Windham Ahead of State Average in Science NECAP

Students in the Windham School District had a greater percentage of proficient scores on all three grade levels of the science New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP).

According to a presentation delivered to the board by SAU 28 Curriculum Director Natasha Ondzes, the scores are a snapshot of just this year.

The 2011-2012 scores show over 60 percent of students proficient in grade 4, close to 50 percent proficient in grade 8 and just over 40 percent proficient in grade 11.

Despite scoring better than the state average, some board members felt the results were not yet cause for celebration.

Board member Stephanie Wimmmer said that she would like to see how close those students who scored below proficient in Windham were to getting a proficient result.

Fellow board member Jerome Rekart agreed with Wimmer on the numbers.

"I agree these aren't celebration numbers, but we have to look at the infrastructure that has been provided (to students)," he said, referencing some of the laboratory resources not available to the kids.

"This is about an effort of always striving to be better and to deliver better instruction," he added.

Rekart commended the teachers in the district for getting the scores where they are at now despite what he called "challenges" at the middle school level.

Ondzes explained that New Hampshire has set the bar very high for the NECAP scores on the science side.

"If our schools were compared to other states our proficiency would be extremely high," she said. "It is kind of important to put it in that national context.

Windham Center School Principal Kori-Alice Becht said that the intention of the Department of Education is to maintain the science NECAP.

Ondzes also said that work is being done to make sure science units are vertically aligned as best as possible to promote a system of "checks and balances."

She offered examples, such as making sure teachers on every grade level aren't teaching students dinosaurs or rocks and minerals.

Dating back four years, the scores across all three grades have improved. There are only two years of grade 11 data, but proficient scores this year increased by about 10 percent.