October 27, 2021
Lee Evancho
Public Information Officer Ben Nunnaly shared the results from the the first-ever Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program have been released, and Jacksonville City Schools had a great showing in the inaugural exams, including an overall rank of 23 among the school districts throughout the state.
The ACAP covers English language arts, science and math for students in grades two through eight, and will be given annually from now on.
Official Release
Results from the Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program show Jacksonville City Schools ranked 23rd overall among the more than 150 school districts in the state, and ranked second in Calhoun County.
The ACAP evaluates students in grades two through eight for their skill in English language arts and math, with science testing for grades four, six and eight. According to results reported by the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama, the district ranked 13 in English language arts, 24 in science and 43 for math. Those scores put Jacksonville City Schools 16 points above the state average in English, nine points above the science average and two points above the average in math.
This was the first year for the state Department of Education’s ACAP evaluation, and also the year immediately following the COVID-19 pandemic, which took hours of classroom time away from students and teachers statewide as they balanced education and safety. Jacksonville was just as affected, but still showed high performance during the ACAP’s inaugural round of testing.
“This is the benchmark year, and we came out strong,” said Cortney Dilgard, curriculum coordinator for Jacksonville City Schools.
Other highlights from the PARCA report showed Kitty Stone Elementary fourth graders ranked with the eighth best English language arts performance in the state, and number one in the county, with the fifth grade ranking 13 in the state, the third grade ranking 15th and the sixth grade ranking 25 out of all sixth-grade classes statewide.
Meanwhile, seventh and eighth graders at Jacksonville High School ranked 11 and 13, respectively, among their peers in the state.
Despite beating the state average in each category, the goal is now to improve on those scores. Strategies include:
— Math coaching for grades four through eight.
— New math books and new digital resources for all. students, as well as an Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative coach to help teachers gather and assess data, plan lessons and better help students.
— Hiring interventionists for Kitty Stone and Jacksonville High; their job is to help students who have fallen behind catch back up to their classmates.
— Professional development for teachers at Jacksonville High School including 30 hours of AMSTI Foundations training for math teachers already attended over the summer, and University of Alabama writing instruction for kindergarten to eighth-grade teachers.
— New iReady assessment programs to help teachers identify gaps in student knowledge, and more iReady resources to address any required remediation.
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