BERNE — Superintendent Timothy Mundell told the Berne-Knox-Westerlo Board of Education at its meeting Monday that recently released state test results that seem to indicate the district’s  lack of progress from 2015  to 2016 actually contain some good news if examined more closely.

According to the State Education Department,  a  majority of  BKW students in grade 3-8 who took the spring 2016 English Language Arts test  scored below proficiency levels. Only 31 percent attained level 3 or 4 results, required to be considered “proficient,” the same percentage as in 2015.  Statewide, 38 percent of students demonstrated proficiency.  

In Duanesburg,  a nearby similarly rural school district of comparable size,  36 percent scored well enough to be rated proficient this year,  compared with 40 percent last year.

BKW results on the mathematics test remained about the same year-to-year, with 39 percent testing at proficiency levels,  one percentage point less than in 2015 but the same as the statewide average.  In Duanesburg, the district’s math proficiency score fell from 37 percent in 2015 to 29 percent this year.

Mundell  advised the board that school proficiency  scores should be looked at in relation to the district’s opt-out rates — the percentage of students who refused to take the standardized tests designed to measure student performance against state-set standards.  Students who score 1 or 2 on a scale of 4 are deemed in need of remedial help.

As part of  a national movement protesting Common Core standards, which in New York State focused on scores being tied to teacher evaluations, many parents kept children out of the standardized tests. In December, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Common Core Task Force recommendations were adopted by a Board of Regents committee, which suspended for four years the use of state test scores in teacher evaluation.

At the same time, new federal legislation has placed standards-setting in the states hands and a new commissioner for education in New York has worked to have standardized tests again developed with input from teachers, rather than administered through a British company that had developed the tests that angered many parents and educators.

The BKW opt-out rate was much lower this year: It fell from 39 percent in 2015 to 21 percent in 2016,  a percentage close to the state opt-out average of 22 percent. Typically, cities have a low opt-out rate and suburbs have a higher one. Originally, school funding was threatened for districts where too many students declined to take the tests but the state later backed off this stance.

Mundell explained that, unlike in more affluent districts, BKW students who opt-out— or whose parents kept them from taking the state-required tests — tend to be students whose academic performance is subpar.  He said that records show show that 90 percent of BLW students who opted out in 2014  were not proficient in math as measured by standards applied at the time.

He said that the spring round of tests saw 45 more students take the English  test  and 36 more take the math test than had taken them  in 2015. The district’s 2016 results  — nearly unchanged in both English and math— can be interpreted positively, he maintained:  Students who had previously opted out must have done reasonably well on the tests.

“The additional students, who had been struggling,” he maintains, “did well.”

Board president Matthew Tedeschi told The Enterprise, “I agree totally with this assessment .” He said, “We shouldn’t get hung up on the [state] metrics.”

During the meeting, Tedeschi pointed out that  the 2015 and 2016 tests were not the same, so comparing their results is “comparing apples to oranges.”

Some believe that the higher statewide 2016 average scores may  be the result of the tests having been made easier after parents protested they had been too difficult.

Audience member and former BKW teacher  and school board member Helen Lounsbury urged the board to “keep up the forward momentum.”

 No high school principal yet

Although a host of appointments for teacher, teacher aid, and mentor posts were confirmed at Monday’s meeting, no new secondary school principal was named.

Marna McMorris had resigned at the end of 2015-16 school year after only one year in the job. The district gave no reason for her departure; she did not return calls seeking comment.

Mundell later told The Enterprise that  the search is continuing for her replacement. The position was posted in June and has recently been reposted.        

Asked if a new principal will be place for the start of the school year, Mundell  said it’s likely that an interim principal will have to be appointed, most probably  someone not on the school staff currently.

Administrator contract moves forward

At this week’s meeting,  the board also approved a memorandum of agreement concerning a new contract that has been negotiated with the Helderberg Administrators Association, the bargaining unit composed of four district administrators.  The contract, if approved,  would cover Leslie Smith, the elementary school principal; Susan Sloma, the director of pupil personnel services;  and Annette Landry, the assistant secondary  school principal and athletic director. It would  also cover the secondary school  principal when that position is filled.

The memorandum passed by a vote of 3 to 1. Susan Kendall-Schanz voted against approval of the memorandum. She said, “There are things I cannot say yes to.”  She declined to comment further after the meeting.

Another board member, Lillian Sisson-Chrysler, expressed some reservations but voted in favor.

Tedeschi said, “I want to thank the administrators for very good negotiations and for moving this forward.’

Mundell told The Enterprise  the next step is for the three association members to vote on the contract or to request any changes before they do.