Officials at Elmore County Schools are looking at ways to improve the state card grades it received.
They are looking for ways to improve absenteeism, graduation rates, college and career readiness and academic achievement and growth. But it is easier said than done.
Academic achievement and growth at the high school level is measured by the ACT. It is the same as the college entrance exam; however, it is administered two different ways.
“We take it electronically for the state report card and students take it on paper for the college entrance exam,” director of secondary schools for the Elmore County Board of Education Dr. Jamey McGowan said. “We can’t take one and replace the other.”
For the last two years the school system has purchased a license to help tutor students for the ACT. Currently it is based on lessons using pencil and paper. It has helped improve the entrance exam scores, but not the electronic version used for the state report card.
“It’s the same test,” superintendent Richard Dennis said. “You would think it would work.”
This school year Elmore County Schools scored a 68.88 in academic achievement. It is just better than last year’s 67.83. The system gained a little ground on academic growth with 98.10 last year to this year’s 98.20.
The graduation rate for the system was 86.21, below last year’s 87.05.
“We are losing some on students not graduating (with their class),” Dennis said. “They may be graduating within a year or two, but we are not able to count them.”
The students who graduated after an additional year of school or completing their GED do not contribute to the graduation rate score.
Overall the system scored an 84 for the 2023-24 report card, one point from last year’s 85.
McGowan said one of the areas the system is improving on is chronic attendance.
As a system the score was 20.15 for the current report card and 17.66 last year.
Chronic absenteeism is when students miss a certain number of school days during the academic year.
Some schools are doing better than others at combating the issue. Eclectic Middle School is using pajama and pizza parties at a class level to encourage attendance. It went from 34.45 to 25.95. At the same time the school’s overall score improved from a 75 to an 83.
“It is something we might want to look at doing elsewhere,” Dennis said. “It is a known fact that if students are in school, they do better on the tests.”
Wetumpka Elementary School saw dramatic improvements across the board. Its overall score improved from 81 to 92 in one year. Chronic absenteeism dropped from 20.38 to 14.22. Academic achievement and growth also improved.
The report card has always been a little higher at Redland Elementary School.
“Once you get a high score, it takes a lot of work to get a little bit of improvement on the report card,” Redland Elementary School principal Cory Eckstein said. “Thanks to all the work of the staff, we have done better.”
Redland Elementary's score improved from a 92 to a 94.
Stanhope Elmore High School’s overall score dropped from a 83 to a 76. It is likely a result related to chronic absenteeism as it increased to a 22.60 from a 18.38.
Wetumpka High School saw its score drop as well from an 86 to a 78 overall. Its academic achievement dropped from a 66.99 to 43.83 and chronic absenteeism increased from 14.14 to 16.41.
“Those are our largest and most diverse schools,” McGowan said.
He said staff are working hard to identify potential solutions to the problem.
Across the board chronic absenteeism might be helped by the court system. New Elmore County District Court Judge Ben Baxley understands how attendance affects education.
“He is on the same page as us,” Dennis said. “You have to be in school to learn and get an education.”
