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Hartselle Enquirer

HCS ranks high in Aspire

Schools take proactive approach to testing

Hartselle City Schools’ scores on the ACT Aspire might be below the standard this year, but they still rank as some of the best in Alabama.

According to data released by the Alabama Department of Education and an analysis of statewide scores by the Hartselle Enquirer, the school system has an average rank of 14.8 among the math and reading scores from third through eighth grades.

The highest ranking coming in eighth grade reading at seventh overall with 67.8 percent of students achieving or exceeding the test’s standards and a low of 28th in fifth grade reading with 40.24 percent of students achieving or exceeding the test’s standards. However, all of the scores well exceeded the state’s proficiency scores.

Assistant School Superintendent Dr. Nancy Horton said this year’s scores are a benchmark for the future, but they shouldn’t be compared to previous proficiency scores.

“This is the first year that we’ve taken this test,” Horton said. “There is no baseline for comparison. Our scores are very similar to schools systems our size. We think we will show improvement next year.”

Horton said the school system received the scores in the fall of 2014 along with detailed information, but the state department of education didn’t release all of the test data until last week. She said they used the data to see what skills that students missed so that they can help the students in those areas.

However, Hartselle schools aren’t waiting on the next ACT Aspire test this spring to see if their students are missing concepts. Horton said teachers are administering tests between ACT tests to see if students have grasped concepts that should have been taught over each grading period.

“We want to know if our students are getting what they are supposed to be learning, according to the course of study,” Horton said. “Our teachers are using sample test questions from the ACT Aspire to test our students to see if they are getting the concepts that they were supposed to learn. If they don’t get it, then we find out what went wrong.

“Did everyone miss it? Was it something that we didn’t get to because we ran out of time? Was something wrong with the question? After we answer those questions, then we determine whether or not we need remediation as a class or individually.

“If one class got it and another one didn’t, then the teachers might swap classes so that class can get the concept while the other teacher takes that class and teaches another subject. If only a few students missed it, then we might pull them out of the class so we can work with them one-on-one.”

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