ELA, math achievement up for all during 2010-11

Early this October, the Capital Region BOCES Special Education Division presented its second annual report on the learning success of its elementary, middle school, high school and alternate assessment students.

This presentation by the Special Education administrative team along with Nancy Jones, BOCES school improvement and systems analyst, focused on the achievement of students during the 2010-11 school year in both regular and alternate assessment special education classes. Administrators also presented their plans for continued improvement of the division’s programs during 2011-12. The presentation was held in conjunction with the division’s monthly meeting of Committee on Special Education (CSE) representatives and chairs from component districts.

"We believe it is important to regularly report out on the efforts we have made and what has been achieved, as well as on what we will be undertaking to improve the learning success of each of the students we work with," said Inge Jacobs, Special Education division director.

Literacy Learning

Literacy has been the primary professional development focus for elementary, middle and high school staff over the past few years and evidence shows that this effort is yielding some significant learning improvements for students.

During 2011-12, the division will continue to emphasize literacy instruction with the goal of further improving student success with English language arts skills, such as reading, writing, speaking and listening. This effort is also designed to help students at the high school level who continue to struggle when asked to use their reading and writing skills on required Regents exams in subjects such as Global and U.S. History.

Highlights from the 2010-11 school year include:

At the elementary level during the 2010-11 school year, a significant number of students improved their literacy skills through the use of teacher-led and computer-based learning and assessment tools. For some of the lowest-level learners, such as those being taught with the successful Fundations /Wilson Reading approach, growth in skills and understanding was as much as two grade levels.

As assessed throughout the school year with tools such as Fountas and Pinnell and STAR reading, middle schoolers gained, on average, between a third to two-thirds of a grade level’s growth in reading, writing and other important language arts skills.

All but one of the high school students who took the English Regents exam (a requirement for graduation with a New York State Regents diploma) passed this test. More than half of the students who took the Regents Competency Tests (RCTs) in reading and writing passed these exams. The RCTs are administered as part of the “safety net” for students with disabilities who are not able to pass the Regents exams. RCT exams will no longer be a state testing option beginning with this year’s freshmen. However, the low pass option of scoring between 55-64 on Regents exams will continue to be allowed and will still result in the issuing of a local high school diploma for students with disabilities.

Eighty-four percent of students in the alternate assessment programs met or exceeded the grade level indicators for proficiency on the test of English Language Arts, as determined by the NYSAA datafolio assessment used to monitor achievement of students with severe cognitive disabilities.  

Mathematics

The division is now into its second-year effort to enhance its mathematics instruction through professional development and the consistent use of mathematics teaching programs and tools from grade to grade. Similar to the improvements seen with enhanced literacy instruction, efforts to improve mathematics instruction are also resulting in improved student achievement in this subject.

Highlights from the 2010-11 school year include:

At the elementary level, students kindergarten through grade 2 assessed throughout the school year with tools such as STAR math showed as much a full year’s growth in mathematics learning. Fourth and fifth graders tackling the more challenging math curriculum of the upper elementary years showed one-third of a full year’s growth in their math knowledge during 2010-11. Too, New York State content level test results show students closer to meeting grade level standards in math in grades 3 and 4 (with 8% more of the grade 3 students tested scoring at Level 2 and 17% more of grade 4 students scoring at this level.) Grade 5 New York State math assessment results at Level 2 remained constant.

STAR math assessment at the middle school level showed students gaining more than a half to a full-year’s worth of learning in grade level mathematics during 2010-11.

There was a continued improvement in high school mathematics achievement on the Regents Exams and the Regents Competency Test.

Eighty-five percent of the alternate assessment students tested met or exceeded the grade-level indicators for proficiency in mathematics as determined by the NYSAA datafolio. To help boost the mathematics achievement of students in alternate assessment programs during 2011-12, teachers and staff plan to increase their use of technologies such as Intellitools, a touch screen device used to teach and assess students with limited to no verbal skills, and Equals Math, a math curriculum for students now being used in classrooms from kindergarten through grade 12.