Bloomfield board reviews MAP scores

The Bloomfield School Board spent most of their meeting Monday night hearing presentations from the school counselors on 2009 student Missouri Assessment Program test scores, the athletic director on extra-curricular activities and board member Ryan Mayo on data comparisons of selected area schools.

High School counselor Ruth Ann Sifford reviewed student MAP test scores and compared them to past years. She noted that students had improved in many areas including a slight increase in the number of students moving from the basic to proficiency level. She noted that the eighth grade MAP scores showed a "slight increase" in the number of students scoring below basic in math.

The test scores makes it look like the "middle school is going downhill," Sifford told the board. She explained that it was only this year that the middle school was separated from the other schools so there was no comparable data on those scores. She said they showed improvement but did not meet the state proficiency requirements.

Each year the proficiency requirements are raised. In 2008 the proficiency requirement was 51 percent, in 2009 it was 59 percent and next year that will be raised to 67 percent, Sifford said. She said while students were improving, the students may not have improved as much as the proficiency requirements were raised. She said she was pleased with the number of students who had had improved their scores to the proficiency level and the advanced level.

Sifford said high school students are no longer required to take the MAP tests, but instead are given comprehensive course exams. She said that leaves them with "nothing to compare it to." She told the board that high school ACT scores had "dropped except in science."

Board member Bill Robison asked what the district could do to improve the math scores. Sifford said that high school students were "not taking upper level math courses." As a result, their ACT scores were not as high.

Superintendent Nicholas Thiele said the staff and administration were addressing the issue, and he believed part of the problem was "we are not unified as a staff."

He said they were looking at trying to "vertically align the curriculum" from students entering kindergarten through their senior year. He said there were some areas in which students simply were not taught subject areas on the MAP test. He said the entire administration and staff were working on coordinating the curriculum so that all subject areas were covered.

Robison asked when the district would have the vertically aligned curriculum in place. Thiele said the goal was to implement it in August 2010.

Athletic Director Dustin Hicks addressed the board about ongoing extracurricular activities. He reviewed new state requirements for athletes during the summer. He said the state now allowed only 25 "contact" days with student athletes during the summer and that coaches were not allowed any contact with athletes for nine consecutive days during the summer. Hicks said the purpose of the new rules is give student athletes a break from the sport in which they participate. He noted that conditioning does not count as a contact day as long as no coaches are present.

Hicks said the district is no longer using the middle school gym for volleyball or basketball. He said it was just not feasible. He praised the basketball and volleyball coaches for being flexible in scheduling practices.

He said new flooring was being installed in the high school gym locker rooms, and other improvements were being made in the gym. He said they were looking at hanging banners in the gym for all Bloomfield teams that have been county tournament winners, both in volleyball and basketball. He also said they were trying to identify past all-state players for recognition and compiling individual statistical records for players. He pointed out that the volleyball team had won the county tournament this year.

Hicks said the first official day of basketball practice is Nov. 9 for high school students.

Thiele told the board that the Bloomfield choir had placed nine members on the All-District Choir. He said Bloomfield ranked sixth out of 29 schools at the district competition. They were the second highest rated among 3A schools. Schools finishing with more all-district choir members included Jackson, Cape Central, Dexter, Notre Dame and Poplar Bluff. Thiele noted that they were all much bigger schools and congratulated the Bloomfield choir on their success at the district competition.

Mayo presented some statistics to board members comparing the Bloomfield District with other area schools of similar enrollment. Those schools included Advance, Bernie, Puxico, Richland, Twin Rivers and Woodland. These statistics were based on the 2007-08 school year.

Bloomfield ranked third in enrollment with 754 students. Twin Rivers had the highest enrollment with 992 students and Richland the lowest at 316 students.

Mayo singled out Bloomfield's average daily attendance rate of 96 percent as being second to Puxico which had a 96.2 percent rate. The state average is 94 percent.

He questioned the graduation rate at Bloomfield which was 83.3 percent, placing it the lowest of the seven schools. Thiele said that was because the Juvenile Justice Center in Bloomfield was placed in the Bloomfield School District. Thiele said that it had been changed since the 2007-08 school year and that graduation rate had risen to the 90 percent range.

Mayo said the 49.90 percent of Bloomfield students eligible for free/reduced lunches was very low compared to other schools. Thiele agreed that the low percentage probably indicated that many students were eligible but were not utilizing the program. Richland had the highest percentage with 65.30 percent.

In other areas, Bloomfield ranked fifth in student/teacher classroom ratio with 19, fourth in professional staff years of experience with 11.6 years. He said the data showed that Bloomfield was doing a pretty good job of retaining their teachers. He said the district was fourth in average teacher salary at $35,090. The state average is $45,027 and Bernie had the highest average with $38,538.

In the superintendent's report, Thiele said the annual performance report was not released in time to review at the board meeting. He said it was due out later this week and would be reviewed at the next meeting. Thiele said the district had received $40,000 in School Improvement Funds to address Title I improvement in the district. The high school has been placed on School Improvement Level I. He said this was the first year the high school had been included in Title I and the money could help with improvements to the curriculum and professional staff development.

The only actions taken by the board at the meeting was the approval of the 2009-10 assessment program and the hiring of Sharon Lawson, Stanley Lewis and Travis Holland as substitute teachers.