On a night when it faced the grim results of state testing for math and English in grades 3-8, the Columbus Municipal School District Board of Trustees were presented with some more encouraging news on several other fronts during its regular board meeting Monday.
That included the success of its dual enrollment program at Mississippi University for Women and East Mississippi Community College, the announcement of its Read-Right-Run Marathon and the case of a student “caught in the act.”
The good news was needed as the board considered the results of the first assessment of its progress under its Common Core curriculum, which has been phased into the state’s K-12 public schools for the past five years. The results of the test, administered by the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), showed the district performed well below state average in both the math and English assessments in all grades, with less than half of its students scoring at the “adequate understanding” level or higher.
The results of the tests, which were taken during the spring 2015 term, were released Dec. 17. Monday was the first board meeting since the complete school-by-school results were released.
CMSD Superintendent Dr. Philip Hickman addressed the results first by noting that before you can move ahead, you have to quit moving backward.
“One thing we can point to as a sign of progress is that we have greatly reduced the amount of negative outcomes since the fall,” Hickman said. “We had a situation where some students were actually going backward during the course of the school year. But when we looked at our results this year, we find that we’ve reversed that. Students are making progress. Obviously, it’s not the rate of progress we need. If we are going to catch up, we’re going to have to improve at double, maybe triple the rate.”
Hickman said one of the key components in making up the ground will be finding a way to increase instructional time, noting that when time for changing classes, lunch and recess are taken into account, students have five to five-and-a-half hours in the classroom
“When you’re facing this kind of situation, the only thing you do have is time,” Hickman said. “If we can add just 45 minutes of instructional time, it amounts to giving students an extra year in the classroom (over 12 years of school).
“This is something that didn’t happen overnight,” Hickman said. “It won’t change overnight, either. But it will change.”
Dual enrollment
On a brighter note, Columbus High School students in dual enrollment programs at MUW and EMCC are doing well. Of the 58 students enrolled in college level courses at EMCC, 56 remained in the program at the end of the semester. Of those 56 students, 44 had a 3.0 grade point average by semester’s end, including 23 with a 4.0 GPA in those classes.
Of the 42 students participating in the dual enrollment program at MUW, 39 remained in the program by semester’s end. With 32 of those students earning a 3.0 GPA or better. Fourteen students had a 4.0 GPA in those programs.
“That means 95 percent of the students who enrolled are doing well in those programs,” Hickman noted. “Nationally, 70 percent of college freshmen have to take remedial course work, so here we have juniors and seniors in high school who are successful in college-level courses. That’s exceptional.”
The board also got an update on the district’s plans for a Read-Right-Run Marathon, which will read 26 books, perform 26 acts of kindness and run 26 miles by April 1.
The district is asking the community to participate in the program, both through sponsorships and by taking on the challenge themselves.
At 5:30 p.m. on April 22, the district will celebrate the results of the program with a 5K walk/run to be held at the Columbus Riverwalk.
Elementary student recognized
In the “acts of kindness” category, Hector Taverez may already have a head start.
Taverez, an 11-year-old student at Joe Cook Elementary, was acknowledged by the board at the beginning of Monday’s meeting under the agenda item “student caught in the act.”
Last semester, after school on a day in was raining heavily, Taverez noticed that a classmate couldn’t get into his home. Taverez called his school secretary to ask if the school could try to contact the student’s parents and asked if he could invite the student in his home until the child’s parents arrived.
“Hector showed great character in what he did,” Hickman said. “He acted responsibly, not in just seeing a fellow student in need, but by his actions.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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