Stillwater Public Schools dives into preliminary academic data

Sep. 19—Stillwater Public Schools has been using the latest screening tools to dive into preliminary academic data across the district.

Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Janet Vinson and Director of Secondary Education Ashley Moore shared academic data at the SPS Board of Education meeting on Sept. 10.

The district implemented screeners such as IXL for elementary math, IStation for elementary reading and English language arts and NWEA Map Growth for second math and English language arts.

Vinson and Moore are fine-tuning not only the ways they track academic data, but also how they can distribute the information.

"We did identify a need for more trend data," Vinson said at the board meeting. "We also identified a need for sixth-12th beginning of the year, middle of the year, end of the year screeners like we had in elementary."

The district screened middle-schoolers last year and have included the junior high and high school for testing for the 2024-25 academic year.

The News Press requested access to specific data regarding English language arts, math and science scores, but Vinson said the scores and comparisons are preliminary and declined to present specifics until her team can further evaluate the data.

She said they will present more data as the school year progresses, using their universal screeners to test students at the beginning, middle and end of year points, which she said tend to be "much more reliable."

Data used in the presentation to assess student academic achievement and growth was gathered from three sources, including the state's Oklahoma School Testing Program, teacher grades and common assessments and from a "universal screener."

"Universal screeners are intended to identify exactly where a child is based on national norms," Vinson told the News Press. "SPS has had universal screeners in place in elementary school for several years, but until this year, we did not have them for sixth-11th grade."

Vinson said with these three data points, the district can better determine the path to take with each student, including "student by student and standard by standard."

"This surgical and prescriptive approach helps all students grow in skills, regardless of achievement level," she said. "We can adjust and improve our instruction, professional development and the tools we use based on these tools."

Going forward, the district is evaluating the results from the universal screeners before they watch any specific area, as the results presented were based only on state scores.

"The state score bands (below basic, basic, proficient and advanced) were reset this year, so there is no comparison to previous years," Vinson said.

Overall, Vinson said findings included a sharp improvement on OSTP scores, which may affect academic standard setting processes by almost 33%. This was due to the new standards set by the Oklahoma State Department of Education, and Vinson said the district was not given advance notice before the change.

"We don't really know what effect it had on our scores," she said.

Despite that sixth- and eighth-grade English language arts, fourth-grade math and all grades in science are seeing an improving trend, and Vinson didn't think that was affected by the OSDE academic standards changing.

Other findings included a dip in sixth-grade advanced math scores and little growth in advanced overall math scores.

Another trend the district is following is ACT scores. According to the data, while the state average is 17.8, Stillwater's ACT overall score is 18.9.

But state averages from 100% ACT states across the nation show that Oklahoma places lower than 11 states, and only Nevada and Arizona have lower 100% state ACT scores, Vinson said.

"We are looking at a four-year decline in ACT scores to determine whether it is still residual learning loss from COVID, or whether we need to improve our practices and support," Vinson said. "We will know more when we have our NWEA Map scores from 9-11 grade."

The most surprising data was the peer-district comparisons, Vinson said. SPS is in the top three to five districts in almost all areas in elementary, with fifth grade ranked No. 1 compared to peer districts in math, science and English language arts.

"Also, our overall science scores are very encouraging," she said.

Moore, secondary education director, also presented in-district data and peer-district comparisons. She shared in-depth charts that show trends and how certain grades are performing.

For 11th-grade science, Stillwater scored a 39 on its state College and Career-Readiness Assessment. In comparison with other 6A schools, Edmond area schools and Deer Creek scored higher, although Board President Marshall Baker pointed out that according to OSDE results, Deer Creek has 14% of families who are disadvantaged, compared to Stillwater with 47% disadvantaged families.

For 11th-grade history, Stillwater scored lower at 50, with other area schools scoring in the 50s to 70s. Moore said some comparison schools were smaller, and she wants to find out how other schools are testing.

Vinson recommended the district use the new 2024 data information as a baseline only and said the team would re-evaluate ninth-12th essential standards for ACTs and use cohort data (same graduating class and state assessment tests, different testing years) and district-to-district data to help determine best practices. They also plan to meet with principals to discuss comparisons, trend lines and strategy.