Wednesday, July 30, 2008
When the first round of state test results for the Newton Street School came back in late June, the teachers double-checked the numbers, then triple-checked. No mistake: The scores were up.
Relief turned to satisfaction that Newton was not just another failing school with low test scores. This time, nearly 80 percent of its fourth graders had passed math, 69 percent language arts, and 77 percent science, all double-digit increases from the previous year, and one of the biggest overall gains in the Newark school system. The third-grade scores also rose, with 56 percent passing math and 67 percent language arts (there is no third-grade science test).
Buried beneath the numbers were hard-won victories by students like Hakim McKenzie, 10, who repeated third grade this year. Hakim failed the math test last year because he did not understand the questions, stumped by words like “estimate” and “reduce.” This year, he not only passed math but also scored high enough to earn an “advanced proficient” designation.
“It’s the first thing I’ve been good at,” said Hakim, a shy boy with a toothy grin who has earned the nickname Little Teacher among his classmates because he helps them with math homework. “My friends say, ‘How did you get that good in math?’ I say that I use books and my teacher, Mr. Kilgore, helps me. I feel like I’ve achieved something really good.”
The rising test scores highlight a year of ambitious change at Newton that has succeeded in restoring pride and hope to a beleaguered school, one that had been worn down by academic setbacks and buffeted by street violence just outside its doors. Newton, with 500 students in prekindergarten through eighth grade, has faced the increasing likelihood of being shut down or overhauled after failing to meet federal testing benchmarks under the No Child Left Behind Act for seven consecutive years.
Whether this is the year that Newton finally passes will not be known until August, when the results for grades five through eight of the all-important state test, called the NJ ASK, will be released. But there are still many hurdles ahead. Test scores typically drop in the middle grades, and could wipe out gains among third and fourth graders. Moreover, even with the rising scores in those grades, a sizable number of Newton students have still not mastered minimum basic skills.
On top of that, the State Board of Education last week decided to raise the bar on what it will consider a passing score — or the proficient ranking — on the tests for fifth through eighth graders taken in the spring.
For now, though, Newton pupils and teachers are savoring their moment. “I’m happy with the results, but I’m looking for greater results,” said Willie Thomas, 65, the principal for more than three decades. “It feels good when people say, ‘Did you see Newton’s scores?’ It feels good and it also feels strange.”
As the school year wound down last month, Newton’s third and fourth graders were feted like Olympians. They were applauded at a school assembly, presented with certificates— even those who did not pass received a certificate for effort — and excused from class for a “mini-field day” of relay races and games on the playground. During a celebration in the cafeteria, teachers passed out juice boxes and cut into two Costco sheet cakes decorated with a trophy and a “#1.”
“We are almost at 100 percent,” one fourth-grade teacher told the 60 or so students gathered around the metal picnic tables. “You all need to really scream about that because I’m so excited.”
The students roared back at her, their high-pitched voices reverberating down the hall.
The Newton experiment began last September after Mr. Thomas, under pressure from the lagging test scores, struck a partnership with the influential Newark Teachers Union and Seton Hall University to remake the school. Although the state has oversight of the Newark school district, Newton was given leeway to form a governance committee consisting of representatives of the teachers’ union and Seton Hall, along with district and state education officials, to approve daily operations ranging from intercom repairs to academic policies and teacher hiring.
The so-called new Newton, which has been touted as a model for education reform, not only raised the school’s profile within the district but also freed it from the usual bureaucracy and paperwork that dictate school life, Newton teachers and administrators said. With the support of the union, Newton was able to replace 6 of its 44 teachers, a turnaround for a place that had once been known as a “training ground,” of sorts, for teachers who failed in other schools. It also extended the school day by an hour for the middle grades.
Richard Perry/The New York Times
Relief turned to satisfaction that Newton was not just another failing school with low test scores. This time, nearly 80 percent of its fourth graders had passed math, 69 percent language arts, and 77 percent science, all double-digit increases from the previous year, and one of the biggest overall gains in the Newark school system. The third-grade scores also rose, with 56 percent passing math and 67 percent language arts (there is no third-grade science test).
Buried beneath the numbers were hard-won victories by students like Hakim McKenzie, 10, who repeated third grade this year. Hakim failed the math test last year because he did not understand the questions, stumped by words like “estimate” and “reduce.” This year, he not only passed math but also scored high enough to earn an “advanced proficient” designation.
“It’s the first thing I’ve been good at,” said Hakim, a shy boy with a toothy grin who has earned the nickname Little Teacher among his classmates because he helps them with math homework. “My friends say, ‘How did you get that good in math?’ I say that I use books and my teacher, Mr. Kilgore, helps me. I feel like I’ve achieved something really good.”
The rising test scores highlight a year of ambitious change at Newton that has succeeded in restoring pride and hope to a beleaguered school, one that had been worn down by academic setbacks and buffeted by street violence just outside its doors. Newton, with 500 students in prekindergarten through eighth grade, has faced the increasing likelihood of being shut down or overhauled after failing to meet federal testing benchmarks under the No Child Left Behind Act for seven consecutive years.
Whether this is the year that Newton finally passes will not be known until August, when the results for grades five through eight of the all-important state test, called the NJ ASK, will be released. But there are still many hurdles ahead. Test scores typically drop in the middle grades, and could wipe out gains among third and fourth graders. Moreover, even with the rising scores in those grades, a sizable number of Newton students have still not mastered minimum basic skills.
On top of that, the State Board of Education last week decided to raise the bar on what it will consider a passing score — or the proficient ranking — on the tests for fifth through eighth graders taken in the spring.
For now, though, Newton pupils and teachers are savoring their moment. “I’m happy with the results, but I’m looking for greater results,” said Willie Thomas, 65, the principal for more than three decades. “It feels good when people say, ‘Did you see Newton’s scores?’ It feels good and it also feels strange.”
As the school year wound down last month, Newton’s third and fourth graders were feted like Olympians. They were applauded at a school assembly, presented with certificates— even those who did not pass received a certificate for effort — and excused from class for a “mini-field day” of relay races and games on the playground. During a celebration in the cafeteria, teachers passed out juice boxes and cut into two Costco sheet cakes decorated with a trophy and a “#1.”
“We are almost at 100 percent,” one fourth-grade teacher told the 60 or so students gathered around the metal picnic tables. “You all need to really scream about that because I’m so excited.”
The students roared back at her, their high-pitched voices reverberating down the hall.
The Newton experiment began last September after Mr. Thomas, under pressure from the lagging test scores, struck a partnership with the influential Newark Teachers Union and Seton Hall University to remake the school. Although the state has oversight of the Newark school district, Newton was given leeway to form a governance committee consisting of representatives of the teachers’ union and Seton Hall, along with district and state education officials, to approve daily operations ranging from intercom repairs to academic policies and teacher hiring.
The so-called new Newton, which has been touted as a model for education reform, not only raised the school’s profile within the district but also freed it from the usual bureaucracy and paperwork that dictate school life, Newton teachers and administrators said. With the support of the union, Newton was able to replace 6 of its 44 teachers, a turnaround for a place that had once been known as a “training ground,” of sorts, for teachers who failed in other schools. It also extended the school day by an hour for the middle grades.
Richard Perry/The New York Times
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