Former KU Great Visits Trojan
By Jeff Gulley
Trojan Elementary students had heard the message before about the state assessment tests. Eat a good breakfast, take your time and do your best. But when that message was delivered by former Kansas University basketball player and world champion NBA player, it may just have sunk in a little deeper.
Jayhawks great Wayne Simien was at Trojan Elementary Thursday to encourage students to do their best on the state assesment and give some advice for reaching their goals. Simien played on the Jayhawks team that won three Big 12 titles and advanced to two final fours and was a member of the Miami Heat’s world championship team.
Simien’s talk came while students were gearing up for the most intense part of state testing.
The testing window for Kansas students is Feb. 16 through May 6 which was extended because of the number of snow days.
According to director of student improvement, Susan Gorman, said there will be only eight days in the time period where no student is testing.
Encouragement from celebrities like Simien, who promised to join the Trojan kids for a bowling party in Lawrence if testing goals were met, is only a part of the effort the district is making to keep up with the adequate yearly progress goals established by the No Child Left Behind act. Smaller class sizes with a emphasis on continuing improvement to curriculum, instruction and support services has also been cited as points of emphasis.
In 2010, district schools won several Standard of Excellence awards. The award is based on the number of students who exceed standards or score “exemplary” on the reading and math assessments.
* Trojan Elementary School received a building-wide Standard of Excellence in math, the fifth grade received SOE awards in math and reading and the third grade received an SOE in math.
* Osawatomie Middle School received a building-wide SOE in reading, while the eighth, seventh and sixth grades all received SOE awards in reading.
* Osawatomie High School received building-wide SOE awards in reading and math.
At OHS, 88.1 percent of students met the reading standard, 5 percent above the required 83.1 percent. And 91.4 percent of students met the math standard, nearly 17 percent above the required 76.4 percent.
The district saw 84.2 percent of OMS students meet the reading standard, topping the 83.7 percent requirement. In math, 70.7 percent of OMS students met the standard, which was below the required 82.3 percent. The middle school was not placed on “needs improvement” status.
At Trojan Elementary, 86.3 percent of students met the reading standard, above the required 83.7 percent. And in math, 90.9 percent of students met the standard, well above the required 82.3 percent.
This year, Osawatomie teachers will administer 4,503 testing sessions before May 6.
Grades 3-8 and 10th will take reading and math assessments with three sessions for each students. Ninth-grade students will test in geometry.
Grades 4-7 with have two session of science testing. Ninth grade will have one session of physical science, 10th grade one session of life science and 11th grade will take one session of physical science and a session of world history.
Short URL: http://osawatominews.com/?p=988
Posted by admin
on Mar 9 2011. Filed under News and Updates, Photo Galleries.
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