The Bryant School District will present its annual report to the public before the regular school board meeting on Monday, and the report will focus on programs that are aimed at helping students who are “falling through the cracks.”
The annual report will be presented at 5:30 p.m. at the Professional Development Center on the campus of Bryant High School, off North Reynolds Road.
“We are mainly going to discuss our district goals to the public,” Director of Communications Jessica Norris said. “But we also want to discuss how we plan to reach out to students that are struggling in academics. We want to help the students that are not qualified for special education, but are falling through the cracks.”
Norris said one program in particular, Response To Intervention, will be detailed in the report. The program is designed to prevent academic failure through early intervention, frequent progress measurement, and increasingly intensive research-based instructional interventions for children who continue to have difficulty.
The report will also report the increasing enrollment trend in the district.
“We are one of the fastest-growing school districts in Arkansas, and I don’t see it slowing down,” Superintendent Richard Abernathy said. “In eight years, our high school campus is going to have a little over 2,400, almost 2,500, students enrolled.”
Because of the increase of students in the district, Norris said the district will briefly discuss the status of the facility improvements promised when the voters passed a 3.9 millage increase proposal by the school. Abernathy said the millage hike will enable the district to receive an additional $7.5 million from the state, for a total of $34 million in additional revenue for the district.
He said the bulk of the project packet includes 35 new classrooms, four art classrooms, five business and technology rooms, two multipurpose rooms, a counselor’s office, a security office, a principal’s office and a media center. Other projects include the acquisition of security cameras and fencing, paving parking lots and more.
Norris said the report will also discuss the student graduation and dropout rates in detail. The English as a Second Language program will be discussed to reach the growing Hispanic population, and both the 2008-2009 financial records and the expected 2009-2010 financial budget will be presented.
The results of state-mandated tests, including the Benchmark exams and end-of-course tests, along with ACT scores will also be presented. The Benchmark exams tested more than 3,530 students in the Bryant School District from third to eighth grades. The test results show that a large percentage of those students scored proficient or advanced in math and literacy but scored lower in science.
Out of 580 fifth-grade students who tested in science, 55 percent were proficient or advanced, leaving 37 percent at the basic level and 9 percent below basic. Out of 606 seventh-grade students, only 47 percent were proficient or advanced in science, with 36 percent scoring at the basic level and 17 percent below the basic level.
The area of strengths on the Benchmark tests starts with the elementary level students. A strong 92 percent of third-graders were found to be proficient or advanced in mathematics and 82 percent proficient or advanced in literacy. Of 604 fourth-grade students, 88 percent are proficient or advanced in mathematics and 78 percent proficient or advanced in literacy.
The fifth- and sixth-grade students scored 88 percent and 87 percent respectively proficient or advanced in mathematics, but there was nearly a 10 percent different in their literacy scores. The fifth-graders scored 85 percent proficient or advanced in literacy, but the sixth-graders amassed only 76 percent proficient or advanced.
According to the Benchmark exams, the trend also shows the percentages tapering off as Bryant students increase in grade levels. The percentage of students scoring higher decreases as the students go up in grade levels.
“We are very proud of our students’ efforts,” Abernathy said. “The scores are good in most areas, but what can we do to continue improving? We are going to see where we need to focus on to improve and we are going to do things to improve. It may even mean taking some focus off something else to improve in other areas, but we will do what it takes to improve. Overall though, I am pleased with the work our teachers and staff have done.”
Norris said the test results will also include sub-population groups for African-American, Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students.
District officials will also discuss plans for the $4 million in stimulus funds it was recently awarded. The school received $1,857,572 from State Stabilization Act, $600,000 from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title I-A, and just over $1.6 million from the Individuals with Disabilities Act IV-B funds.
“We are wanting to put as much back into the classrooms as possible,” Norris said. The main thing we are really excited about is a new grant program we want to start. We will set $300,000 aside for this program. The teachers will then be able to apply for that grant. I know the teachers are really excited about that and we are hearing a lot of feedback and good ideas from them.”
The State Stabilization Act funds will be used for everything from new instructional programs including literacy and math, to tutoring programs, extending learning programs, reading intervention, to new technology equipment in the classrooms. She also said the district plans to purchase new “desperately needed” music instruments, new computers and programs as well as general technology updates and new audio equipment for teachers.
Norris said the application for teachers can be found on the district’s Web site, www.bryantschools.org. She said the deadline for teachers to submit grant proposals is Oct. 15.
After the annual report to the public on Monday, officials are expected to post more information from the report on the district’s Web site, www.bryantschools.org.
|
Razorbacks
