COAL TOWNSHIP - State-mandated testing at Shamokin Area Middle/High School will be further spread out this year to reduce student exhaustion and stress, a district official said this week.
Ruby Michetti, curriculum coordinator, said during Tuesday's school board meeting that the middle/high school will follow a model already adopted at the elementary level by taking one section rather than several sections of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment exams each testing day.
Testing at the middle/high school will begin March 20 and wrap up March 29. Michetti said those tests will be administered Tuesday to Thursday, a purposeful avoidance of Mondays and Fridays. Students are "more active" in mid-week, she said.
Testing at the elementary will be from March 19 to March 22, resuming the following March 26 and ending the next day.
Middle/high school students will undergo a "dry run" on March 19 to be sure they know the general routine of where they need to be and what to expect the following day.
There are three standardized tests each in both math and reading which are administered district-wide to students in grades three to eight and grade 11.
Under the old format for middle/high school students, tests in both subjects would be administered over the course of three days. The testing would begin at 8 a.m. and stretch beyond 11:30 a.m., with one break in between. Because the PSSAs are not a timed test, Michetti said students in need of extra time would continue testing into the afternoon.
"Getting the tests done isn't an answer to getting the highest performance," Michetti said Friday of the old format.
The change this year doubles the amount of days to complete the six total exams and lessens the amount of time older students will spend throughout the course of a school day on the PSSAs.
Test security
Security surrounding the PSSAs has increased in light of allegations in 2010 that the integrity of the exams in several Pennsylvania school districts was corrupted.
Michetti explained Friday that state Department of Education will now assign a unique number to each test booklet, which is then in turn assigned to a single student. Districts must maintain a list for at least three years tracking to whom each booklet was assigned, she said.
All district personnel involved in the testing at any level are required to sign a security certification form that, at all times, they followed state requirements for the security of the tests. If someone refuses to sign the form, she said PDE must be notified.
When testing is finished and the booklets are ready to be returned to the state, each booklet must first be sealed in a plastic wrapper before being shipped to PDE, Michetti said.
Other business
The district school board voted during its monthly meeting to:
- Appoint the following people to prep students in grades three to six for two hours over the next four Saturdays, with compensation of $18.50 an hour: Donna Talisesky, Dana Rutkowski, Karen Martin, Sarah Boughner, Inga Hinterliter, Ashley Talisesky, Sarah Krieger, Jen Neary and Karen Stewart, substitute.
- Approve Paul J. Zarko III, of Mount Carmel, as a driver for busing contractor, Marvin Klinger Inc., for the remainder of the school year.
- Add Dan Foor, of Coal Township, to the professional substitute list, and Sharon Wheary, of Coal Township, to the non-instructional substitute list.
- Acknowledge students of the month, senior Rebecca Dressler, who also qualified for the regional chorus festival, and eighth-grader Jake Weaver, along with Ivy Savidge, who qualified for the state MathCounts competition.
- Allow band director Kevin Styer to accompany the high school band to a performance at the Music Showcase Festival in Doswell, Va., at no cost to the district. The students will be leave May 4 and return May 6, and can participate in fundraising to defray their costs.
- Approve a volleyball club for middle/high school students.
- Sell 3,450 gallons of gas to the Klinger company for $9,625.50.
- Approve the sale of three properties from the county tax claim repository at a total of $2,900.
- Buy a copier from CSP Office Equipment, Shamokin, for $8,610 and a service rate of $0.0065 cents per copy. Director Charles Shuey and board President Tracey Witmer voted against the move.
- Allow Jodi Herb, a student of McCann School of Business and Technology, to serve an externship with district technology coordinator Tim Latshaw beginning in April and ending in June, pending receipt of clearances.
- Establish the Other Capital Projects Fund related to the proposed elementary renovation project, a move Shuey and fellow directors LaRue Beck and Bernie Sosnoskie voted against.
- Change the classification of Shamokin-Coal Township Little League, allowing their rental fee to be reduced from $200 to $50 for upcoming clinics at the elementary annex. Directors Witmer and Ron McElwee voted against the move.
The music department's spring musical is "Beauty and the Beast." The public is invited to a "Meet the Characters" event to be held at 9:30 a.m. March 24 at the high school. The musical's cast will be dressed in full costume and be in character for the event.