By EVAN NEMEROFF
The results, for third- through eighth-graders, showed an improvement of nearly 10 percentage points over last year's scores.
"Those results are unbelievable, unbelievable," said Lawrence school board Trustee Uri Kaufman. "Even a 3 percent jump is considered at big deal. A 10 percent jump is a miracle."
Last year, 73 percent of the district's students met or exceeded New York state learning standards, while this year nearly 83 percent reached that level. Last year, meeting the state standards required a score of 68 percent or better on the exam, while this year it required a score of 77 percent or more.
The district's greatest gains were in the middle school, where 85 percent of its 674 students in grades six through eight met or exceeded the state standards. There was also progress at the elementary schools, where the number of third-graders who met the standards jumped by eight percentage points over last year, and the number of fourth-graders who did so increased by four percentage points.
"I am absolutely delighted with the tremendous progress that our district has made," said Dr. Vicki Karant, Lawrence’s assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.
The ELA tests measure students' ability in reading and writing. Approximately 70 percent of the exam comprises reading passages, varying in length depending on the grade, followed by a series of multiple-choice questions. The other 30 percent of the test is a writing section in which students read a passage and respond to questions by writing short and long essays.
To prepare District 15 students for this year's exam, a summer reading program was put in place, a staff development teacher for differentiated instruction began teaching students at the middle school, and classes were held on six Saturdays before the test. There was an ELA breakfast for students the day of the exam.
"It's great to see everything come together this year with the increases in test scores," said Rina Beach, the district’s director of ELA and social studies. "The goal that we have for our children is for literacy in content, and the students certainly reached this goal."
Lawrence Board of Education President Murray Forman said he was very excited about the students' accomplishments. "It's extraordinary to see the hard work that this district achieved to turn the corner on the state performance tests," Forman said.
Karant said she is hopeful that the students will continue to do well, beyond the state exams. "We are all very happy about these results, but we are always looking at new practices that could best serve our students," she said. "These include projects and papers, which go way beyond these tests to measure students’ achievements."
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