High schools to gauge progress on tests

Teachers preparing students to meet federal act's targets

The academic health of Lawrence’s two high schools will be tested in three months.

Principals of Free State High School and Lawrence High School have made a priority of improving student scores on required reading and math assessments to meet targets under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

They’ll see how well they’ve done after the next round of tests.

“Our teachers have focused quite a bit on helping students to be prepared for the exams,” said Steve Nilhas, the first-year principal at LHS.

Based on spring 2003 assessments, LHS didn’t meet “adequate yearly progress” targets in reading for disabled and low-income students and in math for disabled students.

Free State Principal Joe Snyder said testing identified progress deficiencies in reading among that school’s students with disabilities.

Teachers have been working collaboratively on specific needs of Free State students during the first half of the 2003-2004 academic year, he said. At the same time, he said, the primary goal has been to raise achievement among all students.

“That’s been more of our focus than a specific assessment,” Snyder said.

Supt. Randy Weseman said the overall academic condition of the high schools was good.

“Anyone would do well to have their kids in our high schools,” he said. “They hang in there with high schools across the United States.”

He said there were many ways to measure the academic performance of a high school.

The graduation rates at LHS and Free State have improved during the past five years. In May 2003, he said, Free State and LHS graduated 92 percent of the class. The graduation rate in Kansas public schools is 85 percent.

It’s possible, Weseman said, that opening Free State in 1997-1998 set the stage for improvement in Lawrence’s graduation numbers. In the last year that the district had only one high school, only 81 percent of the class of 1997 earned a diploma.

“To make them smaller makes them feel part of something. There is less alienation,” he said.

The district has had 10 or more National Merit Scholarship semifinalists in four out of the last five years. In the past two years, 19 of the 22 semifinalists have been enrolled at Free State.

“We have talented kids in this town and sometimes they end up on the other side of the boundary line,” Weseman said. “When I look at the quality of teachers and the course offerings, I feel good about that being equitable.”