Bentonville's test scores were already strong, but they improved

By Jamie Smith

Posted: July 29, 2009 at 6:32 a.m.

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BENTONVILLE — Test scores for the Bentonville School District during the 2008-2009 school year have placed the district at the top in the region - and in some cases, the state - according to information shared last week with the Bentonville School Board.

On Thursday, the board met for its quarterly work session, where board members reviewed data from the last school year's standardized tests. Karen Morton, director of testing and data management, said not all testing data has been released to the district, including ACT scores, but the data that has come in from the state is very strong.

"We really outdid ourselves this year," she said. "The trend is that we have more students becoming proficient or advanced every year."

According to the testing data from the state Benchmark exams, Bentonville was first in all grade levels in both literacy and math in the region, which includes Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Rogers, Siloam Springs and Springdale. The district was in at least the top four of all schools with more than 250 students throughout the state, according to the data.The district was also first in the state (for schools with 250 students or more) for all end-ofcourse exams, which are given in biology, algebra I, geometry and 11th-grade literacy.

Board members were pleased with the overall test results but seemed to pay special attention to the district's subpopulations, including special-education students. While the district has a history of strong test scores, several schools have been placed on the state's school-improvement list in recent years because not enough of the schools' special-education students scored proficient or advanced on the standardized tests.

That changed this year, however. The district was able to decrease the difference between test scores from specialeducation students and nonspecial-education students.

"We're seeing a huge closing of the gap," Morton said. "If we keep closing it at that rate, itwill be completely closed in a couple of years."

Another subpopulation that was able to perform stronger on the tests last school year was the district's students with limited English proficiency, generally referred to as LEP students. The gap between LEP students and non-LEP students closed in most grade levels, Morton said.

Superintendent Gary Compton said that based on the district's analysis, all schools that have been placed on the school-improvement list should be declared as "achieving" schools for the 2008-2009 school year. Schools placed on school improvement must reach "achieving school" status two consecutive years to be removed completely from the school-improvement list.

"We're happy with that," Compton said.

The district has implemented several measures that havemade a difference, district administrators agreed.

Bentonville has joined other schools in the region in giving what are called formative tests, given every few weeks to determine how well each student comprehends the material. The tests are based on the standardized tests that are given in the spring, and the results provided to teachers direct feedback on what information needs to be covered again, or perhaps differently.

Another tool is the implementation of professionallearning communities, which place teachers in each grade level or content area together in a group. Those teachers discuss student progress and methods to improve student learning.

News, Pages 4 on 07/29/2009

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