Warsaw Schools Show Improvement in ISTEP+, IREAD-3
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Before giving his report on Warsaw Community School’s successes in ISTEP+, IREAD-3 and dual credit, Chief Accountability Officer Tom Kline said, “This is going to be like a highlight film.”
The results will show how WCS improved this year over last and compared to other school corporations, he said.
In June, Kline gave a preliminary ISTEP+ report. The state officially released ISTEP+ scores July 10, which were reported in the Times-Union on that date.
In language arts, WCS averaged an 84.1 in 2012; 79.2 in 2011; and 77.5 in 2010. In mathematics, the district averaged an 83 in 2012; 76.2 in 2011; and 78.6 in 2010.
“If you take the two scores and average them (for 2012), you’ll get our preliminary grade for our school corporation. We got a ‘C’ last year. We’re moving up to at least a ‘B’ this year,” Kline said.
Kline then went through each school’s results.
In 2012, Claypool earned an 86 in English/language arts and 86.6 in math; Eisenhower got a 92.2 in language arts and 84.4 in math; Harrison, 83 in 2012, 76.2 in math; Jefferson, 83.6 in language arts and 83.4 in math; Leesburg, 83.2 in language arts, 80.9 in math; Lincoln, 89.6 in language arts, 83.6 in math; Madison, 90.1 in language arts, 89.2 in math; Washington, 82.1 in 2012, 79.7 in math; Edgewood Middle School, 83.6 in language arts, 83.8 in math; and Lakeview Middle School, 74.5 in language arts, 82.9 in math.
Kline reported of the 20 English/language arts and mathematics school passing percentages in the WCS elementary schools, 16 were the highest percentages in the past three years. Eighteen of the 20 passing percentages were improved from 2011 to 2012.
The Upper Wabash Valley is comprised of 24 schools, including WCS.
In English and language arts, in 2011 WCS was ranked 16th of the 24 schools. In 2012, Warsaw jumped up to eighth. Sorted by increase from 2011 to 2012, WCS ranked No. 1 with an increase in score of 4.9 percent.
On the ISTEP+ math, WCS ranked 22nd in 2011 in the Upper Wabash Valley. That increased to 13th in 2012, again placing WCS No. 1 in improvement by increasing its math average by 6.8 percent.
For both English/language arts and math, WCS was 20th in 2011 in the Upper Wabash Valley group. That increased to 11th in 2012, again putting WCS at No. 1 in improvement by increasing in both by 6.9 percent.
Of the 290 school corporations in Indiana, Kline said Warsaw had the 22nd highest increase in English/language arts from 2011 to 2012. WCS had the seventh highest increase in math from 2011 to 2012. For both categories, WCS had the 11th highest increase in passing of the 290 corporations in the state.
IREAD-3 is the state mandated test that all third-graders must pass in order to move on to fourth grade. If a student doesn’t pass the first time during the school year, a student must take summer school and then gets a second chance to pass the test. There are exemptions for those students that qualify.
From the May IREAD-3 test, 87.91 percent of WCS third-graders passed. That increased to 94.15 percent passing after the July test. Exemptions included 5.07 percent of the students, with interventions accounting for 0.78 percent.
Kline said 511 third-graders were promoted to fourth grade. One student will be retained in the third grade, but that student’s parents asked that the student be retained. Another student did not pass, did not go to summer school, but then moved out of the school district.
He then reported on the three-year trend of dual credits earned at Warsaw Community High School and Warsaw Area Career Center.
In 2009-2010, 82 students earned 809 dual credits.
In 2010-2011, 422 students earned 1,907 dual credits.
While the number of students earning dual credits dropped to 414 in 2011-2012, the number of dual credits earned increased to 2,122 in 2011-2012.
After Kline’s report, school board president Jennifer Tandy said, “That’s teamwork. Strong teamwork.”
“You want to give (that report) again?” Matt Dick, board vice president, asked.
Superintendent Dr. Craig Hintz said WCS has seen some incredible gains in all the data Kline shared. He commented that he was very happy with what was happening at WCHS and especially at WACC under the leadership of Ronna Kawsky in regards to dual credits.
