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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. September 26, 2006 UPDATED 2:25 A.M. E.D.T. WITH Pix: The Board of Education will seriously entertain contracting with the BOCES Data Warehouse program in an effort to identify specifically where White Plains students skills need improvement on state tests, the Superintendent of Schools Timothy Connors announced at Monday’s Board of Education meeting.
Superintendent of Schools Timothy Connors explaining district test score performance, and announcing the District decision to look at bringing in the BOCES Data Warehouse system to analyze the School District State Assessment Test Scores. Photo, WPCNR News.
The Board also announced Kaeyer Garment & Davidson, the architect and Triton Construction, the construction manager would have representatives to answer public questions October 5 on the district $69.6 Million Capital Project at Ridgeway School at 7:45 P.M. at a forum sponsored by the Council of Neighborhood Associations, and also at an Open House at Post Road School from 10 A.M. to 12 Noon on Saturday, October 14. The feferendum comes to a vote October 17.
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BOCES will make a presentation to the Board October 30 to introduce the test analysis system and new Assistant Superintendent for Business, Fred Seiler will conduct a cost analysis between BOCES service and a rival private operation offering a similar data analysis service.
Timothy Connors, Superintendent of Schools, welcomes Fred Seiler, new Assistant Superintendent for Business, and a bond managing expert to the district. Mr. Seiler began his assignment with White Plains September 11. Mr. Seiler comes to White Plains from Rochester. Photo, WPCNR News.
The decision to turn to BOCES comes after six years of the Board of Education asking, pleading and demanding that district testing and statistical departments provide longitudinal (4th through 12th grade) studies of group student performance and to identify skill set weaknesses, with the school computer data officials, making excuses each spring as to why they were unable to provide the data.
Improved Test Results on ELA Tests In Comparison to Port Chester and New Ro
Connors introduced English Language Arts 2006 Test Score Comparison Charts across Grades 3 through 8, showing how White Plains ranked in ELA results in relationship to Port Chester and New Rochelle school districts (described by Connors, as districts White Plains is most often compared), saying, “we’ve improved.”
Connors said that White Plains was third ranked behind New Rochelle and Port Chester in test scores through grades 3,4,5, and ranked ahead of both Port Chester and New Rochelle in sixth grade results, was second to Port Chester in seventh grade results then third again at 58% passing in the 8th grade 2006 ELA results.
White Plains School District 2006 English Language Arts test Performance grade-by-grade in Comparison with Port Chester (Dark line), and New Rochelle (Yellow Line). The White Plains peformance is represented by the Red line. Data Source: White Plains City School District. White Plains is Number 1 against Port Chester and New Ro in the sixth grade, and Number 2 to Port Chester in the 7th Grade, and third in the 8th grade result. Photo, WPCNR News.
Connors saw this as a positive, and said that Port Chester and New Rochelle use the BOCES Data Warehouse program that takes the student test scores and questions answered on the tests, and feeds the district analysis of what the wrong answers show, what skills the students are weak in that the district needs to work on.
Connors said that Margaret Dwyer, the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction interviewed the Port Chester officials finding that the BOCES Data Warehouse program has been used by Port Chester and New Rochelle to improve their district test scores. Port Chester and New Rochelle use them to analyze what skills the students are not being taught based on the questions not answered correctly on the state tests. Connors also reported that by accessing the BOCES computers, teachers and principals can acquire exercises and curriculum strategies to address specific skill set shortfalls.
On the bases of the Port Chester and New Ro “successes,” the district is going to hear a presentation from BOCES on the Data Warehouse program October 30.
WPCNR pointed out to Mr. Connors that Port Chester schools also use bilingual instruction in the lower grades. Asked if the White Plains School District was considering that, Connors said that he and Ms. Dwyer are committed to “going forward.”
Big Test Score Falloff in ELA in Middle School from Elementary.
The Charts on the 2005 English Language Arts test scores presented by Mr. Connors present a picture of declining English Language Arts performance across five grades by the three big city districts with “respectable numbers.” Respectable numbers for WPCNR’s purpose in reporting these results, means more than 50% of students passing the ELA tests in each grade in the other big city districts in the county.
Port Chester, Number 1 in the big three for every grade but the sixth in ELA 2006 results went from 83% passing in third grade up to 89% passing in 4th grade to 85% passing in fifth grade (maintaining performance statistically in the elementary level),before plummeting to 66% passing in 6th grade, climbing back to 74% passing in 7th grade before dropping to 66% passing in 8th grade.
White Plains swung from 73% passing in 3rd grade to 70% in 4th to 72% in 5th grade (maintaining even performance in the elementary grades), followed by a thud in scores in middle school, declining to 66% passing in 6th grade, 67% in 7th grade. The WP results bested both the Port Chester and New Rochelle districts in the 6th grade, but finished second to Port Chester in the 7th Grade and sinking to a low of 58% in the 8th grade compared to Port Chester and New Rochelle.
However, the White Plains figure of 58% of 8th grade students passing the ELA in 2006 was UP from White Plains score of 53% of 8th graders, passing the last two years (2005 and 2004), and the 48% who passed the 8th Grade ELA in 2003 (a decline from the 52% who passed it in 2002.).
New Rochelle District experienced the same phenomena: steady elementary scores in 3rd, 4th, 5th grades of 81%, 84%, 78% passing followed by dropoffs of 65%, 61% and 61% passing in the Middle School years, 6th, 7th and 8th grades.
Of 454 White Plains 8th graders who took the 8th grade ELA test, 10.57% scored in the Level 4, highest level, 48% scored in the Level 3, and 34% scored in Level 2 and 8% in Level 1. This distribution is standard across the board, even in Scarsdale.
$1.6 Million More to Bloomingdale’s
Acting President of the Board of Education, Bill Pollak announced that the District legal counsel had advised acceptance of a tax certiorari settlement with Federated Department Stores “Macy’s East” – which is the Bloomingdale’s operation – of $1,652,427.
That certiorari when the city approved it in August was listed in the city backup material as being the Federated Stores—Macy’s with a Galleria Address, but the Assistant Superintendent for Business, Fred Seiler said it was described as “Macy’s East,” which is Bloomingdale’s.
Previously the City of White Plains had approved a city certiorari for Federated, Macy’s of $523,337 on August 7. WPCNR had estimated the School District hit on this approved cert to be $2.1 Million, but tonight it as announced that the actually amount is $1,652,427, about $500,000 less than expected. Generally the school tax runs $4 to every $1 collected by the City.
In the last two years Federated Department Stores Boomingdale’s operation has had its assessment lopped in half from $1.8 Million to $900,000.
The district also approved a certiorari refund of $100,756 to the condominium, Cameo House. The Board voted 4-0-1 in both instances to approve the $1.8 Million in certioraris with Messrs. Pollak, McGuire, Ms. McLaughlin and Ms. Eller approving the certioraris, with Mr. Bassano abstaining both times. Mr. Tompkins and Ms. Tratoros were not present.
Infofests on $69.6 Million Referendum.
The Superintendent also announced the district would hold an Open House at Post Road School on Saturday, October 14 from 10 A.M. to 12 noon at the school in order that district parents and voters can see the conditions existing at the school, ask questions of the architect and construction manager and school board members in advance of the $69.6 Million Capital Project Referendum October 17. Connors added that the architect and construction manager team would also be at the Council of Neighborhood Association public meeting on the referendum next week, Thursday, October 5 at 7:45 P.M. at Ridgeway School.
Mr. Pollak said the parent reaction at PTA meetings at Post Road School was good. Connors reported that the PTA Presidents he spoke with last week on Thursday were very pro-referendum and promised to get out the vote.
The Board of Education is contemplating another public forum on the referendum but has not made up its mind. Bill Pollak, Board President expressed displeasure, that Syntax, the district public relations agency, had not gotten out a flyer on the referendum yet. Connors said it was coming. He said, “This is like a campaign, you just keep hitting them right up to the vote.”
Pollak said in regards to the extra hearing that “I don’t care what they have to say,” then realizing a reporter was in the audience, and after Board members expressed alarm at that statement, Pollak grinned good-naturedly and said that he was interested in hearing public opinion.
In Racial Attitude News.
The Superintendent of Schools produced a brochure for the Board of Education review describing the district inquiry last spring into race relations in the operation of the district. The Superintendent said that the report prepared by a consultant who interviewed stakeholders, teachers, and district personnel on the district feelings, practices and attitudes on diversity, was lengthy and candid and that he had boiled it down into essential recommendations and bullet points into the brochure.
Superintendent Connors holding brochure describing edited recommendations of the cosultant and the racial attitudes committee, he submitted to the board Monday night. Photo, WPCNR News
President of the Board, Bill Pollak was concerned that the written report was being repressed. Donna McLaughlin, Board Vice President, expressed reservations that certain sections of the consultant’s report expressed conditions that she felt needed to be explained. Superintendent of Schools Connors suggested that he would attempt to draft a letter explaining the report and the “context” in which it should be viewed. The brochure with suggestions for improvement and steps to take to improve race relations and performance in that area will be reviewed by the Board then distributed to the public.
The Needs Improvement Designation
In the matter of the White Plains High School, being recently designated as one that “Needs Improvement” by the State Education Department, Mr. Connors said that he had determined that it was unfortunate that because of an administrative error, 14 children who were among 50 special needs students attending school out of district were not given the regents exam, that this was then sole reason why the district was cited as “Needs Improvement.” He said that Larry Kilian, the Director of Research, Testing and Evaluation had done his job and steps have been taken to assure that all “on the high school roster” take the regents tests as required by the state. Connors said it was strictly an oversight which would not happen again.
Math Article Cited,
Connors in his remarks commented on an article about math basics that recently appeared in the Wall Street Journal. Connors said that Mathematics Coordinator had spent time briefing her mathematics teachers on the need to teach the basics of long division, multiplication as well as word problems over the summer. “We do teach real math,” Connors said. However, last spring when parents from Mamaroneck Avenue School complained about their elementary students’ ability to do basic math, the criticisms were given short shrift. (See previous WPCNR story.)
Math Coordinator Rewarded with Tenure
In other action, Lisa Weber, a graduate of White Plains High School was granted tenure as School District Mathematics Coordinator for Grades K-12, after three years in that position. Weber was praised by Margaret Dwyer for being an excellent math teacher, as well as meeting “difficult challenges” and for making “continuous progress” in test scores. Dwyer described Weber as “upbeat and positive and an outstanding teacher in mathematics, and an educator worthy of tenure, of facing the unprecedented challenge of every person passing the Regents.”
Lisa Weber thanking the District for awarding her tenure as Math Coordinator Monday night. Photo, WPCNR News.
According to the New York State Education Department, in 2002, 69% of White Plains 4th Grade Elementary Students Passed the 4th Grade ELA math test. In 2003, Ms. Weber’s first year as coordinator, the number of 4th graders passing was 80%, dipped to 78% in 2004, and rose to 82% in 2005. Those were the test results for 4th grade Math. The state average of elementary students passing the 4th grade Math tests was 85% in 2005.
In the Middle School Math Tests given 8th Graders the number passing was 56% in 2002. In Ms. Weber’s first year as coordinator the number passing dropped to 52%, but rebounded strongly in 2004 to 67%, and dipped to 63% in 2005. The 2006 Results are not yet available. The State Average for 8th Graders passing the test was 56% in 2005.
Ms. Weber, shown delivering her thank yous, balanced the changing standards and curricula changes from the state during those three years, Ms. Dwyer indicated. Photo, WPCNR News.
Superintendent Salary Increase approved.
The Board voted to give Superintendent of Schools Connors a 3.5% pay increase retroactive to July 1, 2006, bringing Mr. Connors salary to $224,970. Mr. Connors is in the second year of a three-year contract, and is starting his fifth year with the school district. He began his assignment with White Plains at a salary of $197,000.
Donna McLaughlin said Mr. Connors, even through disagreements with the Board, shared the Board commitment and belief in the school district. Peter Bassano said he was impressed with Mr. Connors’ “maintaining his enthusiasm” in the face of criticism.
