The numbers are terrible. Following the trend across the state, math and English test scores in Warwick schools for grades 3 through 8 fell in the past two years with Warwick lagging behind its neighbors.

But far from being defeated, school administrators not only see some positives in the numbers, such as the results at Park School and others, but are taking steps to actively engage students and parents in using teaching systems to improve learning including initiation of one-hour academic academies before or after the school day starting in December.

“The focus is on student achievement not consolidation,” Assistant Superintendent William McCaffrey said Friday as the state’s overall anemic performance in the Rhode Island Comprehensive Assessment (RICAS) made headlines. The effects of the pandemic and distance learning have taken the lion’s share of blame for the depressing numbers. District numbers for Warwick students grades 3 through 8 scoring proficient is 14.5 percent as compared to 26.5 percent in 2019.  In ELA (English language arts) 30.1 percent of students were proficient, a drop of 7.8 percent from 2019. Statewide, 20 percent reached proficiency in math and 33.2 percent in ELA.

McCaffrey clearly underscores a shift in priorities since the tenure of former Superintendent Philip Thornton, who was faced with downsizing the district in response to declining enrollment. Thornton led the closure of several elementary schools, the conversion to a middle school system leading to the closure of Aldrich and Gorton junior high schools, and the closure of Veterans High School that left the district with two high schools. Vets transitioned into a middle school.

With the emphasis on achievement, the district is establishing baselines that teachers and parents can use to measure performance.

In a statement released Tuesday, Superintendent Lynn Dambruch said, “We are taking responsibility as a district to focus on accelerating learning. In order to accomplish this, we will be offering after school academic programs, revising the curriculum in several subjects at the secondary level, adopting a new ELA curriculum and resources at the elementary level and we have increased the number of math interventionists. Administrators and teachers are concentrating on moving forward and will be challenging students, as well as offering supports as needed.”

Administrators and for that matter teachers and parents have a remarkable amount of data available at a click of a mouse. Warwick has a one-to-one system, meaning every student from kindergarten to high school senior has a Chromebook. The district is using a program developed by i-Ready that gives each student their own “Clever” account where they can access “My Path.” Using My Path, students work on assignments and take tests.

Results are so readily available that on Tuesday, Patricia Counsineau director of elementary education, logged in to get real time diagnostics, which she could do district-wide, by school and grade and by student.

As of this Tuesday, she said 23 percent of 3rd to 8th graders were above or at proficiency in ELA. Thirty-four percent were one year behind and 23 percent were two or more years behind. Of the same 5,454 students, 16 percent were proficient, 50 percent were behind one year and 35 percent were two years behind in math.

Starting with a baseline

In an email following an interview Friday, Lisa A. Schultz, Ph.D., Warwick Director of Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment, and RTI wrote, “This data is important, and we need to share our ‘new baseline’ as well as bright spots throughout the community of Warwick Public Schools, of which there are many.” She lists as bright spots: Park Elementary School, which had the second highest growth score in the state for math on the RICAS test; Greenwood, which also had a high growth score – well above the state average, along with Sherman and Scott. Scott and Cedar Hill

schools are commended for having the highest achievement score in math in the district – above the state average.

Reporting on a meeting school representatives had with the Commissioner of Education last week, Shultz said data across the state for state testing is lower than in previous years, and the areas of the state that were hardest hit by COVID-19 had scores that declined the most.

“Students who were in-person at schools did 13% better on state tests overall than students who learned via distance learning.  There was less participation in state testing last year than in previous years, which had an effect on scores, and makes it hard to compare scores year to year,” Schultz said they were told.

McCaffrey said he and Dambruch have made information on student as well as overall school performance accessible to the public and that it would be regularly shared at School Committee meetings.

Schultz and Cousineau call parents critical partners in the educational process. They want parents not only to have the information on their child’s or children’s performance but to also access to the tools to work with them.

Reading to kids

Foremost, they say, is for parents to read to their children. They also urge parents to become more engaged in their child’s education and talk with their child’s teacher and principal.

Diving into the scores by grade, Shultz and Cousineau are concerned too many students lack the fundamentals that provide a base for the next concept. For example, if 4th graders can’t comprehend geometry they’re going to have difficulty with fractions in the 5th grade, and if they don’t understand fractions they’re going to have problems with statistics and probability in 6th grade.

They said writing is the major shortcoming in English.

To address these issues and give students somewhat of a rocket boost, the department is looking to start academic academies in mid-December for grades 3 through 8 who are having difficulty with content that would run for an hour before or after school twice weekly. The academies would be run by district teachers and paid for from federal funds. Cousineau has written to teachers looking to recruit them for the academies. Once staffed and using individual test results as well as teacher and principal recommendations, the parents of students needing help will be asked to enrolls their child in an academy. The i-Ready system is intuitive and as it monitors a student’s performance it progressively challenges them to a higher level of work.

Declining test scores are not restricted to elementary and middle school students. The SAT ELA test (high school), scores dropped statewide from 50.5% to 48%. For Warwick’s SAT ELA test, scores dropped from 50.7% to 48.5%.

For the SAT Math test, scores dropped statewide from 31% to 26%.

For Warwick’s SAT Math test, scores dropped from 25% to 21%, Shultz said.

She said the district has a plan to improve achievement in the district overall.

“The state scores have been shared with principals, who will be reviewing data with their teachers and leadership teams. School Improvement Plans will be implemented to target areas of need.  After-school academies will begin at every level starting in trimester two to help students who are struggling with content,” she said in her email.

“In addition, schools have posted ‘data walls’ that show the beginning of year baseline scores.  Teachers, students, and families will all take part in helping to raise these scores in order to meet the school-wide goals.”

A cheerleader for Warwick schools, Shultz finds many positives to the district. She said there are many dedicated professionals who are motivated to move Warwick in a positive direction and many new directors in place at the administration building who are working diligently to improve teaching and learning within the school buildings.

Shultz also listed other initiatives, including:

• - More than 200 teachers are taking part in an intensive training on the science of reading this year called “LETRS.” This will help students in the area of reading.  In addition, a new math curriculum and materials are being purchased at the elementary level this year.
• - New materials have already been purchased at the elementary and secondary levels for math and ELA over the past three years, which is helping to increase student collaboration and critical thinking.
• - In addition, there is curriculum writing and revision happening at all levels in the schools this year to ensure that students are being taught content that is relevant and engaging. “We have an all-encompassing vision for Warwick's instruction – the Vision of a Graduate, which has been communicated to all teachers and helps unite the district with common goals,” she said.