Future Student State Assessment Performance Discussed at Levittown BOE Meeting

Story and photos by Chris Boyle.

At this month’s meeting of the Levittown Board of Education, the district signaled their intention to batten down the hatches in terms of their prep work for this year’s New York State assessment tests, an area they admitted they had been lacking in the past.

Assistant Superintendent of Instruction Debbie Rifkin held a presentation at the meeting, where she compared student grades in English Language Arts (ELA), Math, and Science state assessment tests to those of neighboring school districts; a comparison that, unfortunately, cast the Levittown district in a somewhat unflattering light.

Rifkin revealed an Action Plan that the district plans to implement this year to address the areas in which their students are deficient when it comes to state testing.

“We identified some areas that we did well in, and some areas we know that we need improvement in,” she said. “We’ve identified three major areas that we’ll be focusing on...we’ll talk about our current reality, what our goals are, and how we plan to reach those goals.”

One area Rifkin highlighted were the ELA and Math scores of grades 3-8.

“In most areas in Math and ELA, we hovered right around the Nassau County average,” she said. “But when compared to neighboring districts, such as East Meadow, Island Trees, Hicksville, Seaford, and Wantagh, we did not meet the standards of our surrounding districts.”

The district’s goal for this area is, by April 2013, to reduce the gap in scores between Levittown and surrounding districts by 50 percent.

Rifkin also discussed high school Regents scores, which she said also needed some work in certain areas.

“Levittown exceeds the county average for passing on all Regents exams except Chemistry,” she said. “When it comes to mastery, we have some work to do in the areas of Math and Science.”

The district’s goal for this area is, by June 2013, to improve Chemistry Regents passing rate to meet the Nassau County average, in addition to improving mastery rates in Math and Science.

“We’re going to be having a concentrated effort in using our principals, our curriculum associates, and working with the teachers to analyze date from last year’s classes,” said Superintendent Grossane. “We will improve and get to the level we should be performing at.”

Assistant Superintendent Rifkin also had good news on her plate, as she announced a special distinction for one of the district’s elementary schools.

“We’re very excited to honor Summit Lane Elementary School,” she said. “They were recognized by the New York State Education Department as a ‘Rewards School.’ There are 250 schools in New York State recognized as such, and we’re proud to say that Summit Lane is one of them. Congradualtions.”

In order to qualify as a Rewards School, a school must meet certain requirements that establish them as ‘high performing.’ Among these requirements include making positive annual progress for two academic years; having a performance index for Math and English combined in the top ten percent of all schools; and having above-average student growth both English Language Arts and Math.  

Superintendent Grossane applauded the success of the staff and students of Summit.

“We just want to thank the staff at Summit for the fine job they did this year,” he said. “This is an outstanding achievement, and we know that this will continue progressing this way...we have the highest hopes for Summit to lead the way for the rest of the district.”

Grossane also announced a special milestone for the Levittown school district.

“We’re celebrating the 50th anniversary of General Douglas MacArthur high school this year,” he said. “They have a very distinguished history in terms of their achievements, and we wish to congratulate them.”