Last week in part one of a series, Montana's News Station brought viewers a closer look at the test results for adequate yearly progress of Butte Public Schools required by the No Child Left Behind Act. In part two, KXLF reporter Laurel Staples goes into the classroom to learn about some unique programs that are making a huge difference in making sure no child is left behind.
Recent test results for adequate yearly progress for Butte Public Schools revealed that the district failed to meet the requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act.
But, while they district failed to meet the requirements, the test results revealed many successes. The results also show what subgroups were identified as not meeting requirements and cleared up much of the confusion of interpreting the scores.
When it comes to Butte's elementary schools, all of the schools except one did meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. To find out what's behind that success, KXLF reporter Laurel Staples went back to the classroom to learn about a couple of programs that are making a difference.
About five years ago students at Hillcrest Elementary School were scoring at only 50 to 60 percent proficient in reading and math. Since then, with the help of a couple of programs, test results have gone up by at least 40 percent.
"Right now we are 91 percent proficient in mathematics, according to statewide tests, and 94 percent in reading," Hillcrest Elementary School Principal Susan Johnson said. "We haven't always been that way. We've made changes over the years through our leadership team to progress and get better."
For reading much of the success is due to the Walk To Read and Reading Mastery Program.
"So we're able to take the kids who are at higher skills and challenge them. And the kids that need a good deal of review, we're backing up and taking another run at it, and it lets every kid do there very best and progress at their own level," Hillcrest first grade teacher Cindy Powers said.
In fact, the Walk To Read program is so successful that the school has implemented a Walk To Math program. Also, the reading program goes one step further, taking students to the popular technology lab.
"We are on accelerated reader right now, taking tests and looking at our points, and if you get enough points and you get to go to our AR party we have at the end of each quarter," Hillcrest fifth grader Maddie Chiotti said.
"I like to get my party points, go to a party," Hillcrest fifth grader Devin McCarthy said.
But it's more than the programs, it's also the teachers, Johnson said.
"Our teachers are so important to our kids, they are the ones that make a difference for them," she said.
The Walk To Read program has been implemented district-wide.
The state annual yearly progress standards are set to increase once again in 2011.
(From Oct. 20, 2009)
Recent test results for adequate yearly progress for Butte Public Schools revealed that the district failed to meet the requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act. But, school officials say the results are misleading and send the wrong message.
"Bottom line with annual yearly progress, if you look at all the kids in Butte in one big group they're making annual yearly progress where we do not make annual yearly progress is in those subgroups," curriculum director for Butte Public Schools Judy Jonart said.
The subgroups Jonart is referring to make up a small percentage of the student population overall. These are specific groups identified as lagging behind in the standards set by the act.
"Special education, students eligible for free and reduced lunch, also there are ethnic subgroups. We don't have a lot of those, the two largest (are) American Indians and Hispanic," Jonart said.
Despite the test results, special education students are doing very well, she said.
"Even though special education students did not make annual yearly progress, 51 percent of those kids are proficient. That's a celebration. We should celebrate that," she said.
Also, Jonart says the test result percentages for annual yearly progress can be confusing. One misconception, for example, is that students have to score an 83 percent on tests to be proficient.
"It's not like getting 83 on a test, but 83 percent of your kids had to be proficient and when you look at 83 percent of the kids and then you look at the population of our kids, we're running about 15 percent of our student special education population at every grade level," Jonart said.
The school district is making strides in meeting the requirements such as extended reading and math periods, along with early intervention and pre-teaching. In addition, the school district is using the math software program Success Maker as a tool to help students improve their math skills.
"The kids are working really hard, teachers working hard. My message is that the parents should be very proud," Jonart said.
The test results also revealed that the number of students scoring at the advanced level in reading and math has jumped by 25 percent and in some grade levels an increase of 51 percent.
In part two of this two-part series, reporter Laurel Staples visits a local elementary school to learn about a couple of very successful programs that are in place to make sure no child is left behind. That story will air early next week.
