NC school board told that district’s ACT scores are above state average

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette WBRT Radio

Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015 — The ACT scores at the county school two high schools may not match the gains of the 2014-15 year, but they continue to indicate steady progress.

Members of the Nelson County Schools board of education stand with the August “Expect the Best” award winners. From left, Jamie Russell (certified staff member from Foster Heights Elementary); Brooke Dadisman (volunteer parent at Cox’s Creek Elementary); Sydni Rust (seventh-grader at New Haven); and David Coulter (classified staff). Click to enlarge.

That was the message Kim Brown, director of the Nelson County Schools’ secondary schools, had for the Nelson County board of education at its meeting Tuesday night.

The district’s juniors took the ACT test in March of this year, and all scores were above the state averages.

The district scored 19.5 on the English test (the state average was 19); the district’s math score was 19.0 (the state average was 18.8); the district reading test score was 19.9, slightly higher than the 19.8 state average. In science, the district scored 19.5 compared to the state 19.3 average.

The district’s composite ACT score was 19.6 compared to the 19.4 state composite score.

In comparison, the benchmark scores set by ACT are 18 on the English test, 22 on the math test, 22 on the reading test and 23 on the science test.

Board member Diane Breeding asked Brown why the district ACT scores — while higher than the state average scores — were in some cases lower than last year’s scores.

Brown said there are normal fluctuations in testing, and changes in content requirements can have an impact on test scores.

“When you have those changes, you’re always going to have fluctuations. We can expect this to level out … teachers are more aware of the standards and are more targeted toward the learning,” she said.

Board member Diane Berry said that some classes coming up through the grades just test differently than others.

Tim Hockensmith, the district’s chief operating officer, reviews the operating budget with the board prior to their approval at Tuesday’s meeting.

“Every five, six, seven years, you have a class that does not do as well as you thought it would,” she said. “When I look at this chart I can forgive the little drop because I know that happens.”

Berry said she had a child in a class whose test scores were lower than the class before, and she had asked the same question Breeding had.

“I don’t want people to think we’ve dropped,” she said. “I’m pleased with the results.”

ELC, TNHS AUDITORIUM PROJECTS. The board approved the BG-2 and BG-3 documents for the Early Learning Center expansion and the Phase III project to add an auditorium at Thomas Nelson High School.

Stephen Ward, an architect with Studio Kremer, told the board that the current plans for the auditorium include a center aisle. The auditorium’s original plans have been altered to make the stage deeper and allow for backstage storage, Ward said. At the board’s request, a center aisle was added to the seating area closest to the stage.

Ward said that after the Kentucky Department of Education reviews the plans for the Early Learning Center project, construction manager BCD will create bid packets for the project.

WORKING BUDGET. Tim Hockensmith, the district’s chief operating officer, presented the board the 2015-16 working budget which it approved. More than 80 percent of the budget goes to employee salary and benefits, he said. He told the board he will finalize the number of teaching positions the district needs and if additional contracts will be needed.

AP, DUAL CREDIT CLASS UPDATE. Brown gave the board updated figures on the number of students taking AP or dual credit classes at NCHS and TNHS.

For the current school years, 317 NCHS students are enrolled in either an AP or dual credit class. At TNHS, 198 seniors and 189 juniors are enrolled in AP or dual credit classes.

In other business, the board:

— received an update on grants from Tom Dekle;

— received an update on KPREP test result preparations, which are embargoed until Oct. 1.

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