Oct. 19, 2011
Teachers, administrators strive for improved skills, scores
BKW faculty and administrators are on a mission to turn more BKW students into master learners.
Throughout the school year, new teaching and learning initiatives will be implemented at BKW in an effort to improve students’ modern-day skills — making them better readers, writers, mathematicians and more — and help student score at higher levels on state exams.
Elementary and middle school students in New York take annual state tests in core academic subjects such as math, science and English language arts. High school students take Regents Exams to assess how well they have mastered the state learning standards in core areas.
BKW administrators and faculty are creating plans targeted toward making sure school programs teach modern-day skills that will not only better help students succeed in learning and work environments after they leave high school, but also improve state test score results.
Elementary Principal Brian Corey said several factors are at play as the school moves forward to increase test scores, including the revised cut off scores for each level (students now have to score higher to be considered proficient) and new federal and state mandates that require significant curriculum changes and academic restructuring under the Race to the Top program and the new Common Core Standards.
Aligning the curriculum and moving toward using the Common Core Standards is a big focus for elementary teachers this school year. Currently, faculty members are developing a strategic plan not only to better target student skills that need to be strengthened, but also provide an increased level of training for teachers.
“We are focusing on increasing our students’ proficiency rates on the state exams, and within those efforts, we will also work toward increasing the number of students who score at the mastery level, which is the step beyond basic proficiency,” Corey said.
To increase scores in the
secondary school, administrators have:
• Increased services for students in the tutoring center,
• Increased the availability of NovaNet software, which allows for
personalized courses with study plans for every student, and
• Increased academic intervention services (AIS) for students.
The district is also participating in a Northwestern Evaluation Association (NWEA) pilot program for grades 6-9 that aims to give the district customized instructional plans based on student data.
“The program will give us a better handle on where each student stands and will allow us to develop an individual learning plan for each child,” Secondary School Principal Tom McGurl said.
As the year progresses, teachers and administrators will continue to examine best teaching practices and explore ways to help students achieve more.
“We are continuing to look at how we use assessments to measure student performance and gauge instruction to find out what could be improved,” McGurl said. “Each department is exploring how to best instruct students through programming and methods that lead to mastery level learning.”
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