By Jason Scheer
The Baldwin School District got good grades on its report card last week, receiving kudos from the state for district-wide improvements on many levels.
The district's performance is rated annually, compared with state statistics as well as its own performance in past years. According to the report presented at last week's school board meeting, 76 percent of 2004 graduates received Regents diplomas, a significant increase over 2003. Among other good news, 93 percent of the members of the class of 2004 were accepted to college and had success on Advanced Placement tests. More students, 583, took A.P. tests than in recent years. The class of 2004 boasted 58 A.P. scholars, compared with 30 in the class of 2003 and 41 in 2002.
The district not only showed improvements on its own previous performance, but against state standards as well. Each year, the New York State Education Department establishes "annual measurable objectives." Districts must meet these AMOs in order to be considered in good standing. Baldwin's performance far exceeded AMOs in all categories. For example, the AMO for the fourth-grade English Language Arts exam is 123. Baldwin's performance index, or district score, was 165. On the eighth-grade math exams, the AMO was 81. Baldwin registered a performance index of 148.
Not all of the report proved positive, however. The report indicated slippage between the same students' performance on the 2000 fourth-grade math exam and on the 2004 eighth-grade exam.
Students' scores on these exams are divided into four levels, with level one indicating weakness and level four indicating strong performance and mastery. According to the report, nine students who took the exam in 2000 scored at level one. Four years later, when the same students took the eighth-grade exam, 22 students scored at level one. After 60 students achieved a level four score on the fourth-grade exam, only 28 members of the same class performed as well in eighth grade. These tests are designed to be predictors of performance on high school Regents exams.
Dr. Michael Roccoforte, assistant superintendent of instruction, said these results were not an accurate indicator of students' performance on Regents exams. Roccoforte used the results of the 2004 Math A Regents exam as an example. Last year, 93 students attained a level-four score. On the 2002 eighth-grade exam, only 51 students scored at level four. In addition, only 22 students scored in the level-two range on the Regents exam, while 102 students scored at level two in eighth grade. That represents a marked improvement, Roccoforte said.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kathy Weiss reiterated Roccoforte's comments. "The Math 8 exam is not a predictor of Regents success. Our students do very well on the Regents," she said.
Roccoforte said the overall results of the report are encouraging, and represent the efforts of teachers at all grade levels. "This is not only a credit to our students, teachers and administrators in the high school, but to all the teachers in the district who help our students reach this level of success," he said.
A copy of the full report card is available at the Baldwin District Office.
Comments about this story? JScheer@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 282.
