Still image from Hoover City Schools video
Students work on a coding project at Riverchase Elementary School in Hoover, Alabama, in December 2022.
Elementary and middle school students in the Hoover school system continue to show progress in math and English performance, according to mid-year benchmark tests given this winter, the district’s chief academic officer told the Hoover school board Tuesday night.
The percentage of K-8 students on grade level has increased 3 percentage points in math from 62% to 65% since the beginning of this school year and 2 percentage points in English from 65% to 67%, Chief Academic Officer Chris Robbins said.
That’s also 5 percentage points higher in English than the winter before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Robbins said. In math, the percentage of students on grade level was 1 percentage point less than pre-COVID mid-year levels, he said.
Broken down by school, Greystone Elementary had the highest percentage of students on grade level at 77% in math and 81% in English, followed by Bluff Park Elementary with 76% on grade level in math and 78% on grade level in English, according to numbers shared by Robbins.
Green Valley Elementary had the lowest percentage of students on grade level (55% in math and 57% in English).
Hoover’s benchmark tests also identify the percentage of students who are in greater need of academic intervention (meaning they fell in the bottom 25% of students nationally and are significantly below grade level).
These results also showed progress, with the percentage of K-8 students needing intervention dropping from 15% to 13% in English and 18% to 15% in math.
Broken down by school, Greystone Elementary had the lowest percentage of students needing intervention (7% in both English and math). Bluff Park had only 6% of its students needing intervention in English and 9% needing intervention in math. Green Valley Elementary had the highest percentage of students needing intervention (24% in math and 22% in reading).
The benchmark tests also gauge whether students are “on track” to meet their target growth gains for the year. At the mid-year mark, 63% of Hoover K-8 students were on track to meet their targeted growth in English, and 64% were on track to meet their targeted growth in math. That’s 2 percentage points less in math than at the mid-year point the previous school year but identical to “on track” performance in English the previous year, Robbins said.
Broken down by school, Bluff Park Elementary had the greatest percentage of students on track to meet growth targets (72% in math and 76% in English), followed by South Shades Crest Elementary School (71% in math and 74% in English).
Brock’s Gap Intermediate School had the lowest percentage of students on track to meet growth targets in math (55%), and Bumpus Middle School had the lowest percentage of students on track to meet growth targets in English (53%).
This year’s winter benchmark test also showed the gap between black and white students in achieving desired growth had shrunk this year in English. Last year, black students in Hoover elementary and middle schools were 10 percentage points behind white students in achieving desired growth in English at the mid-year point, and this year, that gap had shrunk to 7 percentage points, Robbins said.
In math, the gap between black and white students grew by 1 percentage point from 4% to 5%.
There were no mid-year benchmark assessments given for grades 9-12.
Robbins told the school board he was encouraged by the mid-year test results overall.
“We’re moving in the right direction,” he said. “The things that need to get larger are getting larger, and the things that need to get smaller are getting smaller.”
More detailed test results given to administrators and teachers help them identify what’s going well and where there is the most need for improvement, Robbins said. Administrators and teachers will continue to monitor the growth of all students and subgroups and make adjustments accordingly, Robbins said.
They also will continue to gather data to guide summer professional development decisions and to identify priorities for the next school year, he said.
The next benchmark test is the Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program test, which begins in April, Robbins said. “We want our students to finish strong and our teachers to finish strong,” he said.
See the complete mid-year benchmark test result slideshow in this photo gallery:
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In other business Tuesday night, the Hoover school board:
- Rejected a bid from Jared Building Co. for renovation work at the Riverchase Career Connection Center to convert one classroom into a cosmetology and barbering classroom. School officials solicited bids from seven builders and only received one, said Matt Wilson, the school system’s director of operations. It was about $625,000, and school officials had anticipated the cost to be in the $360,000 or $370,000 range, Wilson said. Wilson said he will now try to negotiate a contract at a more acceptable price.
- Heard a report from Claire Jones-Moore, the executive director of exceptional education, that the school system’s preschool program at Trace Crossings Elementary likely will need to be split up between Trace Crossings and Riverchase elementary schools because the program has grown to about 130 preschoolers.
- Awarded a bid for athletic uniforms and equipment for Hoover High School and Bumpus and Simmons middle schools to BSN, which supplies Under Armour apparel and equipment. BSN is the same supplier those schools have been using, Chief Financial Officer Michele McCay said.
- Approved a job description for a new position called coordinator of administrative services to lessen the workload on some of the administrators at the central office
- Agreed to purchase additional kits to add air conditioners on more school buses. Superintendent Dee Fowler that should leave the school system with only 12 buses without air conditioning at the beginning of the next school year.
- Received copies of an updated version of the book “History of the Hoover City School System,” originally written and published in 2017 by former school board member Charles Hickman and updated last year by former Hoover Assistant Superintendent Ron Dodson
- Recognized Kandis Chatman, a speech language pathologist at Deer Valley Elementary, and Crystal Perry, an English language learner specialist at Deer Valley and Brock’s Gap Intermediate School for being chosen as presenters on diversity, equity and inclusion at the Speech and Hearing Association of Alabama’s 2023 conference
- Recognized Riverchase Elementary first grade teacher Kelly Grande for being chosen as Drummond Teacher of the Month, for which she received a $500 grant that enabled her to purchase an audio system for her classroom
- Recognized the Riverchase Elementary fifth grade math team for placing first in the small school division at a tournament at Hayden Middle School on Feb. 4
- Recognized the Spain Park High School wrestling team for placing in the top five teams in the state this year and for having two team members, William Conlon and Rayshon Burts, as individual state champions in their weight classes
- Received a draft of a new strategic plan from consultant Marcia Burke, who has been working on the project since November. The Hoover Sun plans to share more about this strategic plan in the future.
