District program helps college-bound seniors

From the Independent Newspaper

District program helps college-bound seniors

Mat-Ab Reg'l H.S. plans for bio-med, arts academies

BY ERIN O. STATTEL Staff Writer

ABERDEEN — Parents and students in the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District can expect to see some changes in the new school year, particularly at the high school.

Seniors who are college bound will be using new software to help narrow down their college searches, said Barbi Siegel, director of student personnel services/assistant principal at Matawan Regional High School.

"Students in grades nine through 12 have access to software called Naviance," Siegel said at the Aug. 25 Board of Educationmeeting. "They were mailed initial passwords for students and parents. The program offers a college search, a scholarship search, a career inventory piece and a personality test to point them toward careers and what schools offer those majors."

During his presentation at the Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Richard O'Malley announced that plans call for the high school to have learning academies that focus on biomedical education and the visual and performing arts.

Margaret DeLuca, director of secondary school accountability, said that the academies would not be in place until the 2009-10 school year.

"We are looking to implement one academy for the biomedical field and an academy for the performing arts field," DeLuca said in an interview last week. "Currently, we have a committee of teachers who are looking into this, and we will be looking at comparable programs in the area to model these on."

DeLuca added that the biomedical academy at Freehold Borough High School is a program that the district would evaluate.

Siegel comes from the East Windsor Regional School District and began working with the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District on July 1.

"I had experience with the program and I will eventually do a demo at a Board of Educationmeeting," Siegel said. "It is currently accessible via the district's Web site."

Siegel said she hopes the program will help students make the right choices and get parents more involved in the college selection process.

"I hope it will get parents more interested, but I also hope it helps students make the right decisions," she said. "For so many students, after a semester away, they are back home and they don't go back to school, so all that money is wasted and so is their potential. You just want to help them make the right decisions."

As part of encouraging college-bound seniors, Siegel held a two-day summer workshop to help high school seniors hone their application skills.

"For two days we taught them how to sign on to Naviance to get a jump-start on using the program," Siegel explained. "I had an English teacher present to help them with college essays, and we had some prep work for them for the SATs and ACT tests."

O'Malley also announced at the meeting that the district would see an emphasis on goals and achievements this year.

During his presentation at the Board of Education meeting, O'Malley cited a number of added educational initiatives for the high school in the upcoming school year.

"We are putting more focus on the standardized tests this year," O'Malley said. "We reviewed [standardized testing] results all summer."

Seniors will begin preparing for the HSPA, or the High School Proficiency Assessment tests, that are mandatory for high school students in the state of New Jersey in September, while the juniors will prepare for them from November through February.

According to the 2006-07 New Jersey School Report Card, Matawan Regional High School pupils achieved approximately 70 percent total proficiency in the mathematics portion of the test. Compared to the results from 2005-06, there was a 10 percent decrease in this area. Students' total proficiency in mathematics was at 80 percent in 2005-06.

O'Malley said that in-class consultants have been hired to aid teachers in teaching material to students and that the district would be developing quarterly assessments.

"We have a pretty rigorous curriculum in place, and we have an aggressive math program now," O'Malley said. "Some districts only go after one, but we are implementing a two-year algebra program and second- year geometry in the middle school."

Resident Joey Warren questioned the superintendent on just how the administration plans to measure students' success with the new goals and curriculum in place.

"I guess I am looking for something measurable, some way for students' success to be measured against these goals," he said during the public comment portion of the meeting.

"You and the state want me to measure them with standardized testing," O'Malley answered. "We will use the HSPAs and AP [advanced placement] classes, and these new academies, too. Kids today want to have a different path of where they want to go. Every kid should and can pass the HSPA. We want everyone to pass and have the opportunity to take AP classes. We want the students to get on the path that will get them to the next step in life."

Erin O. Stattel can be reached at estattel@ gmnews.com.

Matawan-Aberdeen schools try new tests

From the Independent Newspaper

Matawan-Aberdeen schools try new tests
Tests will track progress of students in grades 3-8
BY ERIN O. STATTEL Staff Writer

ABERDEEN - The Board of Education has approved a new computerized student assessment program to be implemented in the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District this fall.

A unanimous vote at the June 30 board meeting will allow a $26,000 program, offered through Northwest Evaluation Assessment, to aid teachers with curriculum development.

"The tests will be administered four times throughout the school year to grades three through eight," explained Richard O'Malley, superintendent of schools. "For the first two weeks of school in September we will be administering the tests."

According to the Web site, the Northwest Evaluation Assessment (NWEA) is a nonprofit organization that partners with school districts and education agencies throughout the country.

The testing NWEA will provide is Measures of Academic Progress, or MAPs. According to the Web site, the assessments are computerized adaptive tests that accurately reflect the instructional level of each student and measure growth over time.

"I have been talking with Dr. O'Malley about exactly how the teacher will implement the assessment into the classroom, and the trend in education is toward differentiation of curriculum to meet children's needs," Board of Education President Patricia Demarest said last week.

"He explained that the results of the assessment will enable the teacher to quickly put the students in groups by the skills areas that they are ready to learn. Having the children already in groups ready to learn skills aligned to state testing should improve instruction by allowing for more time in targeted skill areas."

According to NWEA, the MAPs measure what students have learned during the course of the school year, identify where instruction is lacking, assess academic achievement over time, and place new students into the correct programs.

"I have been researching benchmark tests for a while now," O'Malley said. "I have seen it done elsewhere with success and I like it because it tests the individual on content, showing growth about each individual kid. " When asked if the newassessmentswere in response to the district's scores on other state tests, O'Malley said it was for a reference point.

"I want a good indication of where each kid is instead of us teaching to the test," O'Malley explained. "We need rigorous curriculum with the right instruction and then these tests will help us measure how it is affecting the students. It is like a circle and it shows growth."

Matawan-Aberdeen students' scores on state tests were a cause for concern when parents assembled at a spring Board of Educationmeeting. Since then, the district has made changes in personnel, emphasizing instruction and accountability.

"The NWEA MAPs will cover math and language arts only," O'Malley explained.

Math is one of the subjects that the district is focused on right now, said new Matawan Regional High School Principal Michelle Ruscavage in an interview in June.

"We want our middle school students to take higher-level math classes like an algebra course, so they are better prepared for precalculus and trigonometry," she said. "Hopefully, we can review our entire program curriculum to raise standards across the board."

O'Malley explained that the cost of the test, which will be $26,083 for the district, is approximately $13 a student and includes professional development and technology setup.

Demarest agreed on the efficiency of the tests, adding, "In addition, if a child is going to be taken out for additional help, the data will help determine exactly what skills should be focused on."