School Committee Looking for Ways to Improve Student Math Scores

A majority of Tuesday night’s Newport School Committee meeting was dedicated to an update on NECAP testing and student achievement goals for 2011. Several faculty, including Principal Patti DiCenso, were present to voice their opinions and concerns.

The committee opened the meeting asking what challenges teachers were facing, as well as what their needs were, in order to move forward with an “aggressive trajectory on improving student achievement.”

Director of Curriculum & Instruction Caroline Frey told the committee that after analysis of the NECAP and NWEA scores, they've determined that Newport students are less proficient in math than they are in reading, and that there are considerable gaps between the students with individualized education plans and those without.

“We as a state put a lot of effort into reading, and not as much into math," she said. "Math is coming to forefront and more resources are being put in."

DiCenso said that among her main concerns was that students were not proficient in algebra when the time comes for them to take the NECAP.

“If students aren’t algebra ready in ninth grade they’ll fail that test,” she said. “How do we take care of 2014 that’s already sitting in the building and getting them intensive support? We have to worry about them and the K-8 model, and how that is going to shape how we push kids into grade 9.”

DiCenso suggested taking the same approach to math as the school system did towards literacy, which involved creating personalized instruction.

“A lot of great things that happened, but the work is never done," she said. "The work in math is a significant challenge, but we’re ready."

One suggestion to counter the gap in algebra proficiency is to create a two-year Algebra I program, with part one taught in Grade 8 and part two taught in Grade 9.

Superintendent Dr. John H. Ambrogi said he would be recommending a new math program through Grade 5 in the near future, which would include a new curriculum, new books and professional development for teachers.

Frey said the new program had been piloted in each elementary school so there would be teachers familiar with the series, and it was chosen because it “aligned tightly with the common core.” She said technology is also a large part of the series.

“This program is much more concrete and is a direct lead-in to higher grades,” Frey said.

NECAP will also eventually be eliminated, she said. A new assessment called Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), will be phased in next year, and will ultimately replace NECAP in the 2014-2015 school year.

“Students in [kindergarten] and Grade 8 will never take the NECAP,” Frey said.

One of the benefits of PARCC, she said, is the results are tied together in a statewide database, which works well with Newport’s transient student population.

“I recognize mobility as a problem when it comes to data and assessing schools,” school committee member Jo Eva Gaines said. “... The NECAP is dying.”

Frey said if PARCC generates the appropriate analysis of student improvement, it may also replace NWEA testing, thus decreasing the number of standardized tests students take during the school year. 

View the video to the right for more from Caroline Frey and Principal DiCenso.