Fort Scott schools garner Standard of Excellence nods

Several local schools earned Standard of Excellence awards this year from the Kansas State Department of Education based on results from state assessments in particular subjects during the 2009-10 school year.

The SOE awards are presented each year to schools in reading, math, science and history/government. Schools can secure awards at specific grade levels or building levels. To receive an SOE award, the specific school must meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in the "all students" category and must have an accredited Quality Performance Accreditation status. Subgroups are not considered in calculating SOE.

According to KSDE, Winfield Scott Elementary School earned two grade-level SOE awards for third grade reading and math; Fort Scott Middle School earned a building-level SOE in reading and grade-level awards for seventh- and eighth- grade reading; and Fort Scott High School earned building-level awards for reading, math and science.

FSHS Principal Bob Beckham said this is the first time in the school's history that the SOE distinction was accomplished in reading, math and science. The school has earned SOE awards in those individual subject areas in past years, but has never received the award in all three areas, he said.

"We are achieving at the highest level in school history," Beckham said.

Beckham said this year's group of seniors, who took the assessments as juniors last year, set a record score in each area. USD 234 school and district officials said after recently reviewing other building report cards on the KSDE website, they discovered that the district's percentage of students meeting standard or above at the high school level is the highest in the Southeast Kansas League.

"We scored at record levels for all three tests ... highest in the SEK (League) and well above the state average," Beckham said.

Figures provided by Beckham show that 91.5 percent of FSHS students taking the tests scored proficient or above in reading, 92.8 percent scored proficient or above in math, and 95.2 percent scored proficient or above in science.

Statewide targets in those areas last year for districts and for grades nine through 12 were 81.3 percent for reading, 76.4 percent for math, and 69 percent for science. The statewide averages in those areas for proficient or above are 86.3 percent, 83.6 percent and 87.7 percent, respectively.

Targets for kindergarten through eighth grades were 83.7 percent for reading and 82.3 percent for math.

USD 235 in Uniontown also received SOE awards for the 2009-10 school year. Uniontown High School received grade-level awards for seventh, eighth and 11th grade reading; building-wide SOE awards in reading, math and science, and grade-level awards for seventh and eighth grade math and science.

West Bourbon Elementary School earned grade-level SOE awards for third, fourth, fifth and sixth grade reading and math, as well as building-wide awards for reading and math.

According to KSDE, results from the 2010 Kansas Statewide Assessments show a 10-year growth trend in reading and math statewide. Students performing in the top three performance levels on the reading assessment increased to 86.3 percent in 2010, up from 85.7 percent in 2009. On the math assessment, students in the top three performance levels totaled 83.1 percent in 2010, up from 82.8 percent in 2009. Participation rates topped 99 percent in each subject area.

Reading and math assessments are given each year to every grade three through eight and once in high school. Performance levels by grade showed small dips in the early grades in reading, with percentages at the top three performance levels going up in the fifth grade and beyond. A very slight dip in performance was seen in third grade math, as well as in the fifth grade and eighth grade. All other grades improved or remained constant in math, according to KSDE.

Results of the 2010 science assessments also showed improvement. Science is tested each year, but only in grades four and seven and once in high school. The percentage of students in the top three performance levels remained constant in the fourth grade at 91.7 percent. Seventh-grade students in the top three performance levels increased from 83 percent in 2009 to 83.3 percent in 2010. A similar increase was seen among high school students, where the percentage performing in the top three performance levels increased from 83.4 percent in 2009 to 83.6 percent in 2010.

There were 3,007 SOE awards presented in reading and 2,532 awards presented in math this year. In science, 430 SOE awards were achieved, according to KSDE.

Criteria for the awards states that certain percentages of all tested students in each grade must meet requirements in different categories, which are called exceeds standards, meets standard, approaches standard, exemplary, and academic warning. Only a minimal number of students are allowed to fall into the academic warning category, while percentage requirements are higher for the exemplary, meets standard, and approaches standard categories. A certain percentage of students must also fall into the exemplary performance level as well.

For more information, visit www.ksde.org.