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ISTEP scores are being released by the state today and Warsaw Schools' director of assessment, Terrence P. Roe, said overall, Warsaw's scores "held kind of flat."
In a pre-release interview Friday, Roe said Warsaw School Corp. did see some outstanding achievement in limited English proficiency areas. In some cases, LEP students in some buildings not only closed the gap with non-LEP students, but also turned it around.
"We've really done something to bring these kids along," said Sandra Hess, assistant superintendent.
Warsaw Schools has a total of 818 LEP students. Not all LEP students take ISTEP. A LEP student has to be in the country at least three years before they are required to take ISTEP, Roe said.
One example Roe cited of LEP achievement was third-grade students at Leesburg Elementary School. In math, 83 percent of LEP students passed ISTEP this fall, compared to 79 percent non-LEP students passing math. In English and language arts, 78 percent LEP third-graders passed, compared to 76 percent of non-LEP students passing.
"Leesburg made some of the most improvement in that area," said Roe. "Madison is right behind them. Lincoln also is notable."
Another area Roe said Warsaw made gains was with free and reduced lunch students. "They're closing the gap," he said.
At Leesburg Elementary School, 88 percent of free/reduced lunch students passed English/language arts, up 38 percent from 64 percent in 2004. At Madison, 70 percent of free/reduced lunch students passed English/language arts, up 21 percent from 58 percent in 2004.
However, those increases are not across the board. Only 50 percent of free/reduced lunch third-grade students at Eisenhower Elementary School passed English/language arts this year, down 30 percent from 71 percent passing in 2004. Harrison third-grade free and reduced lunch students dropped to 43 percent passing English/language arts this year, down from 61 percent passing in 2004.
In almost every instance of scores, Roe said Warsaw students' math scores are exceeding their English/language arts scores. "We've done lots of things in math over the last few years and we want to do the same with language arts," he said.
Hess said WCS is doing a lot of studying now so they improve language arts the same way they did with math. Reading is key, Roe said. The better students can read and understand, the better they will do with ISTEP.
Hess said Warsaw isn't doing bad, but it can do better. "We'd like to do better," she said.
Roe and Hess both agreed on at least one area Warsaw Schools needs to work on - special needs students.
"Overall," said Roe, "English/language arts could be improved. Our special needs - we're working on improving their passing as well."
For example, in grade five English/language arts, 15 percent of special needs students passed at Harrison, and only 18 percent passed at Lincoln.
The ISTEP scores will be posted by the state on the Department of Education's Web site at www.doe.state.in.us today. The results for English/language arts and mathematics will be available for grades 3-10, and science results will be available for grade 5. Results for grade 7 science will be available after passing scores have been set in late February or early March, according to the IDOE press release.
