By ALEX COSTELLO
But this year the district saw significant improvements in the scores of its middle school students.
The ELA tests are administered every year in January to students in grades three through eight. Based on their scores, students are placed in levels, with 1 being the lowest and 4 being the highest. Levels 1 and 2 are considered failing.
"We're obviously pleased with the results," said Christopher Pellettieri, assistant superintendent for curriculum. "Especially the growth we've seen in our middle school, grades six and seven specifically." Pellettieri was referring to sixth grade scores that went up eight percentage points this year from last year, when only 85 percent of students scored at Level 3 or 4. Seventh graders' scores rose five percentage points, up from 87 percent in 2008.
The scores for the district are significantly above the state average, which had only 77 percent of students placing in Levels 3 or 4 across all grades.
The ELA is a threefold assessment - it tests listening, writing and reading - the three main components of the language arts curriculum. And while the test for each grade isn't exactly the same, each grade-level exam features similar components. There are multiple-choice questions based on reading passages, as well as questions based on passages that are read to the students. The test is more difficult for the eighth graders, incorporating an essay section in addition to the other types of questions, and the scoring is more rigorous as well, with a 70 required to pass.
Pellettieri said he is proud of the fact that the district doesn't "test prep," or teach specifically to the test. He said that the district's curriculum is strong enough that the skills its students learn in class are enough to prepare them for the exam, rather than having teachers take time to specifically prepare students for the items that will appear on the test.
"We have high standards and a rigorous curriculum," Pellettieri said. "And the result is that we can hit the mark, and really, we're aiming above it. So we're aiming for, and hitting above the test, so to speak."
For Pellettieri, one of the most important parts of analyzing the test results was not seeing that the schools did well, but for the opportunity the results provide to look at the questions and see where students excel and where they can benefit from improvement. That analysis enables educators to focus on bringing up the scores of students who placed in the Level 1 or 2 range, and also on moving students from Level 3 up to Level 4.
"Literally what we'll do is take this test apart question by question and look at how our students scored and what the wrong answers were," Pellettieri said. "And that helps to drive our instruction, because we can look at why a student might have answered a certain way and look for issues in our curriculum that we might need to address."
Comments about this story? ACostello@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 207.
Rockville Centre schools' ELA scores
Percentage of students scoring in Level 3 or Level 4:
Grade 3- 93%
Grade 4- 95%
Grade 5- 96%
Grade 6- 93%
Grade 7- 92%
Grade 8- 84%
