District
altering schedule to improve scores
Sunday, May 29, 2005 • By LINDA
LISANTI • The Express-Times
PHILLIPSBURG -- Changes are in the works
for next year's high school schedule as part of an
aggressive campaign by the district to boost lagging test
scores.
"We're seeing improvements in some areas,
but not others," Superintendent Gordon Pethick said. "We
have to see improvement. These scores have to go up. There
can be no more excuses."
Beginning in September, the high school
schedule will be revamped so that more emphasis is placed on
the core subjects of math, language arts and science. These
are areas that are already or will soon be part of state
standardized tests.
All Phillipsburg High School students are
now on a block schedule that consists of four 84-minute
periods each day, and the school year is broken into two
semesters.
The plan for next school year is to take
two of those four 84-minute blocks and separate them into
three 57-minute blocks of math, language arts and science
that students will have for the entire year.
Under the old schedule, students had just
one semester each in math, language arts and
science.
District officials said questions arose
over whether having math or language arts the first semester
and not the second resulted in a loss when it came to time
to test.
George Chando, director of secondary
education, said there was also some concern that students
who had math or language arts the second semester of the
year were not learning enough by testing time to be
successful.
The new schedule assures that there will
be continuity.
All incoming freshmen will be placed
under the new schedule, as will some current freshmen and
sophomores based on their test scores from this year's High
School Proficiency Assessment.
Each year, 11th-graders take the state
High School Proficiency Assessment, while ninth- and
10th-graders take a practice version.
Any current freshman or sophomore that
doesn't score proficient or advanced in math and language
arts on their test will be placed into the new
schedule.
That will also be the case for subsequent
school years.
Students can opt out but must have
parental backing, as is the case with any scheduling change,
according to Pethick.
Current 11th-graders who scored poorly on
this year's state High School Proficiency Assessment, must
take a prep class beginning in September before retaking the
test in October and again in March if necessary.
Passing the state High School Proficiency
Assessment is a requirement for graduation.
Chando said district officials are also
considering extended-day and summer programs for students
still not making the grade on the test.
These programs could extend to the middle
school as well as the high school, he said.
District officials said the changes
they're making are very aggressive and very
necessary.
"I am frustrated by where our test scores
are now," Pethick said.
The most recent data from the 2003-'04
High School Proficiency Assessment shows 79 percent of
Phillipsburg 11th-graders scored proficient or advanced in
language arts while 60.3 percent made the same grade in
math.
The state average was 82.2 percent in
language arts and 70.1 percent in math.
In 2002-'03, 77.1 percent of the
Phillipsburg students taking the test scored proficient or
advanced in language arts; 62.1 percent in math.
Under the federal No Child Left Behind
Act, every student must be proficient in language arts and
math by 2014. Proficiency levels are set each year and when
students do not meet the set levels, their schools face
state sanctions.
Over the years, Pethick said the district
has addressed instruction, curriculum, parental involvement
and assessment in an effort to get test scores up, but the
progress made so far still isn't enough.
"We've been doing everything we should be
doing by the book," he said. "We must move forward in a more
aggressive manner."
Reporter Linda Lisanti can be reached at 610-258-7171 or
by e-mail at llisanti@express-times.com.
© 2005 The Express-Times. Used with
permission.
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