At Monday’s USD 489 Board of Education meeting, the board was presented with test results from the state report card in the areas of math, science and reading for the 2012 – 2013 school year.  According to Director of Curriculum Shanna Dinkel, the percentage of students at or above standard exceeds the state average in all three areas.

The test scores also show that the district, as well as the state, saw an increase in the number of students who were below standard for math and reading.

Dinkel told Hays Post that the reason for the change in those two areas is that the district has begun implementing the College and Career Ready (CCR) Standards, while the assessments are based on old standards.  Future assessments will change year over year as the state transitions to the CCR Standards in their testing.

Dinkel says these new standards are designed to teach beyond basic concepts.

“Those standards have more academic rigor to them.  The concept was we’re going to go deeper with the understanding instead of just skimming the surface.  A lot of what’s going to be required, what’s expected of the standards is more cognitive, deeper level learning.”

Part of incorporating the new standards includes a shift in the progression of what is taught at each grade level.  Future assessments will have more true/false, sequencing, and multi-step problem solving skills.  For example, instead of a student choosing the correct graph from a list, the student would have to plot the correct points on a graph to demonstrate understanding of the concepts being tested.

Dinkel said that the new curriculum’s focus on greater depth of knowledge doesn’t mean students will be taught fewer topics. Rather than covering items multiple times (repetition), those topics will taught more on a mastery level to promote understanding.

As the assessments change each year, Dinkel says the district will continue to focus on setting students up for long-term success.

“We will just work with all of these changes and know that change takes time in any transitional phase, and look to continue to expect much from our students because we have great teachers and staff here….Our focus is preparing kids for the future.”