HANCOCK COUNTY — Melia Hammons joked she’d love to say she was the reason for Eden Elementary School’s recent high accountability rating from the federal government.
But it’s the entire staff, added the principal of the Greenfield school, which teaches kindergarten through third grade.
Eden Elementary’s Federal 2018-19 School Accountability Ratings exceeded expectations overall as well as in English/language arts achievement, math achievement and addressing chronic absenteeism.
“Everyone is here to help students in any way possible,” Hammons said. “That’s the culture of the building. They come to school ready to help students achieve and reach our goals.”
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryThat continues when the students go home, she continued.
“Their families do a great job of supporting their students as well on that mission and value their learning,” she said.
Eden is one of three Hancock County schools that exceeded expectations overall in their recent federal accountability ratings. All remaining schools with ratings met expectations overall, while a few did not meet expectations in specific categories. Administrators at many of those that did not meet expectations attribute the ratings to the new statewide education assessment, which was used in the scoring for the federal ratings after getting off to a rocky start with poor scores across Indiana.
Multiple indicators make up the federal ratings, which are measured as either exceeding, meeting, approaching or not meeting expectations. Indicators receive scores and ratings based on performance relative to the state’s long-term goals, according to information released by the Indiana Department of Education.
Indiana Learning Evaluation Assessment Readiness Network, or ILEARN — the state’s new education assessment — is used to measure the federal ratings’ achievement indicators, like the English/language arts and math ones Eden Elementary School exceeded in.
Fewer than half of Hancock County elementary and middle school students who took the new ILEARN exam last spring passed. The exam resulted in poor performance across the state.
New Palestine Elementary School did not meet expectations in English/language arts closing gaps and math closing gaps. The closing gaps indicator measures adequate growth toward proficiency on the state English/language arts and math assessments with a focus on the lowest-performing 25% of students. It applies to grades four through eight.
Katy Eastes, principal at New Palestine Elementary, told the Daily Reporter in an email that the school added an employee dedicated to student intervention after analyzing its ILEARN data.
“More than ever, we are utilizing data throughout the school year to identify students that may be in need of some extra help prior to ILEARN testing,” Eastes said. “ILEARN is a new test that provides significantly more student data than we’ve ever received from an assessment. We are grateful to have this data so that we can specifically target student needs.”
After much of the state experienced low ILEARN scores, Indiana officials asked state lawmakers to “hold schools harmless,” meaning the scores wouldn’t negatively impact school A-F accountability grades and teacher evaluations.
That doesn’t impact federal ratings, however.
“Those are just kind of the bumps and bruises that come with a new test,” said Wes Anderson, director of school and community relations for Southern Hancock schools.
Because last year was the first for New Palestine Intermediate School, there were no previous scores to calculate growth, and so the school did not receive a federal accountability rating.
Greenfield’s Weston and Harris elementary schools exceeded expectations overall and in math academic achievement. Both teach kindergarten through third grade.
Sarah Greulich, Harris principal, said the school corporation directs a lot of resources toward working with teachers on effective instruction and planning success for students. Those resources include a strong math curriculum that cycles back on itself in an effort to ensure students gain confidence as they learn, she continued.
“Students responded really, really well to a lot of hard work directed at them,” she said.
Matt Davis, Weston principal, said the school’s success starts with its staff.
“We have an environment that cares about kids and puts kids first in everything we do,” Davis said. “When you walk in the building, you can see that the kids know that we care about them, and that helps the learning to occur so much easier.”
Mt. Vernon Middle School did not meet expectations in math closing gaps. In an email do the Daily Reporter, Principal Benjamin Williams cited steps the school took after last year’s ILEARN to enhance math instruction. One of those steps was increasing math instruction for sixth-graders to 80 minutes a day, up from 50 minutes a day in the past.
The school also instituted a process that places an educational focus on state standards, teaching, collaboration and student data assessment, Williams continued. Re-teaching struggling students, a web-based math product for students, ILEARN training sessions for math teachers and a weekly review in which math students attempt to solve problems throughout the week are part of the school’s strategy as well.
Greenfield Central Junior High School also did not meet expectations in math closing gaps. Principal Dan Jack said the school is working to address that through one of its goals and through part of its professional development theme this year of working with underachieving students.
“We’ve taken a specialized focus on how do we motivate students — how do we engage them in math and English especially,” Jack said.
The school hired math and literary coaches to work with math and English teachers, he continued. Jack said the school also employs various levels of remediation for students who are falling behind, like special education classes.
“We’re hopeful that by casting a wide net, we can see some improvement,” he said.
Mt. Vernon High School exceeded expectations in its graduation rate, which was almost 96% in the 2018-19 school year. Principal Casey Dodd credited teachers, strong family connections and counselors.
“Each student’s counselor works with students throughout their high school career to ensure they are fulfilling all requirements and staying on track to graduate,” Dodd told the Daily Reporter in an email.
Eastern Hancock’s high school and middle school did not meet expectations in addressing chronic absenteeism. Adam Barton, principal of both schools, said attendance has been high historically at the schools but that the last couple of groups have dropped slightly.
“We look at a number of factors when we’re looking at that as far as trying to make sure that kids are excited about what they’re doing at school,” Barton said. “We’re finding ways to keep kids involved in activities and involved in what they’re doing in class, so that when they are finding success in the classroom and finding success outside of the classroom, their attendance will increase.”
Attendance and student-of-the-month awards are some of the strategies for creating incentives for students that aim to decrease absenteeism, he continued.
In Indiana, more than 56% of high schools and more than 53% of elementary and middle schools either met or exceeded expectations in the recent federal accountability ratings, according to the Indiana Department of Education.
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Federal 2018-2019 Overall School Accountability Ratings
Eastern Hancock Community School Corporation
Eastern Hancock Elementary School: Meets expectations
Eastern Hancock Middle School: Meets expectations
Eastern Hancock High School: Meets expectations
Greenfield-Central Community Schools
Eden Elementary School: Exceeds expectations
Harris Elementary School: Exceeds expectations
J.B. Stephens Elementary School: Meets expectations
Weston Elementary School: Exceeds expectations
Greenfield Central Junior High School: Meets expectations
Greenfield Intermediate School: Meets expectations
Maxwell Intermediate School: Meets expectations
Greenfield-Central High School: Meets expectations
Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation
Mt. Vernon Early Learning Academy: No rating
Fortville Elementary School: Meets expectations
McCordsville Elementary School: Meets expectations
Mt. Comfort Elementary School: Meets expectations
Mt. Vernon Middle School: Meets expectations
Mt. Vernon High School: Meets expectations
Southern Hancock Community School Corporation
Brandywine Elementary School: Meets expectations
New Palestine Elementary School: Meets expectations
Sugar Creek Elementary School: Meets expectations
New Palestine Jr. High School: Meets expectations
New Palestine Intermediate School: No rating
New Palestine High School: Meets expectations
Source: Indiana Department of Education
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