\doc\web\99\09\belltest.txt Highlights from A.G. Bell Elementary Annual Report 1998-1999 Homepage: http://wwwbel.lkwashwednet.edu * BLUE RIBBON AWARD * BRACE FOR INVENTED MATH * BRACE OBE REPORT CARD * 90TH PERCENTILE KINDERGARTEN READERS AFTER 45 MIN HOMEORK EVERY NIGHT, DEEMED SUCCESS *** Blue Ribbon Schools: The big news at A.G. Bell this year is being named a "Blue Ribbon School" in the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program. A team of 18 staff, aprents, and community members developed out application, and A.G. Bell was selected as one of eight elementary schools in Washington to receive this honor at the state level. National there wer 470 schools recognized at this level. From that group, 269 wchools were slected to have a site visit. In March, a site visitor came to our school for two days. She met with parents, teachers, specialists, and support staff, as well as the Superintendent and School Board president. We all enhoyed her visit and were very excited to be chosen for this honor. The announcement of the schools that recieved the National Blue Ribbon Schools Award was made May 20. We are planning a celebration for our school community on June 18, the last full day of school. All members of the A.G. Bell family will be invited, including former staff and principals. We hope that many of you will be able to join us. Curriculum Work Teams: Our four curriculum work teams have developed a set of tentative goals for next year in the areas of math, reading, assesment, and technology. *** We will be implementing a new math series, recently adopted by the Lake Washington School District [Dale Seymour's "Investigations" series rated "F" = unacceptable by Mathematically Correct based on "invented" mathematics that doesn't teach how to add 33 + 88, object of parent revolt in Plano TX] Teachers will receive training throughout the year. *** Our Primary Reading Project will continue in kindergarten, first and second grades [that's giving kindergarteners 45 min worth of homework, flashcards, and books to do every night to read at a 1.5 grade level fluently] with the goal of extending new strategies into third and fourth grade classes. We want all A.G. Bell students to be successful in math and reading! *** The new district report card will be piloted in classrooms at our school next year [This card is even worse than the one adopted by Federal Way that resulted in a widely publicized parents revolt in 1998-99] Test scores: This year students in grades 2, 3, 5, and 6 took the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) in the spring. Fourth graders again took the Washington Assessent of Student Learning (WASL). Scores for our third graders arrived before the end of the school and are listed below: Reading: 53 Math: 62 Reading / Math Composite 58 Language 49 Core (Reading Math Language) 53 All of these scores except language are above the national average which is 50 for all subtests. Test results for other levels will be available to parents in the late spring or early fall, depending on the time of their return from the scoring companies. *** In the Primary Reading Project, we saw large gains in our students' proficiency in reading. Standardized tests were given in kindergarten and second grade. In kindergarten, 90% of our students scored above the 80th percentile on their spring testing. [My son eric scored 99th percentile without 45 min of reading homework every night or explicit reading instruction last year, Peter was rated "average" in his teacher recommendation even though he reads at a first grade level, "all the kids are doing it" she explained. At a meeting I thought they had said that results weren't even valid when given to kindergarteners who aren't literate enough to take a standardized test] In the second grade, where we were required to give an individualized reading test to each student, 89% were proficient by the end of the year. We are still waiting for the results of ourpost-testing in second grade on the Stanford Achievement Test, which was given in October and again in May. Student ethnic composition Asian 17.1% Caucasian 74.5% Black 4.3% Hispanic 3.8% NatAm .3% Enrollment Oct 1997 441 students Oct 1998 392 students Per Pupil Expenditure $4,808 for basic education including transportation School Budget Summary This year, our basic budget allocation, based on $102.50 per student was $44,407. These funds were used fo the purchase of instructional materials, office supplies, classroom items, library books, custodial supplies, maintenance contracts, and copier paper. Additional funds outside the building budget are used to cover staffing and substitute costs. Our PTSA again supported field trips with a donation of $2000. Our special programs, including Title I reading and math, district remediation, and special education, were allocated an additional $2940 to cover specialized materials and training for staff members. A.G. Bell generated $11,519 in Student Learning Improvement Grant funds under the House Bill 1209 legislation. These monies are used for staff development and are specificaly directed toward improving student performance in the Essential Learnings identified by the state. Our focus for these funds was on assessment, liberacy, (reading and writing), math and technology. Teacher training in all of these areas was provided throughout the year by combining these resources with district training days. *** One of our special projects this year was the K-2 Reading Pilot in which we participated with Juanita, Muir, and Keller elementary schools. Funds for tihs project, which inluded substantial teacher training, were provided through district, state and federal sources. [this was the kindergarten reading program from hell] In this year's budget, we carried over approximately $2250 which was raised in prior years to support our Lunch buddy program. We continue to support this program with donations and volunteers. Grade 4 Average Percentile Scores (passing?) on the WASL School Dist State 96-97 97-98 96-97 97-98 96-97 97-98 Reading 50 75 65 75 47 56 Math 15 33 36 47 21 31 Writing 38 34 61 50 42 37 Listening 63 84 74 82 61 71 (school claims to have doubled 4th grade math scores, but the entire state showed 50% inflation of scores, relative to state it went from below to just about equal to average)