Oldham ranks near top in CATS scores

Oldham County Schools received a report card for the last two years this week. The marks are, as usual, high. But there are a few “needs improvement” notes attached.Oldham County Schools earned the second highest accountability index for a county district in the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System scores, although three schools failed to meet goals for improvement.The accountability indexes are a combination of Kentucky Core Content Test scores, high school ACT scores and non-academic factors such as attendance, drop out and retention rates.Six schools have already met the goal of an index of 100, six years ahead of schedule. All schools in the state are supposed to reach an index of 100 by 2014, meaning the average of their students test at or above the proficient level. Scores are divided into four categories, from novice — the lowest, apprentice, proficient and distinguished — the highest.Superintendent Paul Upchurch said he expects all Oldham County schools’ scores to surpass 100 within the next five years.The countywide index is already near that 100 mark, at 97.0, up from 94.9 two years ago. In those two years, though, the scoring system was reformulated, making comparison with past years imprecise.Statewide, CATS scores increased for elementary and middle school students but declined for high school students compared to the last two-year cycle.Information from the Kentucky Department of Education states that the scores are not intended to compare one school or district against another, but to judge individual school and district progress. Nevertheless, Oldham County had the second highest score of any county district, placing behind Hancock County’s index of 97.5. Several independent districts also placed higher.This is the first two-year cycle the district hasn’t earned the highest score for a county district since CATS testing began, although the scoring system has changed.Upchurch said a lower index than Hancock is not a concern, especially since Oldham County’s test scores are still higher, even if the overall index is not. The main concern is improving student learning, he said, not comparing to other districts.Several Oldham County schools did especially well.North Oldham High School scored in the top five high schools with a 98.7 index. DuPont Manual had the top high school score at 108.5.Goshen Elementary scored among the state’s top 35 elementary schools with a 106.3 score. May Valley Elementary School in Floyd County earned the best index in the state, a 125.1.North Oldham Middle School’s index of 104.8 is the second best middle school score in the state behind The School for Creative and Performing Arts in Fayette County — a small magnet school that earned a 113.8. East Oldham Middle School is also within the top five middle schools with a 100.2 index.Buckner, Harmony and Liberty Elementary schools all scored above 100 as well.“There’s a lot of pride in scoring that well,” NOMS Principal Robb Smith said. But he isn’t focused on competing against other schools — the real competition is with themselves, he said.Smith attributes his school’s success to the positive culture at the school. Students come from families that value education, they come to a building filled with dedicated staff and work hard at learning, he said.He said to improve for next year, teachers will focus even stronger on addressing the needs of each student.Oldham County High School met its goal, but still needs to reduce the number of students scoring at the novice level.Three schools — Crestwood and Kenwood Station elementary schools and Oldham County Middle School — failed to meet goals for improvement according to the information from the Kentucky Department of Education, though they are all above the state average and considered “progressing.”All three actually decreased from the previous two-year testing cycle on the index.Upchurch said those three schools don’t concern him too much. He said the reformulation makes comparisons confusing, and will be changed next year because of its flaws.“That doesn’t really measure learning,” he said. “That’s a bell curve rank.”Instead, by looking at raw test scores, without considering the rest of the index, he sees that Crestwood and Kenwood have improved and OCMS has remained stable.He is concerned about schools with dropping test scores, although each index stayed high. Those schools are Camden Station and Liberty elementary schools, and North Oldham High School.Liberty and NOHS both have some of the highest indexes in the state, but “We want to see every school improve, even those at the top,” Upchurch said.He said school administrators will pour through the scores to find areas for improvement. He cautions against making too many conclusions from one test, but by looking at the IOWA test, the ACT test and other measures in addition to CATS, he’ll get a more accurate picture of the progress being made.ACT scores from high school juniors are factored into the index for the first time this year. Students district-wide earned an average composite score of 21.2. Students statewide averaged 18.3, according to data from the Oldham County Board of Education.Upchurch said standardized tests are certainly not the only way teachers assess student learning. Indeed, they measure learning every day through discussions, written assignments, and reflections on literature and student/teacher conferences among other strategies.He said teachers countywide engage in strategies to ensure each student learns to the best of their ability.Upchurch said rising test scores are a reflection of progress made in the district toward equipping students with communication and critical thinking skills among many other abilities, preparing each student for life.He believes new initiatives are starting to pay off. Among other improvements, each school now has a literacy coach and teachers have worked to align curriculum throughout the district. And a revamping of both the gifted and special education programs should pay off for students at the edge of the spectrum, he said.“Improvement just has to be part of your culture,” he said, “and it has been here for a long, long time.”

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