Hertford County, a rural, generally poor and
minority, school district started writing the Balanced Curriculum in
Reading/Language Arts in the summer of 2001 for grades K-8, as a part of
implementing the Comer School Development Program on a district-wide basis,
beginning in 1999. Implementation of the
Balanced Curriculum commenced in the fall of 2001. The test results reported below show the
results for the district’s two elementary schools in grades 3, 4, and 5 and the
Hertford
County Middle
School for grade 6, 7, and 8.
Figure 12:
|
Test Scores: Hertford County,
NC |
|
|
% of students at or
above Level 3 (on a four-level scale) on state tests |
|
|
|
`01-`02 |
`02-`03 |
|
Improvement % |
|
|
Ahoskie Elementary School |
|
|
|
73 |
Gr. 3 |
|
|
|
Gr. 3 |
74.11 |
73.4 |
Gr. 4 |
-1.19% |
Cohort moving from
Grade 3 to Grade 4 |
|
Gr. 4 |
50.87 |
75 |
Gr. 5 |
23.13% |
Cohort moving from
Grade 4 to Grade 5 |
|
Gr. 5 |
68.35 |
|
|
|
|
|
Riverview
Elementary School |
|
|
|
67.7 |
Gr. 3 |
|
|
|
Gr. 3 |
39.02 |
70 |
Gr. 4 |
30.98 |
Cohort moving from
Grade 3 to Grade
4 |
|
Gr. 4 |
52.81 |
77.5 |
Gr. 5 |
24.69 |
Cohort moving from
Grade 4 to Grade
5 |
|
Gr. 5 |
65.66 |
|
|
|
|
|
Hertford County
Middle School |
|
|
|
64.5 |
Gr. 6 |
|
|
|
Gr. 6 |
51.26 |
69.2 |
Gr. 7 |
17.94% |
Cohort moving from
Grade 6 to Grade
7 |
|
Gr. 7 |
55.77 |
78 |
Gr. 8 |
22.23% |
Cohort moving from
Grade 7 to Grade
8 |
|
Gr. 8 |
65.97 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.001302 |
two-tailed t test
for the total of all scores - level of significance |
The results are displayed to show how approximately the same
students did (as a cohort) on succeeding years of testing. For example, for AES
(Ahoskie Elementary School) in grade 3 for the
2001-2002 school year, 74.11 percent of students
scored a three or a four on the test (considered to be passing scores by the
state). Those students went to grade 4
in 2002-2003 and 73.4% of the students passed that year. The students neither lost nor gained
significant ground as shown by the decline of 1.19% (74.11 – 73.4 = 1.19)
However, on AES at grade 4, 50.87% of students passed; in
2002-2003 75% of the students in the fifth grade passed for an improvement of
+23.13%. Results for other grade levels
showed a range of improvement from 17% to 30% more students passing over the
first two years of implementation. The
middle school students improved almost as much as the elementary students. Riverview
Elementary School was
also implementing Success for All, a school reform
effort focused on improving reading achievement.
