Beach Haven School administration plans to help students reach higher levels on PARCC tests

Photo via Google
None of the school's students opted out
of the the new PARCC tests.

Last spring, all of Beach Haven School’s students in third through sixth grades took the new Partnership Assessment for Readiness of College and Careers tests, which measure whether students are on track for future success. According to the recently released results, the district’s overall scores have room for improvement.

However, other schools and, in some cases, entire districts in New Jersey and other participating states opted out of the assessments, which means the outcomes are skewed, stated Richard Starodub, acting superintendent of the Beach Haven School.

“I don’t think we know yet the full effect of how that impacts the results,” he said at the board of education’s regular meeting Tuesday, Dec. 15. “This is where we start from, and hopefully next year we’ll see growth with all the students. Where they are is not as critical as how much growth you can accomplish with this new test, this new format, in one year. That’s really the measurement.”

Because of the school’s small enrollment, its scores alone are slanted, he added. Only 32 of the students took the PARCC.

“Any one student here, if they perform at a maximum level or a minimum level, can skew the overall performance at the grade level versus Southern Regional, where there are hundreds of kids in one class,” Starodub said.

Ideally, students should be meeting or exceeding grade-level expectations. But there are many questions about the tests and the validity of some of the scores, especially in the math section, said Linda Downing, the school’s interim principal.

“We’re looking at this as a baseline,” she stated. “We’re taking it where our kids are now, and we’re going to move them to higher levels. That’s our goal.

“While the previous state test was looking for the right answers, these tests are also looking for evidence that the student understands and can apply concepts,” she added, noting the school’s third-grade class exceeded the state level in English language arts.

Although it took longer than expected to receive the scores, Starodub noted the test’s electronic feature allows for quicker feedback.

“It used to be we’d have to analyze paper-and-pencil tests and try and give the teachers tools to work with to improve. This gives it to us faster, and it’ll be faster as time goes on,” he said. “There’s a lot of good here, and I think it’s a good place to start. Once we get some of the controversy behind us and get our teachers cued up to it, I think we’ll be OK.”

— Kelley Anne Essinger

This article was published in The SandPaper.