While the school district scored highly in English/language arts in almost every grade level in 2017, some grade levels saw a decrease in the number of kids meeting and exceeding expectations in math.
A mixed bag of news came from the results of the 2017 Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers assessment for Cherry Hill Public Schools.
The district saw improvement in most of its participation numbers, scored favorably when compared to the state average in most grade levels and excelled in English/language arts in nearly every grade. However, members of the board of education expressed concern at numbers in some other categories, particularly in math.
The district’s PARCC assessment results from last spring were presented at Tuesday’s board of education meeting. Research and assessment coordinator Valerie Sadwin presented the results. The district’s presentation compared last year’s scores with scores from 2015, the first year PARCC was administered.
The PARCC assessment places students in five levels based on their performance in the test. Level one is considered not meeting expectations, level two is partially meeting expectations, level three is approaching expectations, level four is meeting expectations and level five is exceeding expectations. According to PARCC, students are considered to be on pace to be college and career ready if they score in level four or five.
Participation rates were up almost across the board for Cherry Hill. Grades three through nine all had participation rates of 94 percent or higher, with grade nine featuring the highest participation rate at 98 percent. Grade 10 had a participation rate of 80 percent, a large improvement over the previous year’s 70 percent.
The only grade level with low participation remains grade 11. Only 46 percent of high school juniors participated in PARCC last year, a number administrators expect to rise as new state graduation requirements emphasize PARCC.
The class of 2020 is required to attempt all PARCC assessments associated with high school level courses, according to New Jersey’s graduation requirements. They will fulfill graduation requirements for math and English/language arts if they score in level four or level five of the Algebra I and grade 10 English/language arts PARCC assessment. If the students attempt PARCC and score below level four, they can fulfill their graduation requirement through an alternate assessment.
The class of 2021 and future graduating classes are required to score in level four or level five in Algebra I and grade 10 English/language arts to graduate. If a student does not meet the minimum score, they must complete a portfolio to graduate. The student can only complete a portfolio if they sat for every PARCC assessment associated with a high school course.
This had some board members concerned when they viewed the Algebra I scores from last year’s assessment, particularly at the high school level. Only 19.1 percent of students at Cherry Hill High School East and 11.8 percent of students at Cherry Hill High School West who took the Algebra I exam graded in level four. None of the students at either school graded in level five. The low scores at the high school level caused the number of students district-wide who met or exceeded expectations in Algebra I to drop 8.4 percent.
Sadwin noted many Cherry Hill students take Algebra I in middle school, where more than 80 percent of the students are meeting or exceeding expectations. While the Algebra I scores at the three middle schools were much higher, board members still noted all students need to be successful on the exam, regardless of what grade level they take Algebra I.
“These kids still need to learn,” board member Jane Scarpellino said. “Algebra I is a pretty basic math. They’re clearly not becoming as successful as they need to be.”
Grade eight math was also a concern, as the number of students meeting or exceeding expectations was down 23.5 percent from two years ago. The grade eight math exam does not include students who took Algebra I or geometry.
Sadwin also noted the district added algebra classes at all three middle schools in 2015–16, meaning more middle school students are taking Algebra I than two years ago. The middle school students who took the PARCC Algebra I and geometry exams scored much higher than the state average.
“In 2015, there were more kids in that lower level grade eight math class,” she said.
The district additionally saw a 9.2 percent decline in the number of students meeting or exceeding expectations in Algebra II as well as declines in grade five and six math. All of the other grade levels increased the number of students meeting or exceeding expectations.
While math was a concern for board members, the news was brighter when it came to English/language arts. With the exception of grade 11, the number of students meeting or exceeding expectations on the ELA exam improved across the board. The district also scored higher on English/language arts than the state average at every grade level except 11, where only 31.8 percent of students met or exceeded expectations. Sadwin said the low participation rate in grade 11 makes the data for the grade hard to analyze.
“Participation is so low and a lot of those students have already met their graduation requirement, so who knows who is sitting for the test,” Sadwin said.
Board president Barry Dickinson said it is important to look further into the district’s struggles, especially at the high school level. He noted many other districts also have low participation rate in grade 11 English/language arts and yet Cherry Hill still ranks below the state average in percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations.
“I’d be interested in finding out why the scores are so low, because they are dramatically low in some instances,” Dickinson said.
Lisa Saidel, chair for the board’s curriculum and instruction committee, said the focus is on using the data to find out where the district can improve its instruction.
“This is all great,” Saidel said about the numbers. “Now what do we do with it? How do we close the gaps where they exist in this presentation?”
To view the district’s full 2017 PARCC results presentation, visit www.chclc.org/academics/assessment.
