Calhoun County third graders showed significant progress in passing the third grade reading gate exam in its second year of existence.
After the first round of testing, only nine out of nearly 200 Calhoun County third graders, five at Calhoun City Elementary and four at Vardaman Elementary, will have to be retested. Last year, 23 students failed to pass on the first round of testing.
The Reading Gate exam was implemented by the state last year in an effort to insure every third grader is on reading level before advancing to the fourth grade.
Raven Hawkins
Bruce Elementary had 100%passing this year, when you include those that qualify for “Good Cause Exemptions” – meaning students with a diagnosed deficiency that excludes them from being held back by the law.
“That is exceptional,” Calhoun Testing Coordinator Raven Hawkins said of the Bruce Elementary results.
Hawkins noted of the five students at CCES that will have to retake the test, four of them scored within a few points of passing on the first try.
“We’re very optimistic that they will pass on the next round,” she said.
The same holds for the four students at VES that will have to be tested again.
“All four were within a passable range, which is remarkable when you consider the Hispanic population there,” Hawkins said of Vardaman.
Among the biggest factors in the improved scores has been the hiring of reading coaches for each school, Hawkins said.
Katie Hill (CCES), Lindsey Hastings (BES) and Jennifer Moore (VES) were added in the new positions for this school year.
“They identified students in the lowest percentiles at every screening (every six to nine weeks) and pulled those students and did extensive interventions with them,” Hawkins said. “Students retested in May are getting extensive intervention now, building on vocabulary terms and other needs.”
“I can’t overstate the importance of having a reading coach at each school instead of principals having to focus on this,” Hawkins said. “We don’t have elementary school counselors, so principals have to focus on so many administrative duties. It’s difficult for them to effectively navigate instruction on a daily basis and solely focus on this reading gate that is a high stakes test. Our reading coaches played a vital role in having a high passing rate. I hope there’s a way we can keep them.”
Hawkins also praised teachers’ efforts to help students become more familiar with the computer testing format.
“It’s such a disservice to students who don’t have a computer at home or get to use one regularly,” Hawkins said of the computerized testing process.
“With our socio-economic status, it is impeccable the amount of promotion we already have,” Hawkins said. “We have already fared better than most and that’s a credit to our teachers.”
Hawkins also suggested improved parental involvement was a key factor.
“We had a high turnout of parents at third grade meetings this year,” she said. “I think parents have been made more aware, not just by us, but by the media, of the importance of these tests and we got a lot more parental involvement this year. That’s important.”
This school year was the last in which the Reading Gate test will be the sole right to passage to fourth grade. Starting next year, a second state test to gauge proficiency in math and reading/language arts will be given first. If students score proficient on that test, they won’t have to take the Reading Gate exam.
“Having two different assessments to help students that might be better in different areas, I think that’s a positive,” Hawkins said.
She noted “environmental factors” such as illness, or something happening in the home can challenge a student’s testing ability on any given day.
“This provides more opportunity for success, which I think is a good thing,” Hawkins said.
Both of the tests will be computerized, but in different formats.
“That may be beneficial to some students that perform better in different formats,” Hawkins said.