Progress report: Schools working to make the ‘grade’ in state scoring
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First-grade teacher Jill Snyder helps her students with their journals during a break Monday at Needham Elementary School in Franklin.
PHOTO BY SCOTT ROBERSON
Six-year-old Logan Nail-Ford writes in his journal at Needham Elementary School.
PHOTO BY SCOTT ROBERSON
Teachers at four public schools have been reviewing test data for the past year and providing tutors and small-group instruction for students who were behind so the students’ and schools’ grades would improve.
A year ago, Indiana started giving schools letter grades based on students’ ISTEP scores and end-of-course assessments. Four local schools — Isom Elementary, Needham Elementary, Edinburgh Middle and Indian Creek Middle — received D’s. And four Johnson County’s high schools received C’s.
No area schools faced consequences because of their grades because the state doesn’t intervene unless a school receives an F for four or more years. But principals and teachers don’t want their building known as a C-level or D-level school, which is why they’ve spent the past year reviewing grades and test scores to see where students were struggling and how they could provide extra help.
“It was an opportunity for us to say, regardless of the letter grade, how do we improve,” Isom Principal Sondra Wooton said.
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