Prepare students for state assessments

It is getting to be the middle of October and Jamestown Public Schools are looking at administering the North Dakota State Assessment again. We have a window of time from late October to early November in which to schedule the assessments. Individual schools within the district are given some flexibility in scheduling their assessment.

I would like to encourage all parents with children in grades 3-8 in the elementary schools and middle schools, and in grade 11 at the high school to discuss the importance of the State Assessment with your children who will be taking the assessment.

As you may know, Jamestown Public Schools had five of seven schools not make “Adequate Yearly Progress” as a result of the 2007 State Assessment. Also, we did not make “AYP” as a district. No penalties resulted from this, but if schools or districts don’t make AYP for two years, we become labeled by the Department of Public Instruction. Nothing serious happens, but we feel that our schools are much better than this and that the identification would not do justice to the hard work of our students, teachers, and administrators.

So, I am asking for help from parents throughout the district so that we can avoid being placed on a “list” from DPI. To be honest, as a district we are concerned that some students don’t take the State Assessment as seriously as they should. One of our elementary schools saw a 20 percent decline in the number of students who were proficient in reading from one grade to the next in the 2007 State Assessment. Yet those same students saw significant increases in their achievement levels as measured by the on-line assessment we do as a district. Which score accurately measures the achievement level of our students?

Parents, prior to your children taking the State Assessment, please stress to them the importance of trying hard and that it is important to our school and community that they do well on the State Assessment. Please make sure that they get a good night’s sleep the night before the assessment is given and make sure that they get a good breakfast in the morning.

All of us need to work together to see Jamestown Public Schools make Adequate Yearly Progress and move up the list of Class ‘A’ schools in North Dakota in terms of student achievement. Our teachers and students work hard and I for one would like the results of the State Assessment to validate that work. With the help of our parents, and the concerted effort of our students, we can look forward to getting the results of the State Assessment sometime after the first of the year.

Thanks to all of you in advance.

Tags: bob toso, education