Assistant superintendent Jack McGee and director of secondary education Dr. Steven Gregor delivered a presentation to the board and attendees discussing the district’s test results at the Washington Township Board of Education work session on Oct. 14.
According to a PowerPoint presentation delivered by McGee, Bells Elementary School tested 255 students in both math and English language arts; Birches Elementary School tested 267 students in both math and English language arts; Hurffville Elementary School tested 307 students in English language arts and 306 in math; Thomas Jefferson Elementary School tested 227 in both math and English language arts; Wedgwood Elementary School tested 286 in both math and English language arts; and Whitman Elementary School tested 245 students in English language arts and 244 in math.
Of the third-graders at Bells, 50 students met or exceeded expectations in English language arts, up from 29 in 2017-18, and 46 met or exceeded expectations in math, up from 41 in 2017-18. Fourth-graders at Bells were down from previous years with 32 students meeting or exceeding expectations in English language arts and 44 in math, down from 44 and 46 respectively. Fifth-graders, on the other hand, improved from previous years with 62 meeting or exceeding expectations in English language arts and 51 in math, up from 56 and 41 respectively.
Of the third-graders at Birches, 48 students met or exceeded expectations in English language arts, down from 54 in 2017-18 and 63 met or exceeded expectations in math, up from 60 in 2017-18. Fourth-graders at Bells improved from last year with 66 students meeting or exceeding expectations in English language arts and 59 in math, up from 53 and 56 respectively. Fifth-graders were a mixed bag, with 55 students meeting or exceeding expectations in English language arts and 54 in math, an improvement from last year’s 45 in English language arts and a decrease from last year’s 60 in math.
Of the third-graders at Hurffville 59 students met or exceeded expectations in English language arts, up from 47 in 2017-18 and 70 met or exceeded expectations in math, up from 59 in 2017-18. Fourth-graders at Hurffville improved on last year with 54 students meeting or exceeding expectations in English language arts and 52 in math, up from 42 and 47 respectively. Like Birches, fifth-graders at Hurffville were a mixed bag with 60 students meeting or exceeding expectations in English language arts and 50 in math, an improvement from last year’s 58 in English language arts and a decrease from last year’s 60 in math.
Of the third-graders at Thomas Jefferson, 37 students met or exceeded expectations in English language arts, up from 35 in 2017-18 and 40 met or exceeded expectations in math, up from 38 in 2017-18. Fourth-graders experienced an improvement in English language arts with 49 meeting or exceeding expectations and 44 in math an improvement in English language arts from 47 last year and a decrease in math from last year at 48. Fifth-graders had a down year, with 43 meeting or exceeding expectations in English language arts and 52 in math, down from last year with 50 and 60 respectively.
Of third-graders at Wedgwood, 28 students met or exceeded expectations in English language arts similar to last year’s 28 and 47 met or exceeded expectations in math, up from 40 in 2017-18. Fourth-graders were down from last year with 34 students meeting or exceeding expectations in English language arts and 51 in math, down from 49 and 65 respectively. Fifth-graders, on the other hand, improved from last year, with 55 meeting or exceeding expectations in English language arts and 52 in math, up from 30 and 28 respectively.
Of the third-graders at Whitman, 53 students met or exceeded expectations in English language arts, down from 75 in 2017-18 and 67 met or exceeded expectations in math, down from 69 in 2017-18. Fourth-graders were down from last year with 69 students meeting or exceeding expectations in English language arts and 65 in math, down from 75 and 68 respectively. Fifth-graders, on the other hand, improved from previous years with 62 meeting or exceeding expectations in English language arts and 51 in math, up from 56 and 41 respectively.
Once the elementary school presentation was complete, Gregor took over to talk about the middle schools and high school. Bunker Hill Middle School tested 547 students in English language arts and 546 in math; Chestnut Ridge Middle School tested 613 students in English Language arts and 612 in math; Orchard Valley Middle School tested 500 students in English language arts and 499 in math; and the high school tested 1,206 students in English language arts and 1,208 in math.
Of the sixth-graders at Bunker Hill, 49 students met or exceeded expectations in English language arts, down from 58 in 2017-18 and 33 met or exceeded expectations in math, down from 43 in 2017-18. Seventh-graders were mixed from last year, with 61 students meeting or exceeding expectations in English language arts, down from 65 last year but increased from 36 last year to 49 this year. There was an overall improvement for eighth-graders, with 60 students meeting or exceeding expectations, up from 54 last year and 35 students met or exceeded expectations in math up from 21 last year. Algebra scores improved, too, from 83 last year to 95 this year.
Of the sixth-graders at Chestnut Ridge, 49 students met or exceeded expectations in English language arts, down from 58 in 2017-18 and 34 met or exceeded expectations in math, down from 42 in 2017-18. Seventh-graders experienced a down year, with 61 students meeting or exceeding expectations in English language arts, down from last year’s 65 and 42 in math, down from last year’s 43. Eighth-graders performed roughly the same as last year with 53 students meeting or exceeding expectations in English language arts, up from 52 the previous year and 14 in math, the same as last year. Algebra scores fell from 93 last year to 87 this year.
Of the sixth-graders at Orchard Valley, 53 students met or exceeded expectations in English language arts, down from 58 in 2017-18 and 24 met or exceeded expectations in math, down from 35 in 2017-18. Seventh-graders improved from last year, with 50 students meeting or exceeding expectations in English language arts, up from 47 last year and increased from 28 last year to 37 this year. Eighth-graders experienced a down year, falling from 45 students meeting or exceeding expectations last year in English language arts to 35 this year and 20 students meeting or exceeding in math to 14 this year. Algebra scores fell from 98 last year to 90 this year.
Of the freshmen at Washington Township High School, 47 students met or exceeded expectations in English language arts, the same number as in 2017-18. Sophomores improved in English language arts from 36 last year to 45 this year. Juniors fell from 9 last year to 7 this year. Algebra one scores fell from 27 last year to 9 this year. Geometry scores improved from 16 last year to 18 this year and algebra two scores improved from 21 to 31.
For a complete breakdown of the scores, visit the board of education’s BoardDoc’s page accessible from wtps.org. To see the video recording of the meeting, visit wtps.org under the board of education tab.
