From the pages of
Pinedale Roundup
Volume 104, Number 49 - December 6, 2007
brought to you online by Pinedale Online

Students continue to improve

by Jennie Oemig

Students in Sublette County School District (SCSD) #1 continue to improve in the Proficiency Assessments for Wyoming Students (PAWS) testing.

During the winter and spring of the 2006-2007 academic year, students in grades 3-8 and 11 were evaluated for proficiency on Wyoming Assessment Descriptors in reading, writing and math.

At an academic and athletic award ceremony on Nov. 27, high school principal Richard Kennedy said last year’s eleventh grade class showed vast improvement over the previous year’s scores.

In the eleventh grade, Kennedy said the students ranked second in the state for writing scores and fifth in the state with their reading scores.

Upon reading those results, Kennedy then challenged this year’s eleventh grade class to do even better.

Middle school principal Kevan Kennington said overall, the middle school students bettered their scores from the previous year. “In every area, we had good growth,” he said of the middle school results. “ … We had great improvement, especially in writing.” Though the tests were administered twice during the last academic year, once around the Christmas holiday and again in April, the district will only test once this year due to the time it consumes, Kennington said, adding that this year’s testing will be conducted in March.

And one thing Kennington said he liked about the testing was the cohort comparison, which allows for the comparison of each class from one grade to the next, as opposed to just comparing fifth-grade scores to those of the following year’s fifth-grade class. “It’s like comparing apples to oranges,” he said of the alternate comparison method.

Elementary school principal Greg Legerski said the third and fourth-grade students also did extremely well on the testing and showed a great deal of improvement. “I think we saw a tremendous amount of growth,” he said. “ … As an administrator, I like to see the kids improve as they move on.”

In addition to showing improvement in the student population, Legerski said the testing is also helpful in determining how effective the programs and action plans of the institution are.

“Based upon our results … our system is working,” he said. “We’re definitely moving in the right direction.”

See The Archives for past articles.


Copyright © 2007 Pinedale Roundup
All rights reserved. Reproduction by any means must have permission of the Publisher.
Pinedale Roundup, PO Box 100, Pinedale, WY 82941   Phone 307-367-2123
editor@pinedaleroundup.com