Schools Receive National Recognition

Standardized test scores measured to make list

— Fayetteville High School is among 14 Northwest Arkansas schools nationally recognized for strong performance on standardized tests.

The recognition for Fayetteville High School comes at a time when the school is also listed as needing to improve by the Arkansas Department of Education.

The National Center for Education Achievement, a division of ACT Inc., named schools in Fayetteville, Rogers, Pea Ridge, Bentonville and Springdale as Higher Performing Schools for 2012 based on a three-year review of test scores. A total of 69 schools in Arkansas were recognized as higher performing schools.

The List

2012 Higher Performing Schools

The National Center for Educational Achievement, a department of ACT Inc., has identified 69 schools in Arkansas as higher achieving schools for 2012, of which 14 are in Benton and Washington counties:

Rogers: Bonnie Grimes, Eastside, Grace Hill, Lowell and Old Wire elementary schools

Fayetteville: Fayetteville High School; Haas Hall Academy

Farmington: Ledbetter Intermediate School

Pea Ridge: Pea Ridge Middle School

Bentonville: Ruth Barker Middle and Washington Junior High schools

Springdale: Hunt, John Tyson and Jones elementary schools

Source: Staff Report

Virginia Abernathy, assistant superintendent for elementary education in the Rogers School District, said the district is proud of the six schools, which are on the list because it shows strategies in place are affecting results with performance and growth.

The district personalizes learning and uses various assessments throughout the school year to monitor students’ progress.

The accumulated data is used to make decisions that affect what happens in the classroom, Abernathy said.

Steve Jacoby, principal of Fayetteville High, said several education organizations, such as Advanced Placement, the SAT or ACT exams or the National Merit scholarships, which measure student achievement. Each uses a different yardstick for measuring.

“All have a relevance to student achievement,” Jacoby said, to explain how one school could be cited by one group as a higher performing school and by another as a school which needs to improve.

The national organization identified higher performing schools by looking at standardized test scores over the past three years. The list is composed of schools with the highest number of students who performed above expectation or who scored at the advanced level on those tests.

Sarah McKenzie, director of assessment, research and accountability for the Fayetteville district, said different methodologies are used by the national organization and the state Education Department.

The national organization looked at the results from the 11th-grade literacy Benchmark exam for the 2011-12 school year and the results of the eighth-grade literacy benchmark when those same students were in the eighth grade.

“This is totally different than the (state’s) accountability piece,” McKenzie said.

The state accountability system takes into account the performance of students for the last three years. Based on that, the high school didn’t meet the established targets for math for the school years of 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11, she said.

“Our focus for the last several years has been to narrow the achievement gap, especially in math,” Jacoby said.

The achievement gap in Arkansas is the difference between the performance of at-risk students and those who are not. At risk includes special education students, English language learners and those who qualify for free or reduced-price meals.

McKenzie said schools on the state improvement list have to meet achievement targets for two consecutive years to be removed from the list.

The state Education Department plans to release the annual list of achieving schools and those that need improvement in late October, according to Phyllis Stewart, spokesman for the department.

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