Ohio County Schools Officials Credit PSAT With Boosting Wheeling Park High Test Scores

WHEELING - Wheeling Park High School had some of its highest-ever standardized test scores this year, and administrators are crediting college entrance preliminary testing for helping to achieve those results.

JoJo Shay, innovation coordinator for Ohio County Schools, and Ashlea Minch, the school district's new director of assessment and federal programs, broke down Ohio County's results on the most recent West Virginia Summative Assessment before board of education members this week.

Students in elementary and middle schools take the West Virginia Summative Assessment between grades 3-8. All high school students, meanwhile, take the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) college entrance exam when they are in grade 11.

Previously, the high school students weren't subject to any type of standardized testing in 9th or 10th grade prior to taking the SAT their junior year, Minch explained. But the school district is now paying for students to take the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test in 9th and 10th grades.

This gives administrators a system to track students throughout their freshmen and sophomore years to determine where they may have weaknesses, she continued. Any problems the students may have can now be assessed and addressed.

"We wanted to drive it down to the (individual) students and see what they can do," Minch said. "We have a system for third through eighth grade (students) that tracks them all the way through, and then for ninth and 10th there was just nothing tracking those kids. So here's 11th grade, and we're going to give you a college entrance exam.

"So now we're going to be looking at the individual students. We're nailing it down to those students who were 'meets' or 'exceeds' (proficiency) in eighth grade, who did well on the ninth grade PSAT, and we're just trying to keep them on track to improve those scores."

Wheeling Park High school had its highest scores ever on SAT this past year, including a 31.7% proficiency result in math that was among the highest in the state.

"While that 31% proficiency doesn't scream that that is great, that is the third best in West Virginia and not far off from the top," Minch said. "It's awesome, but obviously we're always going to strive to be a little bit higher."

According to the West Virginia Department of Education database, Monongalia County (37.25%) and Putnam County (35.23%) have higher proficiency scores among all their 11th grade students than Ohio County.

Board president David Croft asked Shay and Minch to remind those present what the meaning of "proficiency" is as measured in the West Virginia Summative Assessment.

The pair explained that "proficiency" isn't a set percentage of questions right that students must achieve, but rather a range of knowledge they must demonstrate by their selected answers. "Proficiency" standards are determined by the company who created the test, they explained.

"But it doesn't necessarily mean that 31.7% of our children can or cannot do math? Correct?" Croft asked. "I think it is easy to misunderstand what is meant by what is or isn't proficient. Proficiency is a standard set by somebody, but not necessarily (indicating) whether you can you read or do math."

"Who we like to focus on are those kids (just below the proficiency line) that can get up over that hump," Minch said. "Sometimes that's a very possible thing, and sometimes it's not possible and that's what we work through with the staff."