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Classroom support key to improved test grades for students in Hernando schools

 
Teacher Ed Finch touted enhancement programs’ effectiveness.
Teacher Ed Finch touted enhancement programs’ effectiveness.
Published July 2, 2015

BROOKSVILLE — Hernando County students generally performed well on this year's statewide standard tests, according to a recent, limited release of results, including on science, U.S. history and civics end-of-course exams.

And one of the most notable results shows the effectiveness of programs that support and enhance classroom lessons, said Ed Finch, a math and science coach at Eastside Elementary School.

The percentage of fifth-graders at Eastside receiving passing grades on the science test jumped from 30 percent at the end of 2014 to 64 percent this year.

The district as a whole showed a 4 percent increase in students passing that test, and the passage rate in Hernando was 4 percentage points higher than for the entire state.

The passage rate for high school students taking the U.S. History end-of-course exam increased by 3 percentage points and was also higher than the state average, according to district spokesman Eric Williams.

And while 20 percent of third-graders across the state received the lowest scores on the language arts test, the percentage of failing students in Hernando was only 14 percent.

Especially encouraging, Williams said, was that some of the biggest gains came at schools such as Eastside, Westside and Pine Grove elementary schools, which have struggled in recent years.

Eastside, which received an F from state at the end of the 2012-13 school year, raised its grade to a high C the following year. Despite the improvement, Finch said, performance on the science test was negligible.

For the 2014-15 year, a new teacher, Wanda Bailey, took on the role of science specials teacher, meaning she taught science labs and was able to give all fifth-grader classes one week of lab instruction every month.

Finch, who previously had been just a math coach, took on the added duty of science coach and worked to make sure the labs reinforced science lessons being taught by classroom teachers.

Bailey "coordinated with me to make sure that what she was doing correlated with what was going on in class, and that it also correlated to the state standards (that would appear on tests)," Finch said.

Younger students also now receive time in the lab, Finch said, meaning they acquire more knowledge and will be better prepared for tests in the future.

"I feel as if we've laid a lot of groundwork, and as the students move from grade level to grade level, their understanding of science will be that much greater because of the programs we've put in place," he said.

Both Eastside and Fox Chapel Middle School, which by the end of the 2012-13 school year had received two straight D's, have since benefited from extra coaching positions funded by the district. Superintendent Lori Romano had hoped to keep some of the jobs in place, despite the improving performance at the schools, Williams said, but will not be able to because of the district's estimated $6.3 million budget shortfall. Finch, whose position is funded with federal money, will return to Eastside for the 2015-16 school year.

Also, the district cannot fund extra district-level coaches who could have given assistance to other struggling schools, such as Westside Elementary and Pine Grove, both of which received D's for the 2013-14 school year.

The percentage of students passing the science test at Pine Grove increased by 24 points and at Westside by 15 points.

Not all of the testing news was good. For example, districtwide passage rates for Biology 1 end-of-course exams dropped by 5 percentage points to a rate 1 point lower than the statewide rate.

The results from most of the new Florida Standards Assessments exams have been delayed for several months because of concerns about their validity. Also, the school grades, which are based on these tests, will not carry the same consequences for schools and students as in previous years.

Contact Dan DeWitt at ddewitt@tampabay.com; follow @ddewitttimes.