STATE ASSESSMENT TESTING AT THE HIGH SCHOOL
By Sheldon Pokorney
December 21, 2009
Several
years ago, the concept of opportunity to learn was added to the No
Child Left Behind Legislation. What this means is that instead of
students taking one state test in a subject area at one prescribed
time, we can now test students when we feel they are ready to test.
More importantly, if they don’t pass the test the first time, they
can test again after some remediation activities have been
completed. In compliance with opportunity to learn, Wellsville High
School has already begun state testing for the 2009-2010 school
year and to this point, we are very happy with the early
returns.
During the second week of
December, we tested 41 upper level math students who are
sophomores. We felt these students were ready to test. All 41 of
these students passed the test with 8 scoring in the “Exemplary”
category and 19 more scoring in the “Exceeds Standards” group. The
remaining 25 sophomores will be placed in math seminars during the
third quarter and will take the state math test before spring
break.
The second group that has
already tested is the junior class with the state reading
assessment. The juniors did an outstanding job and have set a
record for the best reading test score in Wellsville High School
history with 92% passing!! Fifty-seven per cent (57%) of the
juniors scored in the top two categories of “Exceeding Standards”
and “Exemplary”.
We want to congratulate the
students in both classes who worked hard in the seminar class and
took the tests seriously. We would also like to congratulate
seminar teachers Mike Trendel, Tim Savage, Jo Kramer, Phillip
Pearson, and John Dowling for a job well done.
