Steve Cordle
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Just as students get midterm grades to show their progress, Somerset also has to take midterms. However, it is less of a report card than it is a report to the district from Somerset on what has been happening in the school since the Aug. 31 start date. Like any report of this nature, there was some good news and some not so good news.
During the Monday, Dec. 14 school board meeting, principal Cory Oliver introduced three speakers to address specific areas of Somerset's efforts.
Sherrie Barany- Director of the Exceptional Student Education (ESE) Department, previously called Special Education, spoke first. Barany went over some enrollment data, followed by a discussion of Somerset's initiatives in their action plan.
At the elementary school, the total enrollment is 352 students, with an average daily attendance rate of about 88 percent, including students online. The percent of students with a "D" or "F" in an English Language Arts (ELA) class is 18 percent. The percentage of ESE gifted students and those with a 504 Plan is 22 percent and of that group of students, about 13 percent have a "D" or an "F" in one of the ELA and/or math subject areas. Twelve percent of the elementary students are English Language Learners (ELL) and 17 of them have a "D" or "F" in ELA.
There are 184 students in middle school, with a daily attendance of 69 percent and most are receiving Remote-Live Instruction (RLI). Twenty-two percent of the students have a "D" or "F" in ELA or math.
Some of the good news is in the efforts Somerset has made to help students climb out of the hole that COVID-19 dug for education. The district has added some services for students in the 2020-2021 school year. One of the most significant improvements is that student services is now centralized in one pavilion on campus. According to Barany, the student services office includes the Dean of Discipline, Guidance, Behavior Specialist, SEDNET, Social Worker, ESE teachers and the ESE director. Additionally, Somerset is also working on securing a mental health kiosk in the suite and at the alternative school to support students in immediate crisis. Barany stated that, “The purpose of the centralized student services department is to have the resources readily available for students and families for problem-solving.” For example, if a student receives a disciplinary referral, they may be referred by the Dean to the appropriate staff member who will be able to support them, or convene the problem-solving team to determine the next steps for academic/behavioral planning. SEDNET is the Multiagency Network for Students with Emotional/Behavioral Disabilities (SEDNET) and it creates and facilitates a network of key stakeholders committed to assisting in the provision of a quality system of care for students with or at-risk of emotional and/or behavioral challenges.
On the subject of discipline, this is one element where there has been a great gain. Disciplinary referrels between September and December are down a whopping 76 percent from the same time last year. Even better, suspensions are down 81 percent for the same period. Skeptics might be quick to point to the drop in enrollment and lower attendance due to COVID-19, but in her remarks, Barany said that the students who received the bulk of the suspensions in the 2019-2020 school year are still in class, but are getting fewer referrals for disciplinary reasons and thus, fewer suspensions.
After Barany concluded her remarks, Principal Oliver commented on the data and pointed out some statewide and national trends. Oliver stated that, "Attendance data is not good anywhere, but ours should be better than it is." Somerset has gone to great lengths to encourage student attendance with various initiatives such as attendance letters being mailed out and parent liaisons making visits with the letters, but attendance has not dramatically improved.
Attendance is one major problem with distance learning. Many students who are enrolled in distance learning will sign in for that day, turn off their webcams and not attend the class the rest of the day. Such students are counted absent for the day. Five and ten-day attendance letters are sent out to parents when their children are missing and parent liaisons make visits to the homes. Oliver stressed that attendance needs to improve and there needs to be some consequences for truancy. So far, the only punishment is administrative.
The school is supposed to make the final contact with the family and let them know they are not in compliance and that RLI is not working for the students. If parents still do not cooperate, the next step is to have them sign a letter acknowledging the possible consequences from not making their children attend school. The biggest single block of students with low attendance is the elementary, ESE students. Oliver pointed out that the students "Who need us the most are the ones that are not there or have been withdrawn to some other education format."
Rowena West is the math coach at Somerset, and she discussed the i-Ready scores for the students. i-Ready is an interactive program of math and reading that is used by many schools across the country. “It gives us a very good projection of how our students will do on the FSA,” stated West. This year, the students took a diagnostic test in the second week of September in grades K-2, which set beginning scores and from there, measurement of growth and progress is tracked. Via i-Ready, kindergarteners have made progress on goals that will help them on the FSA. Principal Oliver said he is proud of the achievements of the students and staff. Many of the students have met their goals for the year and now what is left is to set the goals to go higher. All of the students that were promoted to Geometry from Algebra 1, who missed the last quarter of the 2020-2021 school year, went to summer camps. All but one has passed their Algebra II class. Oliver went on to say the improvement makes it a smaller mountain to climb in the road for graduation.
Nicole Rodenberry is the intensive reading coach at Somerset. Using i-Ready for reading, she administered an initial diagnostic that was issued during the second week of the semester. It was determined that kindergarten exceeded their target score. First grade was only off its target by nine points, but the second grade was stagnant, so Rodenberry met with the second-grade teachers and it was determined that a strategic plan was needed. The teacher came up with one to increase comprehension and vocabulary by utilizing the Science Research Associates (SRA) materials. SRA is a reading program started in Florida in 1950 by Dr. Don H. Parker and has been used nationwide for decades.
When students took their second growth monitoring check, there was an influx of returning students and the teachers monitored the students while they took the tests. One result was the conclusion that the traditional in-classroom setting is "way more effective than the RLI." Robenberry stated that once students are back in the classroom, "we'll see a rise in our data." About 90 students are pulled from class for reading intervention, which is extra help to get students up to grade level in reading skills.
A new program has been instituted called "Catch Up with Coach" that is used in afterschool care to help kids with reading and math. The main purpose is to help the student bridge any gap in retention of knowledge caused since the shutdown in March. All students are assigned a practice lesson to start. If less than 80 percent of the students fail to master the practice lesson, the lesson is taught again. Those who do not pass the second time are pulled for intensive reading intervention.
Somerset came into Jefferson County facing many challenges in their five year quest to turn the school district around and COVID-19 added to those challenges. 2022 will be the end of Somerset’s five year mandate. So far, for the 2020-2021 school year, the “mid-term” looks promising. Here’s to hoping for a strong finish.
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