Kimball students show improvement in NeSA test scores

The Kimball school district has spent the last year trying to bring up its test scores. With the results of this past spring's Nebraska State Assessment (NeSA) finally available, it shows just how hard the school worked.

"We set goals for the testing. We wanted to make sure that we had something to strive for, and well, we passed all our goals except for one," Kimball Jr/Sr High School Principal Mo Hanks said.

The students take what is called Measures of Academic Progress(MAP) tests twice a year. The MAP testing is considered a way to prepare for the NeSA testing in more ways than one.

"The MAP testing allows to see where the students are at and what areas they are struggling in," Hanks said.

Students take NeSA as eighth graders and juniors. This makes it a little difficult to see the students progress from year to year, making the MAP testing all that more important to the process of determining where the students are academically. The teachers don't have to guess or be overly redundant concerning a subject that the students are already familiar with.

The MAP test results are examined and the best possible way to proceed is determined. The results give the teachers an idea of what the students really need to work on. The teachers can then include specific problem areas as a part of their everyday curriculum. This is important to do because, while test preparation is important, it takes away from other learning. If the teachers can target problem areas for the students and incorporate it with other lessons, then less teaching time is lost.

"The teachers have been really great, and I know this past testing period they focused a lot on vocabulary in particular. It's hard to answer questions if you don't understand them," Hanks said.

Students don't just have test material to worry about, it's also the test questions. While the material they are being tested on is very important it won't be answered correctly if the students do not understand the question.

Testing vocabulary can, at times, be confusing and misleading. Often times it is filled with words that students have never seen until the moment they encounter the test questions. As a result of this obvious difficulty, the teachers at Kimball Jr/Sr High School have made a strong effort to help their students be ready for whatever any tests could throw at them.

"Our teachers are working real hard to help the kids learn the testing vocabulary and I think that helped a lot. It clearly shows in our improved NeSA scores," Hanks said.

The goals that were set for the NeSA tests were that 70 percent of the students would meet or exceed in Science and Reading. The Math category, where even the majority of the state of Nebraska struggles, was at 50 percent of the students passing with above average scores.

"In science and English, we met our goals, exceeded them even. In math, we didn't quite meet the goal, but we still improved over last year's scores," Hanks said.

Even though the math scores might seem upsetting, parents should keep in mind that Kimball Jr/Sr High School's scores were above the state average and like Hanks said, they are above that of last year's scores.

With NeSA scores from the spring up and MAP testing coming up, the school hopes to keep improving their students' scores. This can be done by figuring out where students are struggling and how to get the information to stick.

"We will see what the results are of the MAP testing and speak with the teachers about what they observed about the testing and the students. Once all that information comes into play we'll decide what we need to work on as a school and also what our goals will be for this year's NeSA," Hanks said.

Mary Lynch Elementary also saw some significant improvements in their NeSA scores this past spring compared to the 2013 spring testing.In 2013, 47 percent of the third graders met or exceeded the standards for reading. This past year, 2014, the third graders, now fourth graders, had 64 percent of them meet or exceed the NeSA standards. 2013 fourth graders were at a 67 percent, and in 2014, they made it to 69 percent as fifth graders. 2013's fifth graders were at a 51 percent, and in 2014, as sixth graders, they were at 74 percent meeting or exceeding.

Mary Lynch's math scores were very similar to that of the reading. 2013's third grader's scoring 37 percent in math, and the 2014 fourth graders achieved 55 percent in math. The 2013 fourth graders were at 55 percent, and the 2014 fifth graders were at 61 percent. The 2013 fifth graders had 57 percent meeting or exceeding, and 2014's sixth graders made it to a 71 percent. There was only one grade test in Science, fifth, and they received a 61 percent meeting or exceeding.

"Our goals were to see improvement in each subject and that's what happened, that's what we saw. That's a result of the teachers buckling down and trying really hard to get the kids prepared," Michael Mitchell, Mary Lynch principal, said.

Teachers aren't the only people who can help the students perform well on test day. Parents can assist with testing by making sure they know the dates of the testing. This will allow them to be sure that their student gets a good night's sleep before a test day as well as a sufficient breakfast. Information concerning when testing is should be sent home with students or obtained through the front office.

"We just want our students to succeed, and we hope that we only continue to improve in all areas concerning the testing. We are really proud of the students and the teachers for all the effort they put in to being prepared for the testing," Hanks said.

With the goals of keeping the students prepared and ever improving, Mitchell also shed some light on the district's goals for the future concerning academics.

"We know we aren't in the top yet, but our goal is that we will be. We want to be one of the top districts in the region and then hopefully the state. So our teachers and everyone at the district is working very hard to achieve that," Mitchell said.