ThisWeek CW 01/15/2015

http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2015/01/12/groveport-madison-schools-hoover-district-needs-to-close-reading-gaps.html

Groveport Madison Local Schools are still struggling with third-grade reading guarantee scores, according to test results released just ahead of winter break.

District Director of Federal Programs Dee Copas said results showed about 45 percent of the district’s third-graders passed the Ohio Achievement Assessments test administered last fall. In fall 2013, about 43 percent of Groveport Madison third-graders passed.

According to the Ohio Department of Education, except for those with special circumstances, students must meet a minimum score on the state reading test to move on to the fourth grade. In 2013-14, the minimum score for advancement was 392. In 2014-15, the minimum score is 394. Superintendent Bruce Hoover said this is a challenge the district is very focused on, and is why the district is working to develop earlier intervention opportunities, including programs that start before children even reach kindergarten.

“We continue to see a need to close reading gaps by better preparing our students for the third grade,” Hoover said.

“The scores are consistent with the number of at-risk students who were identified as such upon entering kindergarten.

“Our challenge, which we are currently working to address, is to improve children’s levels of readiness by providing intervention supports that will enable them to succeed,” he said. “I believe our response-to-intervention initiative, along with a new kindergarten readiness program, will enable us to make strides towards closing the gap for these students.”

The test results for fall 2014 show that of 465 students tested in October, 212 students scored proficient or higher. Results from fall 2013 show of 450 students tested, 195 scoring proficient or higher.

Copas said for now, the district will continue to use the intervention steps it has used in the past to provide assistance to students in need and, hopefully, make them successful on the spring test.

“For those students who didn’t pass the fall OAA, they will be placed on a reading monitoring plan for the remainder of the school year, with an intense intervention action plan put in place by the individual teachers to develop the skill areas most deficient,” Copas said. “This is the same process that we have used in the district for these consecutive years. Students will be in classrooms with teachers who have reading credentials or hold a master’s in reading (degree) to ensure high-quality instruction in the area of reading.”

According to Copas, students who do not not score proficient or higher on the spring OAA tests can still be promoted to the fourth grade through another option.

“For students not receiving a score of 394 or higher on the spring OAA, they will have an opportunity to test again using our district diagnostic assessment (MAP — the Northwest Evaluation Association Measurement of Academic Progress) at the end of the school year,” she said. “Students taking the district diagnostic assessment will need to earn a score of 184 to be promoted to the fourth grade,” Copas said.

The spring testing will be administered in February through March.