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PV School and Administrators Gratified by ELA Results
Laptops expected to increase students’ literacy
by Margaret Sternberg
The highly anticipated presentation of the results of the Grades 4 and 8 ELA tests did not disappoint the board and most members of the audience at the May 19 meeting of the Putnam Valley Board of Education.
Dr. Barbara Fuchs, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, said the 4th grade ELA results for 2005 showed that 81% of students had scored at proficiency and beyond, as compared with 61% the prior year. Eighth grade ELA for the current year showed 60% at proficiency and beyond versus 56% in 2004. State data for the 8th grade ELA for 2004 had 47% at that level.
New Trustee-elect Marie T. Zarcone questioned the 4% increase in the 8th grade scores versus money spent for laptops. Fuchs replied the laptops would provide the means for students to increase their literacy, while Board President Tina Mackay noted the tests were taken before the laptop introduction. On a statewide basis, Fuchs added, middle school students have not done as well as elementary school students. Fuchs said the laptops will help differentiate instruction and "help put the mindset into our students that they need to go back" to review passages of reading with which they may have had difficulty. Fuchs also detailed faculty focus-type groups that identify and analyze areas of need among students and remedies, such as changing instruction, based upon a large number of students answering questions incorrectly.
Fuchs attributed the ELA increases to the analysis of individual and group student skill needs in the beginning of and throughout the school year; a writing and reading focus throughout the elementary school, and the "reading and writing project;" electronic mapping of the curriculum in K-12, and a "study skills/instructional strategies" curriculum in place in grades 3, 4 and 8.
Fuchs, in discussing the tests on a general basis, noted that everything the school does will focus on being "literacy-based," including the use of the laptops. Fuchs disputed assertions the school is "teaching to the test," saying that, "we are teaching to the standards and performance indicators NYS has defined to us."
Edelman also announced the completion of this year’s testing at the elementary school; she added they are in the process of scoring.
In other announcements, Elementary School Principal Jamie Edelman said the Teachers’ College at Columbia University Institutes for Reading had not accepted most of the Putnam Valley teachers who had applied for this summer’s program. The program is viewed as an important adjunct in improving the teachers’ abilities to teach reading and writing. Edelman was unsure why most had been rejected, speculating that having 22 teachers apply may have worked against the school, or that there may have been a generally overwhelming response. Edelman said that she was hoping this summer to put on "a local institute" using an organization that is a spin-off from Teachers’ College. The organization will craft a program that specifically meets Putnam Valley’s needs.
Middle School Principal Ed Hallisey gave an update of the laptop program, saying the laptops had been "deployed April 1 without a hitch," preceded on March 30 with an orientation for the students of the school’s expectations on their proper use. Hallisey said that representatives from Apple Computer said, "it was the most successful deployment they had seen." Laptops are expected to be sent home before the end of the school year, and this year’s seventh graders (next year’s eighth graders) will have the laptops from the beginning of the 2005-6 school year and will be able to take them home. Seventh graders of the 2005-6 school year will receive laptops in October.
In the final presentation of the meeting, Nick Bellantoni, Director of Operations, reported the additional baseball fencing has gone up with 12 foot increases on the sides, and a 28 foot increase in the backstop. He noted the scoreboard was a result of the Putnam Valley Girls’ Soccer team fundraising.
The board approved a number of resolutions, including acceptance of the final vote tally for the May 17, 2005 budget vote and board election; and the approval of the appointment of an additional coach/stipend for the 2005 spring season.
Additionally, the board approved the 2005-6 lunch budget of $425,000; approved a resolution to join the Putnam County Storm Water Sewer System; retained Tryana Development Corporation as Clerk of the Works for its capital project consisting of renovations to the elementary and middle schools, and approved contracts for Health and Welfare Services to be provided to resident students of Putnam Valley attending the following: five students in the White Plains School District at $651.60 per student ($3,258.00); 13 students in the Yorktown District at $617.45 per student (($8,026.85), and two students in the Mahopac District at $597.00 per student ($1,194.00).
Superintendent Gary Tutty, commenting on the recent vote, said he had been surprised more people hadn’t voted. He also clarified comments that had been distilled in another newspaper. Asked whether he felt the budget having been passed by one vote had given him a mandate, he said that whether the budget passed by one or one thousand votes, "it’s still our job to try to do the best job we can and still try to save the taxpayers money - to spend their money correctly. It’s the same mandate every year, whether you lose, just win, just lose, or lose big."
The next meeting of the Putnam Valley Board of Education will take place Thursday, June 9, at 7 pm in the high school cafeteria and will feature a work session and a business meeting.
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