04/22/2006
Coventry students make the grade
By NICOLE WIETRAK

COVENTRY - Coventry's public school system has frequently had reason to celebrate its outstanding performances district wide, and Tuesday's school committee meeting gave yet another, when Assistant Supt. Vincent J. Hawkins, Ph.D. presented the results of the 2004-05 New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) tests.

"We do hold our own quite well," said Hawkins when comparing the statewide results to Coventry's.

According to the 2004-05 test results, Coventry exceeded the state average in all but one category, the fifth grade writing test in which Coventry's students showed a level of proficiency equal to the state average of 55 percent.

Each test question is directly related to a specific element in the state curriculum standards for each subject and grade level; the results give educators a 'big picture' view of student performance throughout grade levels.

"You can really drill down and see the strengths and weaknesses of each grade," said Hawkins. "This is incredibly wonderful, rich information."

In October of 2004, all public school students in New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island, from grades three through eight participated in the common assessment test, measuring proficiency in reading, mathematics and writing.
The test marked the first multi-state testing collaboration in the nation.

With the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act directing what types of funding a school will receive based on federal test results, scoring well on assessments like the NECAPS is also becoming an important goal for districts.

The federal mandate requires that all 50 states annually measure achievement of students in grades three through eight, in addition to one high school grade with the NECAP exams.

The tests will cost Rhode Island approximately $13 million over six years, but it is estimated that the state saved about $5 million by working with other states.

Comparing the math and reading results between the town and the state, Coventry scored above the state average in all grades tested. Overall, 62 percent met the standard in mathematics and 67 percent in reading. This is compared to the state average of barely 50 percent in math and 58 percent in reading.

NCLB also requires that students reach 100 percent reading efficiency by the year 2014, which Hawkins said could be "doable for most kids," noting that there were still 7 more tests to go to close the roughly 30 point gap.

Although the test is not an adequate indicator of a student's overall learning ability, the results will enable educators to amend certain aspects of the curriculum to help address students' weak spots and also to identify where the district is headed in the right direction.

This practice is already being done, said Hawkins, with kindergarten, first and second grades having implemented a new reading program to better prepare students when they reach higher level grades.

The program, "Fundations," is an extension of an older reading program that focuses on developing reading skills by providing a systematic and explicit approach to reading and spelling using phonetic skills.

When enough funding becomes available in the future, the district will update the program, but for now "this will fit the bill," said Hawkins.

Western Coventry School scored the highest in all but one of the tests, which Hawkins attributed to a "culture of teaching and learning" at the school.

Naming Western's Principal Janice Sullivan and her faculty "phenomenal," Hawkins praised the school for addressing the students' needs "head on" as well as their constant efforts to line up school research.

When it came to the district's two middle schools, Flat River Middle School's scores consistently averaged higher than Knotty Oak Middle School, but Hawkins explained that part of the influence had to do with the schools that feed into each.

Whereas Flat River is fed by Western Coventry and Washington Oak, both Title One schools, Knotty Oak takes in students from Black Rock, Hopkins Hill, Oak Haven and Tiogue schools, with only three out of the four considered in the Title One category.

"I would expect to see some of these eighth grade scores at Knotty Oak accelerate over time," said Hawkins, pointing out that the school had two years to work with the present NECAP data.

"It's a wonderful way to establish a roadmap for improvement," said Hawkins, who noted that the School Improvement Team now had the data to identify any positive or negative patterns that may be occurring on all grade levels and base future decisions on their findings.

"I'm all for getting people together to solve problems," he said.