With release of state assessment scores, Beatrice Public Schools seeing improvement

BEATRICE - Beatrice Public Schools officials say gains were made this past year when it comes to graduation rate, student growth, proficiency and absenteeism.
The State of Nebraska was releasing assessment scores Wednesday. Students in grades three through eight… are tested in areas of math, science and English Language Arts…while high school juniors are tested in ACT areas of reading, English, math, science and writing.

"We have actually seen some great improvements in our scores. There are still areas where we are working on closing the gaps, so I will say we saw some growth...with our free and reduced lunch subgroup. We are still seeing some gaps with our special education subgroup. This is an area where we still need to figure out how do we address, or how do we help those students find tools, find ways to understand the concepts that may still be very foreign to them."

Assistant Superintendent, Dr. Jackie Nielsen is assessment and curriculum director for BPS. She says some effects from the pandemic are still being felt when it comes to student progress, but teachers have done a great job of focusing on what’s important. "It's professional development we've provided teachers for the last two years in figuring out what standards are the priorities and really helping our students master the priorities, rather than covering everything. I think our students are very resilient."

Nielsen feels Beatrice Public Schools and other midwestern schools rebounded faster from the effects of COVID, partly because of a move to return students to classrooms as soon as possible.  "MIddle school math saw some major improvements...major gains. Even with special ed students and with our free and reduced lunch population. They saw some major gains in those areas, and I think it goes back to just really focusing on what students truly have to master...and pushing them to master those concepts."

There is still work to be done in English Language Arts. Nielsen says parents can help out in that regard…..encouraging reading, conversations, listening to news or reading newspapers….rather than spending so much time on a smart phone.  The district found that in the overall assessment process the proficiency levels in students grew this year, compared with last year….including…

53% proficient in English Language Arts, compared to 43% before…
59% proficient in math, compared with 41%.....and
70% proficiency in science, compared with 61% before.

Nielsen said key factors include attendance…and whether students are completing in-class assignments. "If they are doing those two things...if they are here and present for more than 95% of the time, they are going to be successful. If they are doing their work and doing it on time, they are going to be successful."

Assessing where students are.. comes from a combination of factors. The district saw improvement at nearly all buildings in the area of reducing chronic absenteeism.

Nielsen says she tries to steer clear of comparisons with other school districts. "What I want to compare is....where was the child last year and where is the child this year? That is the piece that, again, when we start focusing on everyone around us, we forget about that individual who is sitting in that seat in our classroom, in our school building. In our community, how do we really help him or her grow?"

In the most recent assessments, the Beatrice Public Schools four-year graduation rate improved, from 86.23% to 87.32%....and has improved more than three percentage points in the past two years.

Some of the key state findings this year, included......

---58% of Nebraska students across in grades 3-8 were considered proficient in English Language Arts (performing at the On Track or Advanced level), and 61% were proficient in Math.
---More than 70% of Nebraska students in grades 3-8 were proficient on the NSCAS Science assessment.
---At the high school level, Nebraska’s juniors were 46% proficient in ELA, 42% in Math, and 49% in Science.
---27% of students with disabilities were proficient in English Language Arts, and 29% were proficient in Math
---43% of students who qualified for free or reduced lunch were proficient in ELA and 45% for Math.
---30% of English learners were proficient in ELA, and 33% were proficient in Math.

Using a classification description of districts as Excellent.....Great....Good.....Needs Support to Improve.......Beatrice School District 15 rated, as Great.