In the summer of 1996, through some connections, I landed a part-time gig writing for two weekly newspapers: The Cass Lake (Minn.) Times and the Northwoods Press of Nevis, Minn. During the summer while I was interning at The Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer, I also wrote a number of features and covered some Laporte (Minn.) School Board meetings for these two papers. I ended up with some great stories, and received a food following among their readers.
June 13, 1996
By Devlyn Brooks
Laporte students received another report card at last Tuesday's Laporte School Board meeting: The results of the Minnesota Basic Standards Test they took a short while ago.
High school Principal Cleo Johannsen, who was at the meeting to explain the test scores, told the board the 8th grade Laporte students who took the test basically scored similar to the state average and also to schools surrounding the district.
Johannsen said that "happy" was not the word to describe how she felt about the test scores, but she said she was not surprised.
Starting in the year 2000, all children graduating from high school must pass the Basic Standards Test in order to be eligible for a diploma. The Minnesota Basic Standards Test this year evaluated students in two areas, mathematics and reading.
Johannsen said this year students only needed a 70 percent score on both the reading and mathematics aspects of the test. Next year, she said, the students would have to score 75 percent, and the year after, 80 percent.
Johannsen said that overall 71 percent, or 25 out of 35, of the students passed the math portion of the test, and 57 percent, or 20 out of the 35, passed the reading portion of it. She also said that of the students who did not pass, most were in the 50 to 69 percent category, which was close to passing.
"We found that some of the areas we need to work on in the math are percentages and ratio problem solving, estimation and chance and data," Johannsen said. Excluding these three areas, the rest of the math areas were all above 70 percent.
Johannsen said the scores would have been higher if they would not have included the Chapter 1 and special education students' scores. Without those, 94 percent would have passed the math section and 83 percent the reading section.
However, it was each individual district's decision whether to include those scores or not, she said.
Board member Sharon Shuster said it was important to remember that the Laporte School District was different than bigger districts.
"One students' score can change the average," she said.
"It's the law of averages," board member John Seegmiller said, "but the state loves averages because they can misconstrue them how they want for the Legislature."
Seegmiller also said there was a negative side to the Basic Standards Test.
"The teachers are going to start teaching kids to take the tests, and not teaching the basics," he said.
Johannsen told the board she was proud of the students who took the test because she "truly believed that every student in there did their best."
"The scores," Seegmiller said, "look good when you take out the Chapter 1 and special education kids. We must be doing something right. This provides a barometer to see where we are."
The mathematics section of the test is comprised of eight areas, some of which are whole numbers and fractions problem solving, number sense, tables and graphs, measurement and shape and space.
The reading section was comprised of only two aspects, literal comprehension and inferential comprehension. According to an informational sheet concerning the Basic Standards Test, in the literal comprehension area, students had to "choose or compose an answer that is explicitly stated in the test, but is expressed in words different from that of the item."
In the inferential comprehension area, students were required to "draw understanding from a test that is not explicitly stated in the test," stated the same sheet.
IN OTHER ACTION, THE BOARD:
AUTHORIZED the transfer of money from the district's general fund to the food service fund.
REFERRED several position negotiations, including the sports staff, over to the negotiations committee, which will meet throughout June and conduct interviews in the last week of June.
PROPOSED that next year's kindergarten classes have more of a fixed schedule. It was suggested that students attend one or two schedules, either Monday, Wednesday and Friday or Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. The Friday class would have both groups of students combined.
AUTHORIZED Superintendent Tom Behounek to hire summer personnel as needed to make repairs around the school.
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