Kindergartners Leland Vanvelzer, Helena Burgos, Adriana Lazaro and Merci Snow work on reading with trained paraprofessional Patricia Sperry at Dee Elementary School in Ogden on Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012.
Laura Seitz, Deseret News
OGDEN — Last year, Dee Elementary School in Ogden had the worst student proficiency scores in Utah.
In all, five Ogden School District elementary schools claimed spots in the bottom 10 worst performing schools in the state.
Not any more.
In just one year, the percentage of students proficient in language arts – based on the state's Criterion-Referenced Tests, or CRTs – has increased by double-digits in Ogden's worst-performing schools. Scores in math and science still lag, but showed modest gains as student literacy in the district improved.
The state's school-specific CRT reports will not be finalized until November, but the jump in language proficiency should knock at least four Ogden schools out of the "bottom 10" designation they've held for years.
"What happens in the classroom was previously unacceptable," said Ogden Superintendent Brad Smith. "What changed was a cold hard look at what instruction meant in those buildings and teachers having the basic mental toughness, the basic humility, to say 'whatever we were doing before has not worked'."
Smith said his first reaction to seeing the scores was "WOW!" – which he specified should be spelled in all-caps with an exclamation point – but added that he, along with administrators and teachers, is not satisfied.
"No one who's working hard in my district is," he said. "I've got people who are doing the work. Right now, today they are doing the work and they're engaged. They're working hard and most importantly they're getting results."
Smith's appointment to superintendent last year was followed by sweeping administrative changes that garnered controversy as nearly all of the district's school principals were uprooted and re-shuffled to new assignments.
He said the changes were individually calculated to match the best administrator with the school where they could affect the greatest change. He also said that, if necessary, more changes could be on the way.
"Does it mean that I intend for people to live with a gun to their head? No," he said. "It does mean that I wake up every day saying 'three out of four of my kids are not proficient in math for this economy and if I can't produce kids that are at least proficient in algebra I'm condemning them to a lifetime or more-likely-than-not sub-par life."
17 Sep, 2012
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Source: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865562511/Ogden-schools-see-dramatice-spike-in-student-proficiency-scores.html
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