Students in the Batavia City School system are showing slow, steady progress in proficiency on that state's standardized tests, Molly Corey, executive director of Curriculum and Instruction, told trustees Tuesday night during her report.
One way Corey tracks the district's progress is a comparison to scores in other small city school districts.
For the second year in a row, Batavia ranks #1 in eighth grade in the English Language Assessment, and first in seventh grade, compared to 14th a year ago. The district is second in third, fifth and sixth grades and fourth in grade four.
For math, the district is second in third grade, first in fourth, fourth in fifth, third in sixth, fifth in seventh, and in grade 12, eighth.
There are 15 other schools in the ranked comparison, though the names of the schools are blanked out in Corey's report.
Overall, Corey indicated she is happy with the improved performance of district students.
"I’m a believer having continual improvement," Corey said. "Though we want things to change dramatically, it’s that slow, steady climb that will get us there."
In ELA performance, the district is showing improvement in grades three through eight, with grade three going from 22 percent proficiency in 2012-13 to 46 percent this year. Grade four, has gone from 34 percent to 39 percent, grade five, 28 to 32 percent, grade six, 32 to 47 percent, grade seven, 26 to 35 percent, and grade eight, 35 to 45 percent.
In math, there's an improvement at every grade level except eighth grade. For third grade, from 25 percent to 55 percent; grade four, 37 to 64 percent, grade five, 27 to 42 percent, grade six, 17 to 43 percent, grade seven, 24 to 35 percent.
In eighth grade, the students have gone from 10-percent proficiency to 8 percent, though the eighth-grade students achieved 18 percent in 2014-15 and 21 percent in 2015-16.
To help improve math performance, Corey is planning on taking a leadership team to a seminar at Stanford University where a nationally recognized math teacher will provide instruction on deep mathematical thinking. The goal she said is to make mathematical thinking a bigger part of the learning culture in the district.
"We have a solid team throughout the district that got us here and we want to be thinking about what we can do above and beyond to change that culture, to change that mindset, and it starts with the leadership team," Corey said. "We have our dream team here in Batavia and I'm excited to see what is going to happen in each and every building."
