The Blytheville School Board received preliminary data for ACT Aspire test scores.
Curriculum director Sally Cooke stated that she was “not excited” about the results of the scores. In the English section of the test sophomores were down three percent, freshman were up seven percent, 8th grade was down seven percent, 7th grade was up 15 percent, 6th grade stayed the same, 5th grade decline 10 percent, 4th grade was up nine percent and 3rd grade was down 12 percent.
Cooke and the board did not give specific numbers for the grades percentile excluding sophomores who have 27 percent passing. The data for the scores is not currently available online, and the scores are not able to be compared to other districts due to the data being preliminary. Once the period for disputing scores is over all data will be public and comparison with other districts can be made.
“We know that these are not the scores that you as a board want or that we as a district want. We know that disappoints you despite the growth that we see, and there is growth; we do want to acknowledge that. There is growth in several different areas, but they are not where we want them to be. Also realize that as administrators, as teachers, as support staff, it is very disheartening for us as well to put our time and effort into what we know are good strategies…and still not see the amount of growth that we would like to see,” Cooke said.
Cooke added that they do have strategies in place that are hopefully going to make things better. She stated that one of the things that needs to be focused on is retaining teachers and proper training of those teachers.
Cooke stated that the district needs to make sure that expectations of teachers need to be clear and that new teachers coming in need to have the support and clear “document” for how to succeed.
“I would say most teachers in our district put their heart and soul into what they do, and I think Mr. Ashley would back me up on that. We hire the best people that we can get but we also need to acknowledge that we are hiring a lot of people who don’t have a teaching background right now. When we look at the number of people who went into education across the state, that number declined by 50 percent,” Cooke said.
With so few getting into the teaching field, finding applicants for positions can be a long and difficult process. Cooke noted that the lack of applicants was not unique to Arkansas but it is causing districts to hire non-traditional teachers who have to be trained how to properly run a classroom.
At Blytheville, the mentoring process for new teachers changed last year, and Cooke said that she intends to look at making further changes to it. She stated that she feels that the district has not supported its teachers in the best way possible. Previously the state provided money to districts to have a one-person mentor for every new person. Now groups of teachers are volunteering their time to help new teachers adjust.
“What we are doing is trying to figure out without that benefit of that one-on-one person who is paid to support, how can we best support those new people that are coming in? Whether they are a non-traditional, especially when they are non-traditional person, and don’t have a background in education,” Cooke said.
A suggestion made by the Teachers Co-op was to utilize an online platform for support. The middle school and high school tried that method; however, Cooke stated that from her experience watching the teachers it was not as effective.
Cooke stated that at the primary and elementary they did face-to-face support, which was much more successful, and plans have been made to try that method at the middle school and high school.
Instructional advisor Casey DeFord explained that a lot of the lower areas in scores are coming from the teachers that are non-traditional teachers and/or not from Blytheville. She further explained that classroom management is a big issue within the district and is something that needs to be addressed with all new teachers.
DeFord explained that the district has offered professional development for classroom management and maximizing instructional time. She added that all new teachers would be part of a condensed version of that PD at the start of the school year.
New teachers will also be subject to new support systems through close work with building assistant principals as well as DeFord and Cooke. Classroom management development will also be offered at the district on a weekly basis.
gwilliams@blythevillecourier.com