By David Fleet
Editor
School officials are encouraged with some double digit improvements in Northwest Evaluation Association —NWEA test scores.

The test scores, released earlier this year, show a districtwide 10.5 percent improvement in math and a 4.8 percent gain in reading. The Brandon students’ percentile rankings outpaced students from more 7,400 districts nationwide According to the NWEA results, the district scored in the 50.9 percentile in math and the 50.1 percentile for reading

“If our students were growing at the same rate as the rest of the country, our percentile ranking would be unchanged,” said Matt Outlaw, Brandon School District superintendent. “I am extremely proud of our students, staff and principals. Their hard work is really showing and I am pleased by the progress we are seeing. As we work toward our district goal of being a top 25 percent school district by 2025, this was a big step toward our goal.”

NWEA is a global non-profit educational services organization with more than 10 million students in U.S. schools, districts, education agencies, and international schools that provide assessments for pre-kindergarten through grade 12. According to the NWEA, the results measure student growth and learning needs, professional development that fosters educators’ ability to accelerate student learning, and research that supports assessment validity and data interpretation. In addition, the NWEA assessments provide results for instruction and academic growth.

“Most districts are using this (NWEA) now and it is one of the tests being discussed as a replacement for the M-STEP,” he said.

Outlaw attributed the improvement in math to two years of the Bridges (K-5) and CMP (6-8) program implementation along with math coaches working with district teachers and students.
“There has been a strong focus on math K-12 and we are seeing strong results,” he said. “In reading, the district has shifted towards a workshop model with literacy coaches working alongside our teachers to improve literacy instruction. Reading and writing, along with math, have been high priority areas for the entire district. Our teachers and principals have been going above and beyond to challenge all of our students to do their personal best. This means ensuring that everyone has challenging work and the supports to be successful. District-wide, we have also been extremely protective of instructional time, having reduced interruptions and the amount of time that teachers are out of the classroom. This additional time with high-quality staff working with students is proving to be extremely valuable as well.”

Dan Stevens, Brandon High School principal, said several factors added to the improved scores.
“I attribute our increased scores to our dedicated staff who have really focused their teaching and learning to that of mastery learning for our students, especially in the areas of math and language arts,” he said. “They have built an atmosphere within their classrooms that students shouldn’t only do well for the sake of a grade, but to exceed their own expectations in all that they do. Our students have really bought into this concept.”

Outlaw addressed the new NWEA testing for the district.

“Most standardized tests show where you are at, at any given moment in time with your learning,” he said. “The NWEA test shows how far you have improved over time. To me, this is much more valuable data for our staff, students and parents. Our staff can used this data to identify gaps in their teaching, students can use it to locate areas of strength and where improvement is needed, and parents can use this as a true barometer of how much their student has actually learned over the course of a school year.”