It has been made abundantly clear, more than once, that Wawasee administrators place much more value on Northwest Evaluation Association testing results than ISTEP+. Dr. Tom Edington, Wawasee Community School Corp., summed it up by saying, “We use NWEA results to help teachers teach better, but we give the ISTEP+ because of political reasons.”
It was emphasized again during the regular monthly meeting of the Wawasee school board Tuesday evening. During his Stat of the Month presentation, Dr. Bob Cockburn, data administrator for the school corporation, told the board, “NWEA is a tremendous tool and you can see how kids did the previous year.” He provided the board several slides showing NWEA fall testing results and noted the Common Core curriculum version of NWEA began to be used by Wawasee in the fall of 2012, so there are only two years of data to use.
The slides showed RIT, or Rasch Unit, scores. RIT scores are essentially a scale used to estimate student achievement. Cockburn did not elaborate on any particular slide. For one example, first grade reading scores showed slight improvement from 2012 to 2013, but second grade scores showed a decrease.
Becky Linnemeier, school board president, asked the principals if they have noticed any difference in how the students approach NWEA testing compared to ISTEP+. The response indicated students are less stressed about NWEA testing with the probable exception of spring when they are tired of any testing and want to be outdoors. It was also noted NWEA tests are not timed.
In other business, Mike Lindsey from Performance Services presented Energy Star awards for each school building in the district and also to the central office. He said to have all five buildings certified is a major accomplishment because approximately only 10 percent of the school buildings in Indiana are certified. Energy Star is a certification granted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Wawasee began an extensive energy analysis program in 2009 including upgrades to the heating and air conditioning systems, roof replacements and digital control systems for the HVAC systems.
The board also approved setting a 1028 public hearing for the Dec. 10 school board meeting. Edington noted modifications to the C wing at Wawasee High School are being considered that would move the outer walls to allow for more space.Other projects would include addressing dips in the track around the high school football field, increasing the size of the restrooms at the football field and adding parking spaces at the high school.
No cost estimates are available yet.
Joy Goshert, director of instruction and curriculum, told the board using three-hour school delays is being considered so not as many snow days would need to be used. A few other local school districts use three-hour delays, but it would mean extending the school day by one hour.
(For a more in-depth account of the meeting, see today’s issue of The Mail-Journal.)