By Danny Teigman
Despite two grades above-average results on the state math exams, East Rockaway school officials say their students scores need improvement.
The district's passing rate was 5 percent below the county average of 82.4 percent. While 94.6 percent of third-grade students passed the March exams, only 59 percent of seventh-graders passed, and 60 percent of eighth-graders. The passing percentage plummeted by more than 20 points between the sixth and seventh grades. The Lynbrook, Long Beach and Malverne school districts did better. Baldwin and Lawrence schools performed worse.
East Rockaway School Superintendent Arnold Dodge said he was "baffled" by the results, adding that the district must evaluate each student's results carefully to determine where the difficulties exist. "In many grades, I think we did reasonably well," Dodge said. "We did not do as well in some areas, particularly the seventh and eighth-grade scores."
Wildly fluctuating scores among fourth and eighth-graders make overall evaluation of the test results more difficult. In 2003, 74 percent of eighth-grade students passed the state exam, up from just 49 percent in 2002. Yet those numbers declined in the succeeding two years. In 2005, 96 percent of fourth-grade students' passed as compared to 89 percent this year.
"For the size district we are, I believe that we should have higher scores," said Peter Dugan, an Oceanview Road parent.
Dodge said that performance on one exam does not tell the whole story. He cited the improving percentage of college acceptances, a greater number of students earning Regents diplomas and a declining dropout rate as evidence that the district is moving in the right direction. "We're going to do everything we can to improve those scores," he added.
Assistant Superintendent for curriculum, Roseanne Melucci, said the district is considering some options in the interest of improving test scores. Struggling students will be offered after-school Math Academy classes. Meanwhile, math teachers are meeting to determine their students' strengths and weaknesses. Getting students to complete their homework is also critical, Melucci said, explaining that teachers can only do so much. Parents must be involved by making sure their children are completing their assignments.
But Melucci said that homework is only part of the battle. Like other districts throughout the state, East Rockaway lacks a specific breakdown of students' scores, data that should have been released months ago. Without it, analysis of students' individual weaknesses is difficult. "It's like trying to isolate a variable in a research project," Melucci said.
Dugan said he sympathized with the district's position. "Dealing with the state and dealing with the individual children on how they perform has got to be the most taxing for the teachers," he said.
Teachers are feeling more pressure to improve their students' scores because of an updated No Child Left Behind Act, which expanded the number of grades which had to take the exam from two to six, Melucci explained. Last year, grades 3, 5, 6 and 7 had to take the exam for the first time. In addition, curriculum has shifted so that more material must be taught in earlier grades, Melucci said. With so many changes happening at once, the state has been slow in reporting the data. Ultimately, she said, the district must have a full accounting of its students' performance before an overall plan can be implemented.
"We don't have what we need to send to the parents," she said. "And we're waiting. We hope we'll get [this year's] scores before the year is over. When you give a test in March and then get the results in the following October, it's so after-the-fact."
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