Post by admin on Mar 25, 2008 8:26:24 GMT -5
www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080325/NEWS01/803250389/1285/LOCAL09
FREEHOLD — For the first time since the program began, all three borough schools have achieved a set of progress goals set by No Child Left Behind, district officials announced.
"We are just seeing huge gains," said Thomas Tramaglini, borough school district director of assessment.
District officials proudly spoke of the achievement after learning Thursday that Park Avenue Elementary's special education population had made their "adequate yearly progress" benchmark for language arts literacy.
The state Department of Education had previously told officials that pupils had come close to meeting the goal but had fallen short. The school's status was upgraded, however, after the rescoring of some tests, adjustments from late test scores and an appeal from district officials to the state, Tramaglini said.
The Freehold Learning Center met all of its benchmarks for the first time since No Child Left Behind began in 2002. Freehold Intermediate School met its goals for the second year in a row, Tramaglini said.
Under No Child Left Behind regulations, the schools had to meet 41 indicators of student achievement and attendance.
Student achievement is determined through standardized state tests of language arts literacy and mathematics. The most recent scores come from tests taken in spring 2007, Tramaglini said.
Schools are subject to sanctions if they do not achieve all their progress goals, Tramaglini said.
In Freehold, for example, the district must offer "supplemental education services" like tutoring because it had not fulfilled the requirements, Tramaglini said.
Failing this year could have resulted in further sanctions. One possibility was that the district could have been ordered to restructure, Tramaglini said.
In 2006, a team of state education monitors were brought in to review the borough schools because the district's poor and Spanish-speaking students did not meet their "adequate yearly progress" goals for three consecutive years. Generally not done until test scores fail to improve for four years, the district agreed to undergo an early assessment.
The team recommended the district hire several new staff members, including a supervisor for the English as a Second Language bilingual program, a full-time guidance counselor at each school, a full-time reading coach and supervisors for mathematics and language arts.
The monitors also advised the district to reinstate its world language program.
Those recommendations have helped student achievement rise to its current level, School Board President James Keelan said.
The gains can also be attributed to new initiatives in curriculum and professional development, and to a literacy program implemented two years ago, Tramaglini believes.
"We've just done some major work," Tramaglini said.
Kim Predham: (732) 308-7752 or kpredham@app.com
FREEHOLD — For the first time since the program began, all three borough schools have achieved a set of progress goals set by No Child Left Behind, district officials announced.
"We are just seeing huge gains," said Thomas Tramaglini, borough school district director of assessment.
District officials proudly spoke of the achievement after learning Thursday that Park Avenue Elementary's special education population had made their "adequate yearly progress" benchmark for language arts literacy.
The state Department of Education had previously told officials that pupils had come close to meeting the goal but had fallen short. The school's status was upgraded, however, after the rescoring of some tests, adjustments from late test scores and an appeal from district officials to the state, Tramaglini said.
The Freehold Learning Center met all of its benchmarks for the first time since No Child Left Behind began in 2002. Freehold Intermediate School met its goals for the second year in a row, Tramaglini said.
Under No Child Left Behind regulations, the schools had to meet 41 indicators of student achievement and attendance.
Student achievement is determined through standardized state tests of language arts literacy and mathematics. The most recent scores come from tests taken in spring 2007, Tramaglini said.
Schools are subject to sanctions if they do not achieve all their progress goals, Tramaglini said.
In Freehold, for example, the district must offer "supplemental education services" like tutoring because it had not fulfilled the requirements, Tramaglini said.
Failing this year could have resulted in further sanctions. One possibility was that the district could have been ordered to restructure, Tramaglini said.
In 2006, a team of state education monitors were brought in to review the borough schools because the district's poor and Spanish-speaking students did not meet their "adequate yearly progress" goals for three consecutive years. Generally not done until test scores fail to improve for four years, the district agreed to undergo an early assessment.
The team recommended the district hire several new staff members, including a supervisor for the English as a Second Language bilingual program, a full-time guidance counselor at each school, a full-time reading coach and supervisors for mathematics and language arts.
The monitors also advised the district to reinstate its world language program.
Those recommendations have helped student achievement rise to its current level, School Board President James Keelan said.
The gains can also be attributed to new initiatives in curriculum and professional development, and to a literacy program implemented two years ago, Tramaglini believes.
"We've just done some major work," Tramaglini said.
Kim Predham: (732) 308-7752 or kpredham@app.com
