On Wednesday evening, the Board of Education held a work session which included presentations on Grades 3-8 Testing, Artificial Intelligence, and Strategic Planning.
The update on testing included an overview of each school’s accountability status including the changes from last year to this year, and steps we are taking to improve. The presentation also included an overview of proficiency rates in English language arts (ELA), mathematics, and grades 5 and 8 science. The good news is that seven of our schools demonstrated an increase in proficiency in ELA. The team spoke about growth opportunities for grades 3 and 8 as well as targeted supports for students with disabilities and English language learners.
Our district also demonstrated an overall improvement in math proficiency for grades 3 through 8. Grades 4 and 7 showed dramatic increases in proficiency with 7% and 17.32% improvement. Eleven out of 14 schools showed growth with Van Corlaer showing a 12.61% and Yates with a 10.03% increase. I am proud of the work we are doing and the trend shows we are moving in the right direction. Our work is to continue this momentum and further increase the number of students demonstrating proficiency.
Our high school graduation cohort dipped slightly from the previous four cohorts. As our team pointed out, the cohort graduation rates for the last year were impacted by the COVID exemptions which helped boost rates slightly for those four years. Those exemptions ended with the Class of 2019 cohort which was the Class of 2023 graduating class. I am happy to say that the graduation rate of the most recent class is slightly higher than the last class (Class of 2019) prior to COVID impact/exemptions. We have many supports and interventions in place to help students earn the credits needed to graduate from high school.
Thank you to our team for the comprehensive report.
End of First Quarter
It seems like school just started but next Tuesday, November 12, will close out the first quarter. While the end of a marking period is a checkpoint on student progress and achievement, it also presents a fresh start for students. Students should know course and class expectations at this point and should work with teachers to strive to meet goals for the next quarter. If you are a parent and haven’t attended one of the grading information sessions, there is one coming up on November 13 at 5:15 p.m. at Schenectady High School. You can attend by registering here.
link