N.J.-S.P. School Board Reviews ISTEP Scores

Posted on December 28, 2016
Author Mary Perren, WKVI

The North Judson-San Pierre School Corporation has been working for several weeks to raise ISTEP scores and school letter grades. Superintendent Dr. Annette Zupin told the school board officials were anticipating low letter grades, and they were right. Last year was a new test, which made preparation difficult.

Overall, the corporation scored a “D” letter grade. The middle and high schools individually received D’s, while the elementary school got a B.

Math proficiency continues to be an issue, and it is addressed in both the elementary and junior/senior high school improvement plans. Both were presented to the school board in November.

N.J.-S.P. Elementary School Principal Mike McBride says school officials are collecting and analyzing data from a range of sources and adopting it to their in-house training and updated curriculum mapping. McBride says the elementary school is also working to improve academic proficiency across the curriculum and to continue to meet targets in reading and math.

N.J.-S.P. Elementary also has a Title 1 School-wide plan that is funded in part by the federal government. McBride says it includes making sure all core classes are taught by highly qualified teachers, ongoing professional development, inclusion of faculty in decision making, parental involvement through activities like literacy nights, assistance for students who are not proficient and working with all area preschool programs to ensure students are ready to start kindergarten.

N.J.-S.P. Junior/Senior High School Principal Jim Polite’s plan recognizes the first year of the new configuration. He says the school has increased its advanced placement and dual credit course offerings and is proud of its extremely successful agriculture program.

Polite acknowledges the needs to improve student proficiency in math by increasing the mastery of key concepts. He says they are administering STAR assessment tests at least three times per year to identify areas in need of remediation.