Three elementary schools meet PSS’ 2010 goals

Three of the 12 public elementary schools on the islands have successfully achieved and met the Public School System’s goal for school year 2010, according to the Board of Education. That goal is to see the students scoring above the 50th percentile on the Stanford Achievement Test, or SAT-10.

The results of the April 2008 SAT-10 show a continuation of the 10-year trend of student learning gains, with the Gregorio T. Camacho, San Vicente, and Tinian elementary schools becoming the first public schools in the CNMI to meet the goal a year ahead.

Saipan Tribune learned that GTC, for the third consecutive year, met the 2008 goal with over 80 percent of its students reading at or above their grade levels.

The island’s second largest elementary, San Vicente with it 845 students, reached its 2010 goal with student scores exceeding the 52nd national percentile—the fourth consecutive year it has done so.

Tinian Elementary also met the 2010 student learning goal.

At the GTC elementary, third graders scored at the 78th percentile, fifth graders at 66th percentile, and 6th graders at the 61st percentile on the SAT-10 complete battery.

In San Vicente, the third graders’ battery aggregate score was at the 53rd percentile, the fifth graders scored at the 47th percentile, and the sixth graders scored at the 59th percentile.

The SVES overall SAT 10 score in 2007 was at the 53rd percentile. In all three grades tested, SVES students scored well above the adequate yearly progress target for each grade.

Additionally, 70 percent of SVES students are reading at or above their grade levels.

PSS said five other schools showed substantial learning gains on the SAT-10 with student scoring above the 40th percentile on average.

It said all schools remained focused on the PSS 2008 goal: that 80 percent of the students are reading at or above grade level.

Federal programs officer Tim Thornbugh said yesterday the consolidated federal and local monies played an integral part in the schools’ success data.

PSS, for next school year, proposes to use $3 million of the over $9 million consolidated grant to buy educational and instructional materials, including computer software and hardware under the grant’s Innovative Assistance Program.

Each of 20 public schools develops innovative assistance programs that are tailored to the educational needs of the students at that school, as determined by student scores on the SAT-10, Star Reading program, Star Math Program, and on the CNMI standards-based assessments of student achievement.