Dr. Cascadden’s Web Log

I have decided to begin blogging again as a way to increase communication with the Bow School Community.  I have cleaned up the older posts and also moderated a bunch of comments… mostly SPAM of the type that annoys us all.   I posted my opening of schools letter that goes out to all students and now I am beginning the more serious work….    I am looking forward to writing some posts this year about some of the issues that I see impact education.  I have been involved with some work at the state level involving the Race to the Top initiative and I also see some other issues and concerns that are coming from the top down and would like to have a place to share about them, as well as about some of the more mundane things of running a district.  So if you have stumbled upon this blog and want to comment…. I encourage you to do so.   I am hoping that it will be a place to exchange ideas about schooling and education, as well as to comment on specific issues in our local district.Dr. C

Hello Bow School Community:

As I begin my fourth year as Superintendent of Schools for SAU 67, I am excited to welcome you to a new academic year.  We are continuing the work of previous years and our overall focus continues to be using data to improve our instruction for each student.

We continue to be in challenging economic times, and it will be an interesting budget season. Decisions made at the state and national level will definitely trickle down to impact our local system; it seems to me that we have more and more regulations to follow and less and less support.  On the Federal Level, New Hampshire has yet to be successful in winning a grant from the Race to the Top program, but the assurances contained in that program are impacting state policy.  The state school board has adopted the Common Core Standards.  These national standards will be phased in to replace the Grade Level Expectations, which are the statements of what students should know and be able to do at their grade levels.  In future years we expect a national test will replace the NECAP test.  Locally, we will be developing policies and procedures to implement the new NH law regarding bullying.

The district will be working with a new computer program this year called Curriculum Connector.  This program will be populated with our core curriculum data, starting with English/ Language Arts; and it is also linked to the assessment data.  When completed, we will be able to use the performance data from the NECAP to help us analyze our curriculum to see where improvements should be focused.  Also, we will be working on an implementation plan for a new Student Information Systems this year and plan to be ready to “go live” with this next September.

As a district, we are committed to serving the community and responding to concerns.  I encourage you to call, or e-mail me, or administrators with any concerns, comments or questions.  We need to hear your thoughts so that we can continue to keep our priorities focused on the educational concerns of the community.  Bow continues to be a great school district and we are committed to continually improving our schools. 

I hope the rest of your summer is restful and I look forward to seeing you in September.

Sincerely,

Dean S. T. Cascadden

Superintendent

The NH Department of Education released the 2008 Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) status reports on May 8^th.  These reports are part of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) accountability program and are based on the October 2007 administration of the NECAP exams given to grades 3-8 and 11.  These exams measure the previous year’s attainment of curriculum standards, and thus are reports for the 2006-07 teaching year. 

School and district Performance scores are determined with an index system that gives increasing points for scores that approach proficiency which equates with being on grade level.  To make AYP, a school or district must have index scores for the school as a whole and for all identified subgroups meet or exceed the Annual Measurable Objective (AMO).  The AMO is determined for the whole state and is designed to rise to 100 by school year 2013-14, which would be complete proficiency for all students.

The Bow School District and all Bow schools made AYP in all areas except one.   The Educational Disability subgroup in Elementary School Reading did not make AYP and thus the Bow Elementary School is in the first year of not making AYP.  If BES does not make AYP for two years in a row in the same subject, then they would be labeled a School in Need of Improvement.  Presently, no school in the Bow District is labeled as being in Need of Improvement.

Attached is a Summary of the AYP scores for the district as a whole.  Important issues from each level are presented below:

Bow High School

This year is the first administration of the NECAP exam at the secondary level.  Therefore the target score or AMO was set at a level where 20% would attain AYP.  Bow High School’s whole school scores are comfortably above the AMO.  Subgroup scores are only reported for samples larger than 11 and BHS has no subgroup in the single tested grade that is that large.

Bow School District Grades 2-8

Scores at the elementary and middle level are reported by school and combined into a district report.  The district did make AYP, although some subgroups made it by Confidence Interval (CI) or Safe Harbor (SH).  Recognizing that small subgroups may not be representative of the true population in NH, a 99% confidence interval is used.  This allows small subgroups to make AYP if they are close to the AMO.  The larger the subgroup, the more closely the index has to approach the AMO meet the target.  Safe Harbor is a second way to make AYP based on progress as opposed to status.  It represents a 10% reduction of the previous year’s non-proficiency.

Bow Memorial School

Our middle school scores are remarkable.  The reading index for the whole school is 98, which represents 364 students out of 385 attaining proficiency.  In reading, the Educational Disability subgroup made the AMO directly with an index score of 87.4 exceeding the AMO of 86.  This represents 25 out of 38 students identified for Special Education services attaining proficiency.  The math index score for the whole school was 94.1 (311 of 385 proficient).  In math, the Educational Disability subgroup made the AMO by confidence interval, and showed a remarkable gain in scores, 14.5 index points.  This is a 35% decrease of non-proficiency, far and above the 10% required for Safe harbor.  This gain is noteworthy because last year BMS was originally labeled a School in Need of Improvement (SINI) for not making AYP in math for two consecutive years in the Educational Disability subgroup.  This designation was overturned on a Safe Harbor statistical appeal, but the school still developed and implemented a plan to address the issue.  The plan appears to have been very successful.

Bow Elementary School

The reading index for the whole school is 92.4 (248 of 314 proficient).  In the Educational Disability subgroup 20 students were proficient, 18 scored partially proficient and 12 were substantially below proficient.  This created an index score of 74.  The confidence interval target of 78.5 for this 50 student subgroup was not attained and there was a decrease in index score from the previous year so safe harbor would also not apply.  Therefore the Educational Disability subgroup did not make AYP, and the school as a whole is not credited with making AYP.  For next year, the Educational Disability subgroup would need to rise by 2.6 index points to make AYP by safe harbor.  The math index for the whole school is 94.1 (261 of 314 proficient).  The educational disability subgroup made the AMO by confidence interval and would have also made it by safe harbor.

This is the first year of not making AYP in Reading for BES.  There are no sanctions for this.  If the school does not make AYP for two consecutive years in the same subject area, then they would be a School in Need of Improvement (SINI).  Of the 474 AYP reports for NH, 175 schools made AYP in all areas and 282 did not make AYP in one or more areas with 17 undergoing further small school review.  There are presently 183 NH schools designated as SINIs.   These schools are required to develop a corrective action plan.  Bow Elementary School has begun laying the foundation for this process.

The school is increasing the use of data and is tracking individual student growth using NECAP scores, curriculum benchmarks, the DIBELS reading fluency test, and the computerized NWEA Measures of Academic Progress in math, reading and language arts.  This data is used to develop differentiated instruction for students at different achievement levels.  In grades Kindergarten and One, this has allowed a Tiered Instructional model to be implemented.  All students are taught the core curriculum in their regular education class.  Students who need additional help are given additional targeted interventions or instruction.  For next year, an additional special educator was approved in the budget process so that there will be one special educator per grade level (previously kindergarten and grade one shared a staff member).  The Tiered Instructional model will be grown to include grade two and possibly more grades.  At all grades, teams of teachers will be expected to review student data and change their instruction to meet the needs of the students.  This is the core of NH’s Follow the Child initiative.

It must be emphasized that the administration and staff believe that this designation is not acceptable for Bow Elementary School.  Also, this is not considered a “special education problem.”  The school has emphasized student first language.   This subgroup is called students with an educational disability, emphasizing that the students are first and foremost Bow Elementary School students, and all teachers are responsible for their education, prior to any special program or help being implemented.

As a district, we have a prek-12 Literacy Leadership Team meeting and working over the summer to review and propose revisions to our English, reading and writing curricula.  This team will also be reviewing the assessment data in their work.  As part of the snow day make-ups the K-8 teachers will be working on June 23^rd to review student progress in their classes this year and to share their insights and concerns with the next grade level.

The professional staff of Bow Elementary School will be developing additional action plans to address this issue.  As superintendent, my message to them is very clear.  This is not an indictment against the school.  Bow Elementary School is a great school with dedicated staff and a vision and plan for improvement.  However, not making AYP is also not acceptable.  There is not much instructional time between this report and the next round of testing in October of 2008.  However, we will continue to plan and implement programs and procedures that help us to track the growth of students as individuals and by subgroup and grade level.  We will continue to harness the collective wisdom of a great staff and work collaboratively and cooperatively to do the best we can to reach and teach each and every student.

 ayp-2008-district.xls

The State of NH released the New England Common Assessment Program results for High Schools on February 21st.  This test taken in Fall of 2007 by juniors measured the achievement of students in tenth grade for the 2006-07 school year.  This is the first time the NECAP has been given at the high school level.

Scores on the NECAP are reported as student achievement levels.  Level 1 is Substantially Below Proficient, Level 2 is Partially Proficient, Level 3 is Proficient and Level 4 is Proficient with Distinction.  Proficient is the benchmark or goal and is defined as the ability to do grade appropriate work as outlined in the Grade Span Expectations (GSEs). The actual test scores that correlate to the levels are determined in a process called standard setting where the grade level standards, student work and the opinions of high school teachers are used to determine the proficiency levels.

Percent Proficient

One way to analyze a group’s performance is to look at the percent proficient.  This is the percentage of students who score in levels 3 and 4 combined and is a good estimate of student performance at grade level.  The measures for Bow are then compared to the State of New Hampshire as a whole. 

Bow does well when compared to the state as a whole.  The difference in percent proficient for reading is 13 points, for math 12 points and for writing 21 points.  As a state, the percent proficient in math and writing is very low.  The math test contains elements of both Algebra and Geometry.  The writing test requires two extended response essays of 1-3 pages each. 

Because this is the first time that the NECAP has been given at the high school level it is difficult to compare these results to previous ones.  The old accountability test was called the New Hampshire Educational Improvement and Assessment Program (NHEIAP), and it used different proficiency levels.  It was last given for the end of grade 10 in May of 2006.  I do think that the NECAP tests in writing and math are very rigorous, but also valid.  They are tough tests of rigorous standards, and our response to the low scores should be to take a hard look at our curriculum and instruction to be sure that we are helping students reach the high standards. 

Comparing the middle school results to the high school results is also problematic.  The middle school test is based on the Grade Level Expectations (GLEs), which are similar to the GSEs.  It is possible that the expectations for high school are relatively more rigorous than those for middle school on these tests.  Also, the standard setting process involved different groups of teachers and the expectations of the teachers of what is grade level appropriate may be very different.

However, for Fall 2007 in grades 6-8 reading, Bow averaged 95 percent proficient which was 23 points higher than the state.  In math for grades 6-8, Bow averaged 84 percent proficient which was 21 points above the state average.  In writing for grade 8 Bow was 78 percent proficient which was 37 points over the state.  Though our high school scores do not appear to continue the same value added growth that the 2-8 scores do, these comparisons are limited because we are looking at a different test and a different set of students for the high school.  Next year, we will be able to do a cohort comparison as the students who will take the test as juniors in 2008 will have scores from their 8^th grade year in 2005.  This is an area to explore further as more test results come in.

Stacked Proficiency Graphs

A second way to look at the results is to compare how students scored in all of the different achievement levels

Additional Work

This is just a first look at the NECAP data. Because this is the first year of the NECAP administration at the high school level, it is possible that local curriculum is not totally aligned with what the test is assessing.  At the school level, administrators and teachers will be looking at individual students and questions to help answer curriculum and instruction questions.  As we analyze the test in detail, there may be recommendations about when and how certain topics should be covered.

We have begun a district wide Literacy Leadership Team that will be looking at the curriculum for English/ Language Arts.  We have just completed a similar review and revision for math and made changes to curriculum last year.  The effect of these changes are not evident in this year’s assessment, but will influence our future scores.

As a district we will be expanding our use of the NWEA MAP testing program into the spring of 9^th grade.  This computerized assessment will help us more closely monitor the progress of students as they transition from middle to high school and also allows more of a direct comparison between the programs as it will utilize the same test for the two levels.

NECAP is used to determine Acceptable Yearly Progress (AYP) as Part of No Child Left Behind.  That determination will be released later in the spring.

For more information on these tests, please access the Department of Education’s website.

http://www.ed.state.nh.us/education/doe/organization/curriculum/NECAP/2007/results.htm 

The State of NH released the New England Common Assessment Program results for grades 3 through 8 on January 29^th.  This test taken in Fall of 2007 measured the achievement of students in grades two through seven for the 2006-07 school year.

Bow did very well on these tests.  In fact we are probably one of the top scorers in the state on these assessments.  However, as a district we are also very interested in our growth.  The demographics of the Bow School District are such that we would expect to score high.  We have many dedicated parents who value education and we have many above average students.  Thus, our normal or bell curve of achievement is shifted towards the high end even before we start the first lesson of kindergarten.

Scores on the NECAP are reported as student achievement levels.  Level 1 is Substantially Below Proficient, Level 2 is Partially Proficient, Level 3 is Proficient and Level 4 is Proficient with Distinction.  Proficient is the benchmark or goal and is defined as the ability to do grade appropriate work.

Percent Proficient

One way to analyze a group’s performance is to look at the percent proficient.  This is the percentage of students who score in levels 3 and 4 combined and is a good estimate of student performance at grade level.  The measures for Bow are then compared to the State of New Hampshire as a whole. 

This percent proficient for reading shows that Bow students begin at around the average for the state, but the gap between the state and Bow grows through the grade.  This is very encouraging and to me shows that Bow demonstrates “value added” growth.  Bow students improve over time, where the state scores actually show some decline.

The percent proficient for math shows that Bow students begin above state averages and do not show the decline that the state scores do.  Even though there is not growth in the Bow scores, the state scores do have a marked decline.

The percent proficient for writing shows growth for Bow while the state average declines.

Looking at all three of these graphs shows great results not only for the status model of achievement which is expected for our demographics, but also for the growth model of achievement which is a foundation of the state’s Follow the Child Initiative.

Stacked Proficiency Graphs

A second way to look at the results is to compare how students scored in all of the different achievement levels.  If we are looking at growth, it is not adequate to just look at making the proficiency benchmark, but we need to see if students in all of the levels are making upward progress.  These stacked graphs allow those comparisons and show that Bow is doing well  at moving students up levels as the grades progress.

Additional Work

This is just a first look at the NECAP data.  The state has purchased a data analysis tool called Performance Pathways that will allow teachers and administrators to do in depth data analysis on not only multiple years of NECAP scores, but also on the NWEA tests that we use.  That tool allows group and individual comparisons of growth.  The data will be uploaded into that system in a few weeks. 

The High School NECAP results will be released February 21^st.  These are delayed because a first time administration of an assessment requires an additional step called standard setting.

NECAP is used to determine Acceptable Yearly Progress (AYP) as Part of No Child Left Behind.  That determination will be released later in the Spring.

For more information on these tests, please access the Department of Education’s website

http://www.ed.state.nh.us/education/News/NECAP2007ResultsforGrades3-8.html