Advanced Placement & PARCC Results Tuesday, November 28, 2017 7:00 p.m. VHS Learning Commons

VERONA PUBLIC SCHOOLS MISSION STATEMENT “The mission of the Verona Public Schools, the center of an engaged and supportive community, is to empower students to achieve their potential as active learners and productive citizens through rigorous curricula and meaningful, enriching experiences.” District Mission Statement: emphasize active learning, responsibility, evolving curriculum, and transfer of learning.

VHS AP Participation since 2009 43.6 % of VHS Students New for 2017-18: AP Psychology AP Macro-Economics 38.4% of VHS Students 14.5% of VHS Students We continue to increase our number of AP students and the number of AP exams they take in May … the mindset has shifted towards growth … nearly half of our students are now enrolled in an AP course. Presently, we have (need to see how many unique students) 645 tests that will be administered in spring 2018!

Overall AP Average since 2009 We increased the number of tests administered to a whopping 648 (an increase of 212 tests from 2016) and we still maintained an average over 3 (3.05)!

% of Total AP Students with Scores 3+ (since 2013) in spring 2017 … 208 AP students earned 3 or better out of 288 total AP students which equals 72% total AP students earned a score of 3+

AP RESULTS: BRIGHT SPOTS AP Language … 30 students, AP Lit … 28 students, AP HUG … 54 students, AP US History … 35 students, AP Music Theory … 7 students this year

What is an AP Scholar? AP Scholar: 3 or higher on three or more AP Exams. AP Scholar with Honor: Average of at least 3.25 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams. AP Scholar with Distinction: Average score of at least 3.5 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams. National AP Scholar: Average of at least 4 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 4 or higher on eight or more of these exams. Define AP Scholar, etc.

AP Scholar with Distinction Spring 2017 AP Scholar AP Scholar with Honor AP Scholar with Distinction National AP Scholar Number of Scholars 43 11 37 4* Average Score 2.95 3.55 4.1 4.5 AP Scholars since 2009 AP Scholars since 2009 - we had 12 in 2009 and we have had 65 in 2014, 55 in 2015, 54 in 2016 … amazing! 2017 we had 91 AP scholars - 43, 11, 37 (4 from the 37 also earned National AP Scholar)

NEW JERSEY’S STATEWIDE ASSESSMENT PROGRAM YEAR 3 In 2014, New Jersey adopted the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) to replace HSPA at the high school and previous NJASK in the elementary and middle school in language arts and mathematics. In the spring 2015, 2016 & 2017, NJ students took the PARCC: English Language Arts and Literacy Assessments (ELA/L) in grades 3 – 11. Mathematics Assessments in grades 3 – 8 and End of Course Assessments in Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II. The PARCC assessments replaced our old assessments – the NJASK and the HSPA in language arts and math. Students began taking these assessments in third grade, as is required by federal law. As a result of a waiver won by the New Jersey Department of Education, students taking advanced mathematics coursework in middle school took the assessment that was most closely aligned with their coursework. For example, a student in 8th grade who was taking Algebra I as a course took the Algebra I test and did not take the 8th grade math test.

PARCC ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVES Determine whether students are COLLEGE- and CAREER-READY or on track COMPARE PERFORMANCE across states and internationally Assess the FULL RANGE of the COMMON CORE STANDARDS, including standards that are difficult to measure MEASURE THE FULL RANGE OF STUDENT PERFORMANCE, including the performance of high and low performing students Provide data for accountability, including MEASURES OF GROWTH Objectives of PARCC Assessment College and Career Ready Measures Common Core Asks all of the standards Uses technology

PARCC ASSESSMENT SPRING 2017 PARCC Assessments were administered during ONE testing window. 3 ELA and (3 or 4) Mathematics assessment units The same types of questions have been included in this shortened test format (same as 2015, 2016). Verona was granted a waiver to adjust 30 day testing window. Maximize the use of our technology AP Exams will be administered 1st ... PARCC 2nd ... Testing will occur beginning with elementary to middle to high school. We can maximize the use of our technology using this approach VHS takes AP Exams first, the PARCC second District of Columbia Illinois (grades 3-8) Louisiana (uses hybrid PARCC/state test) Maryland Massachusetts (choice) New Jersey* New Mexico Rhode Island Verona administered PARCC during the following dates.

HOW WERE THE PARCC ASSESSMENTS SCORED? Five Performance Levels (650 to 850) 5 Performance Levels Consistent across all 9 grade levels

ELA PARCC RESULTS: Grades 3-11 (% students meeting or exceeding) ELA 11: We had only 22 out of an eligible 119 grade 11 students take the ELA PARCC. We had many students who were exempt because they were taking SUPA Non-Fiction or AP English Language. 18.5% of the class is not enough students to apply any metric. If we wanted to spin this, we had an increase in the % of students who earned a "4 or 5", which was 54.5%. Note: 13.6% of the students who earned a "3" did enough to earn a passing score.

MATH PARCC RESULTS: Grades 3-11 (% students meeting or exceeding) Math 8: The state of NJ is aware of the huge variability of scores when it comes to the PARCC Math 8 and this is why 8th grade teachers do not receive an Student Growth Percentile score (mSGP). Looking at our numbers over the past three years, the percentage of students who earned a "1" has decreased by half. Math 8 is not considered a good measure of math because many schools remove the "motivated" and "gifted" students and accelerate them with either Algebra (mostly) or Geometry. At HBW last year in grade 8, 13.2% of the students were enrolled in Geometry and ALL earned a "4 or 5"; 27% of the students were enrolled in Algebra I and 97.5% of them earned a "4 or 5". The remaining students in grade 8 (59.7%), were enrolled in Math 8 (called Pre-Algebra 8). Algebra II: 60 students out of a possible 156 eligible students took the Algebra II PARCC. This calculates to only 38.5% of the students. On the Algebra II PARCC, a passing score is considered a "3, 4, or 5". Combining both bar graphs on the left in yellow adds up to 68.3%. Looking at students who did not meet (score of a "1"), we had 13.3% students which is a slight improvement from the year before. I was also add that the PARCC Algebra II is the most difficult test our students will take when it comes to PARCC.

RESOURCES FOR PARENTS How can I find out more information about the PARCC Assessments and the Common Core? The PARCC website may be accessed at http://parcc-assessment.org/ The New Jersey Department of Education has a website with information about PARCC at http://www.state.nj.us/education/parcc/ Information about understanding the PARCC results: http://understandthescore.org/ GreatKids State Test Guide for Parents: http://www.greatschools.org/gk/common-core-test-guide/ Be a Learning Hero: http://bealearninghero.org/skill-builder Links that may be useful ...