More Shawnee High School students are passing their required exams thanks to the Achieving Classroom Excellence program.
The ACE program catches students who may not test criterion-referenced and end-of-instructions exams, said Shawnee High School principal Lee Hamilton.
“We’ve come up,” he said.
Dr. Marsha Gore, executive director of curriculum and state-federal programs for Shawnee Public Schools, said one of the components of the ACE funding is providing remediation programs for students who need it.
The district is required to give extra help for those students who show unsatisfactory or limited knowledge of subjects, she said. Courses included in this funding are algebra I and II, English II and III, geometry, biology and American history.
The test results tell teachers and administrators which students need the extra help and assigns them to courses to teach the necessary skills, Hamilton said.
Teachers involved say the key is getting back to basics.
The major difference is with the CRT. Those students are enrolled for the entire year at the middle school. With the EOI, students have chances to retest during the school year, Hamilton said.
“By careful data analysis and using data to make decisions, the teachers make adjustments and go from there,” he said.
The teachers will look at the results from the CRT and EOI to determine what changes in curriculum need to be made based on the standards, Hamilton said. The information is then used to place students in the classes.
With these tests, there is not a clear way to grade partial credit. They clearly define it as a “yes” or “no.” It’s not that simple, Hamilton said.
“There’s not a yes or no, black or white answer,” he said.
Knowing this, teachers also look at how students process information to solve the problem, Hamilton said.
