Shining STAR

I just checked out my school's STAR (Standardized Testing And Reporting) scores for this past school year, and I am so pleased with the results. Once again, my grade level has surpassed our previous year's gains (and those were impressive). Seventy-five percent of the fourth grade students scored Advanced in English-Language Arts (ELA), and seventy-four percent were Advanced in Mathematics. This shows an eight-point gain for ELA and an eleven-point gain in Mathematics. The majority of those not scoring in the Advanced range are still Proficient, and a very small percentage of students (9-10%) are categorized at Basic, Below Basic, or Far Below Basic - most of those kids are also Special Education students though.

We have the highest scores at our school and within our district!

I have to say that I really think the gains we've made at the fourth grade level in the last couple of years don't have anything to do with teaching to the test. I spend about four days the week before the actual exam giving a few practice tests to get my students warmed up and that's it, but during the year my grade-level team of teachers and I teach to the state standards - which are ridiculously high. We have had to add several language arts units to hit all the standards, but it's working. Kids are learning and demonstrating what they know - not just on the STAR exams either.

I take a lot of pride in what I do and I try to make learning fun for my students. I honestly didn't believe we'd be able to do any better than we did the year before, and I told last year's students that. But I also gave them a challenge that if they did as well or better than the previous class, I'd throw them a pizza party. Who has the number for Pizza Hut?