or use a different test.

Principals such as Bolin look at the ACT Aspire results cautiously.

For the third- and fourth-grade students at Cotton Belt Elementary, the ACT Aspire tests in English, reading, mathematics and writing were the first timed tests they have taken.

“It is a big change, for most tests we tell students to take your time,” Bolin said.

Students got 50 minutes to complete the ACT Aspire reading test. Therefore, Bolin isn’t sure the 29 percent score for students exceeding or meeting reading standards – the state average score was 37.2 percent – is an accurate assessment.

Did her students not score well because they concentrating too much on the reading aspect that they didn’t get to answer the questions or is there a breakdown in comprehension?

On the writing test, her students scored 12.9 percent exceeding or meeting standards, compared to the state average of 24.4 percent.

Students had 30 minutes for the writing test, meaning they didn’t have the time to write a rough draft, revise it and present a final draft as they had been taught. They had enough time to write a final draft and maybe make some revisions.

Each school got detailed ACT Aspire results. Bolin used the data to talk with her teachers about concentrating more on reading and writing.

Refining teachers’ focus, though, is not solely based on the ACT Aspire results. York district schools, like others in York County and the state, use the Measures of Academic Progress, or MAP, tests.

At Cotton Belt, the MAP tests are given three times a year, at the beginning of school, January and in May. Taking the MAP tests three times allows teachers to measure academic progress.

Students also periodically take the TE21 assessment test on various subjects. Some students were taking the assessments test Thursday at Cotton Belt.

“If we are doing our job, teaching and showing growth, it shouldn’t matter what tests we have,” Bolin said.

This story was originally published November 19, 2015 at 6:38 PM with the headline "No celebrations for local schools as they receive their state reports cards."