Elementary reading test results were among several items discussed Monday at the regular meeting of the Allen School Board.

The matter was discussed during administrative reports, which were delivered by Superintendent Jeff Hiatt and Elementary Principal Amy Mayhue.

Mayhue began by speaking about the end of the year reading data for each grade level in the elementary school. She provided the board with a paper containing graphs and charts indicating how the children faired on reading tests.

Individual scores weren’t yet available, the document only indicated whether the children had met the criteria for reading sufficiency, based on the Reading Sufficiency Act.

The document showed how students in kindergarten through third grade faired by DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skill), and how students in third through fifth grades faired based on STAR Reading -- used to determine a student’s overall reading level as well as identify a student’s individual strengths and weaknesses.

“The growth this year, I think there has been growth, considering COVID last year, losing nine weeks with them,” Mayhue said. “Starting this year, and these tests, we knew they were going to be a little bit lower, we were afraid they would be, but they’ve met my expectations for growth this year, so I wanted to share that with you all.”

Results

In kindergarten, at the beginning of the year, 11 students were below level, 8 were on level, and 16 were advanced. By the end of the year, it had changed to 8 below level, 14 on level, and 15 advanced.

In first grade, at the beginning of the year, 14 students were below level, 4 were on level, and 9 were advanced. By the end of the year, it had changed to 11 below level, 5 on level, and 11 advanced.

In second grade, at the beginning of the year, 2 students were below level, 2 were on level, and 15 were advanced. By the end of the year, it had changed to 6 below level, 9 on level, and 8 advanced.

The chart presented indicated the greatest jumps in the advanced category occurred in third and fourth grades with readers in the advanced category growing by five and nine students, respectively.

In third grade, at the beginning of the year, 12 students were below level, 13 were on level, and 11 were advanced. By the end of the year, it had changed to 12 below level, 9 on level, and 16 advanced.

In fourth grade, at the beginning of the year, 10 students were below level, 11 were on level, and 12 were advanced. By the end of the year, it had changed to 8 below level, 2 on level, and 21 advanced.

In fifth grade, at the beginning of the year, 12 students were below level, 17 were on level, and 9 were advanced. By the end of the year, it had changed to 19 below level, 8 on level, and 10 advanced.

Concerning third grade, the document presented also showed an improvement in STAR Reading. Both the below and on levels had dropped, and the number of students in the advanced category grew from 8 to 21.

A pie chart indicated the Oklahoma State Testing Program (OSTP) for the Reading Sufficiency Act criteria showed 66.7% of third-grade students met the criteria, while 33.3% did not.

Board Vice President Kelly Hurt asked about the results shown on the pie chart.

“With the third grade, with two-thirds meeting (the criteria) and one-third not, is that kind of normal, expected, or is that low, good, bad,” Hurt asked.

“As I look at the other data, the OSTP only looks at reading and vocabulary, that’s like the only two sections it really looks at, so, I think that’s pretty normal,” Mayhue responded, “I definitely would like it to be higher, of course. But when I went through and looked at each individual kid, I was pleased. There were only a few where I was like, ‘Oh, man, they should’ve,’ but for the others, there were a few where I was like, ‘Yes, they did it!’ So it kind of goes both ways. I like to look at individual kids, rather than as a whole. I think when you know the kids, and you know what they’re capable of, and you know that maybe a test day got them, like the anxiety of testing may have just gotten them that day. So, I think 66% in a COVID year, losing nine weeks, is really good.”

Hiatt also spoke concerning the results.

“We spent a lot of time worrying about the below average, getting everybody up to average,” Hiatt said, “and sometimes we felt like that’s all we worried about ...”

However, Hiatt said that now, there is not only an emphasis on helping below average readers grow, but helping average readers become advanced readers.

“Everybody moves up,” Hurt said.

“Yes, and that’s what I want,” Mayhue replied. “I think overall that will help all of our test scores. If we have kids moving from average to advanced, our test scores overall are going to go up and we’re going to get more points per kid for those scores, so it’s worth the time.”

Mayhue spoke about summer school, which will wrap up June 24 ^th . She said the program started with 72 students, but is now down to 52.

“We’ve had quite a few who’ve dropped out on us,” Mayhue said. “We’ve tried making phone calls to find out what’s going on, but we’re not really getting anyone to come back. As the summer goes, they just wear out on us. They just don’t want to come anymore, they’re tired, whatever’s going on. And sometimes it’s hard on the parents, 2:30 p.m. is sometimes really hard on parents to find daycare from 2:30 to 5:30, that’s kind of rough on some parents.”

Jeff Hiatt

Hiatt said 63 new laws concerning education were passed this year, and presented to the board with papers showing the new laws.

Hiatt spoke about the new buses and said he was hoping to have one of the new activity buses at the meeting so that board members could check it out, but the bus was being used by the high school girls basketball team on an overnight trip.

“I saw it this morning down at the Quick Pic,” Board Member Robert Hammonds said. “It looked good.”

“Yeah, I saw pictures of it on Facebook, people were excited,” Hurt said.

“So that one is here, and we’ve got two of our route buses that have came in,” Hiatt said. “Those three buses that we’ve been leasing that we’re not going to lease anymore, as soon as summer school is over, we’re going to send them back, and be done with our leased buses.”

Hiatt said the other activity bus is being built at a factory.

Hiatt gave an update on the other vehicles -- ag truck, Suburban and driver’s ed car -- which will be slightly delayed, due to high demand.

“So, they said they can’t start building them until July 1,” Hiatt said. “So, we’re going to get them, I just hope people will be patient. I mean, we can survive without them (for now), because our old driver’s ed car is hanging in there, getting the job done this summer.”

Hiatt said he will let everyone know when the vehicles will be completed.

Consent Agenda

The board approved the consent agenda which included the minutes of the May 10 regular meeting; the fiscal year 2020-2021 purchase orders and encumbrances: General Fund numbers 254 through 266 ($270,148.22); child nutrition fund numbers 51 through 55 ($15,167.40); transportation bond fund numbers 1 through 3 ($420,000); the treasurer’s report; and the activity fund report.

The consent agenda also included a renewal of memberships, services and contracts for fiscal year 2021-2022: Byng Public Schools—Alternative Education Agreement; Cindy Sterba—Speech Teacher; Crossroads 1010 LLC—Special Ed Testing; J&J Educational Services—Impact Aid; Kellogg Sovereign—E-Rate; MAS, Inc—Student Information and Accounting System Software; OK Dept of Rehabilitation—Student Work Study; OK Rural School Assn.—Dues; OKTLE—Teacher Evaluation Software; OSAG—Unemployment Insurance; OSSBA Employment Services; OSSBA Policy Services; OSSBA Membership; OSIG—Property and Vehicle Insurance; OT Solutions—Occupational Therapists; Pepsi Contract—Concession; Pontotoc County Commissioners Agreement—Bond Purposes; Prohab Therapy Specialist—Physical Therapist; Renaissance Learning—Elementary Software; Rosenstein, Fist and Ringold—Attorneys.

Also fundraiser requests for High School Cheerleading and Girls Basketball/Softball; and Summer Extra-Duty Pay Rate at $10 per hour.

Action Items

The board approved the only action item on the agenda, which was open transfers for the fiscal 2022 school year.

Executive Session

The board entered into executive session to discuss personnel matters, and, upon returning, hired the following people: Racquel Countryman, elementary special education; Devan Bettencourt; band; and Gena Beasley, cafeteria.