The recipe for North Pike Elementary School’s success on the Mississippi Curriculum Test is as simple as one, two, three.
Add a staff of quality teachers. Stir in supportive parents. Sweeten with an administration willing to provide the resources necessary to do the job.
It’s a potent mixture — one that’s made North Pike Elementary and the North Pike School District as a whole one of the top school systems in the area.
And North Pike Elementary could be the cornerstone, with its reputation as a Level 5 school with a student body that annually exceeds the state average on the MCT, and now the MCT2, which was given last spring.
The MCT2 is directed at students in third through eighth grades. Another series of tests, the Subject Area Test, is given to high school students.
The state test scores represent a student’s ability to understand the subject matter. They use a range of scores to determine whether the student’s achievement level is minimal, basic, proficient or advanced.
Minimal means a student is not likely to pass a course; basic means a student has a general understanding of the subject; proficient means a student has an above-average comprehension of the subject; and advanced means a student’s knowledge exceeds what is required of their grade level.
But there is no comparison between the MCT2 scores and the scores from previous state tests.
Instead of the three categories — language, reading and math — that were included on the state tests in previous years, the MCT2 has been shortened, combining language and reading into a language arts category, and math.
The Subject Area Test has new tests for Algebra I and English II.
“The MCT2 is much more difficult,” said North Pike Superintendent Dr. Ben Cox.
He said the tests no longer just gauge students on what they’ve learned; they also test students on their ability to grasp the concepts that are being taught.
And it’s tougher to achieve a high score.
“Not only is it more rigorous, but the proficiency scores are stricter. They’ve been raised — the bar has been raised,” Cox said. “It’s like being a high jumper where they’re making you run up to the bar in sand, and then they tell you, ‘Oh, we’ve also raised the bar.’ ”
Systemwide, North Pike’s test results had some problem areas.
North Pike Middle School students scored below the state average on most of the tests, while high school students fell below the state average in U.S. history and English II multiple choice.
In most cases, Cox said, the difference between the state scores and the students’ low scores are a few points.
“We do see a drop in our middle school scores compared to our elementary scores,” he said. “I think the primary reason is the emphasis put on the actual test and not the level of instruction that we have. The reason I say that is when they go to high school, those scores rebound quickly.
“So if there was a low level of instruction at the middle school, I think it would continue to be low,” he said.
Cox said new programs started this year at the middle school should help improve the scores.
He said the problems with the English II multiple choice test may lie more with the difficulty of the exam, which tests students’ knowledge of grammar and includes some literature.
“One thing we can’t lose sight of is this test is just a small part of what can be taught in the classroom,” he said.
Because the test scores were received after school began, Cox said he met with administrators and “looked at the school programs that we’ve instituted for this school year and see if we hit the mark. Are these the improvements we need based on our test scores?”
Cox said school principals continuously examine the programs to determine what’s needed to improve.
The indicators administrators saw last school year before the test scores, he said, “were only reinforced when the test scores came out.”
Danny Rushing, seventh- and eighth-grade principal at North Pike Middle School, said the programs that were approved for this school year will meet the needs of students requiring extra help.
“Before we got the test scores, we had some test monitoring done so we could get an assessment to see where the kids’ skill levels were,” Rushing said.
NORTH PIKE ELEMENTARY
Despite the increased difficulty, North Pike’s third- and fourth-grade students outpaced the state average when comparing the number of students who scored on basic, proficient and advanced levels.
Additionally, North Pike students bested the state average proficient and advanced levels on every test, with the exception of fourth-grade math.
At North Pike Elementary, 63 percent of third-graders scored at the proficient level or better on the state’s language arts test. The state average was 51 percent.
In math, 77 percent of the third- graders scored at proficient or better. The state average was 58 percent.
Fifty-three percent of the fourth-graders scored proficient or better in language arts, while the state average was 50 percent.
In math, 52 percent of the fourth-graders performed at proficient or better. The state average was 55 percent scoring basic or better.
Cox credits the elementary school’s success to the working relationship between the staff and the school’s administration, and strong parental support.
“I think the No. 1 factor in student achievement is the teacher,” North Pike Elementary Principal Bobbi Jayne Dunn said. “I can say that we have very competent teachers who are eager to learn. They don’t just get in a classroom and just get comfortable there; they’re eager to learn. Anytime we change programs, we try to make sure they have the best training we can get them … they always want to learn more.”
Dunn said teachers at each grade level meet weekly and do their lesson plans together, “and they feed off each other. They make suggestions (and) work together to take it to the next level. If they’re having trouble in a particular area, they’ll pitch in and help one another that way, too.”
She said the school has a good combination of experienced, veteran teachers and younger teachers. A younger teacher may learn from an older teacher how to handle a particular situation with a student, while an older teacher may learn a new teaching strategy from a younger teacher.
The second factor, Dunn said, is the school’s parental support.
The third factor is the administration.
“We do everything we can to to support the total package, and we give them the programs, the resources, the supplies. … We try to create an atmosphere for learning — for teaching and learning,” Dunn said.
Concerning the children who are not working at the proper level, she said the school staff works to get them into programs that will improve their skills.
The first step, she said, is to identify those children.
“I know a lot of people don’t like No Child Left Behind,” she said, “but one of the good pieces of No Child Left Behind was that it made us look at every single child more closely than we did before, and that helps us identify exactly where each student is performing.”
Some of the students, Dunn said, may need intervention programs where they receive more specialized instruction. She said all the students are screened three times a year to assess their improvement. Students receiving extra help are assessed weekly.
“We don’t just wait on the MCT2,” she said, adding that the assessments the teachers and administration perform during the year helps, “because we know before the MCT2s where our strengths and weaknesses are.”
The development of the teachers, coupled with programs like the character education program the school created, have helped the teachers and the students.
North Pike Middle School
With one exception, North Pike Middle School students scored below the state average in the MCT2. The scores mark the second year that the students in grades 5 through 8 scored below the state score. The exception was in language arts, where North Pike eighth-graders scored above the state mean score.
There were, however, some good spots.
Fifth- and eighth-graders did better than the state average in the groups scoring at basic or better in language arts, and the seventh- and eighth-graders did better than the state for students scoring basic and above in math.
With the exception of eighth-grade language, none of the middle school grades scored at or above the state average of student scoring proficient or better.
In language arts, 42 percent of North Pike fifth-graders scored at proficient or better, compared with 48 percent statewide.
Thirty-four percent of sixth-graders scored proficient or better, compared with 45 percent statewide.
Forty-one percent of seventh-graders scored proficient or better, compared with 43 statewide.
Forty-six percent of eighth-graders scored proficient or better, as opposed to 44 percent statewide.
In math, 50 percent of North Pike’s fifth-graders scored proficient or better, compared with 52 percent statewide.
Forty-four percent of the sixth-graders scored proficient or better, compared with 52 percent statewide.
Fifty percent of the school district’s seventh-graders scored at proficient or better — the same as the state average for seventh grade.
In the eighth grade, 43 percent scored proficient or better, compared with 49 percent statewide.
Rushing said middle school officials have begun remedial programs this year to help students.
“We started the school year with a new program, and we’re working with kids who need further intensive intervention outside the classroom,” he said. “We’re real excited that we’ve got a new computer lab with 15 computers devoted to helping kids with remediation.”
Rushing said teachers are having to do more on a daily basis to improve students’ skills and critical thinking.
Another aid, he said, is the school system’s Web site, which allows parents access to a grades and class assignments.
“They don’t have to wait until the report cards come home, they can check the student’s grades on line,” he said. “It allows the parents to communicate and work with the teachers. They can see what the child is learning and watch their progress.”
Rushing said other changes also will help improve the students’ performance. One is the addition of Algebra I, which is available to qualified eighth-graders, and pre-algebra in the seventh grade.
In fifth and sixth grades, he said, the school offers an accelerated math program for some students, and a tutoring software called Compass.
Rushing said middle school officials will test students in January to see how well the students have improved their skills.
North Pike High School
Although North Pike High students scored below the state average in U.S. history and biology, the students scored at or above the state average for students scoring at basic and above.
With the exception of English II, the high school had a higher percentage of students passing the Subject Area Tests than the state average.
In English II, 69.2 percent of the high school’s students passed, compared with 69.7 percent state wide.
In U.S. history, 89 percent of North Pike High’s students scored basic or better — the same number as the statewide average.
In biology, 85 percent scored at basic and above as opposed to 82 percent statewide.
In Algebra I, 91 percent of the students scored at basic or better, compared with 86 percent statewide, while 83 percent scored at basic or better in English II, compared with 82 percent statewide.
“We were down a little in U.S. history, but I’m pleased with the scores in Algebra I and biology,” North Pike High Principal Darryl Brock said. “Overall, I’m pleased with the scores. … We try each year to tweak the curriculum to see what we need to enhance our programs. We’re working constantly; we want to improve.”
Brock said the students who are not at level are being helped with programs and tutoring. He said the school has computer programs and books that have helped the faculty to better educate the students.
“We did not get to see the test scores before school began, but we already had some things in place,” he said. “We knew what we wanted to do and in which direction we wanted to head. We looked at what we were doing and the test score results, and changed the things we needed to change. We got input from our teachers to help us guide the curriculum.”
In language arts, 42 percent of North Pike fifth-graders scored at proficient or better, compared with 48 percent statewide.
Thirty-four percent of sixth-graders scored proficient or better, compared with 45 percent statewide.
Forty-one percent of seventh-graders score proficient or better, compared with 43 statewide.
Forty-six percent of eighth-graders scored proficient or better, as opposed to 44 percent statewide.
In math, 50 percent of North Pike’s fifth-graders scored proficient or better, compared with 52 percent statewide.
Forty-four percent of the sixth- graders scored proficient or better, compared with 52 percent statewide.
Fifty percent of the school district’s seventh-graders scored at proficient or better — the same as the state average for seventh grade.
In the eighth-grade, 43 percent scored proficient or better, compared with 49 percent statewide.
Rushing said middle school officials have begun remedial programs this year to help students.
“We started the school year with a new program, and we’re working with kids who need further intensive intervention outside the classroom,” he said. “We’re real excited that we’ve got a new computer lab with 15 computers devoted to helping kids with remediation.”
Rushing said teachers are having to do more on a daily basis to improve students’ skills and critical thinking.
Another aid, he said, is the school system’s Web site, which allows parents access to a grades and class assignments.
“They don’t have to wait until the report cards come home, they can check the student’s grades on line,” he said. “It allows the parents to communicate and work with the teachers. They can see what the child is learning and watch their progress.”
Rushing said other changes also will help improve the students’ performance. One is the addition of Algebra I, which is available to qualified eighth-graders, and pre-algebra in the seventh grade.
In fifth- and sixth-grades, he said, the school offers an accelerated math program for some students, and a tutoring software called Compass.
Rushing said middle school officials will test the students in January to see how well the students have improved their skills.
North Pike High School
Although North Pike High students scored below the state average in U.S. history and biology, the students scored at or above the state average for students scoring at basic and above.
With the exception of English II, the high school had a higher percentage of students passing the Subject Area Tests than the state average.
In English II, 69.2 percent of the high school’s students taking the test passed, compared with 69.7 percent state wide.
In U.S. history, 89 percent of North Pike High’s students taking the test scored basic or better — the same number as the statewide average.
In biology, 85 percent scored at basic and above as opposed to 82 percent statewide.
In Algebra I, 91 percent of the students scored at basic or better, compared with 86 percent statewide, while 83 percent scored at basic or better in English II, compared with 82 percent statewide.
“We were down a little in U.S. history, but I’m pleased with the scores in Algebra I and biology,” North Pike High Principal Darryl Brock said. “Overall, I’m pleased with the scores. … We try each year to tweak the curriculum to see what we need to enhance our programs. We’re working constantly; we want to improve.”
Brock said the students who are not at level are being helped with programs and tutoring. He said the school has computer programs and books that have helped the faculty to better educate the students.
“We did not get to see the test scores before school began, but we already had some things in place,” he said. “We knew what we wanted to do and in which direction we wanted to head. We looked at what we were doing and the test score results, and changed the things we needed to change. We got input from our teachers to help us guide the curriculum.”
