Keystone Academy board voices concerns over test scores

At its regular meeting on Oct. 11, the Keystone Academy school board members voiced concerns over the recently released M-Step state test scores in math and English Language Arts.
Board president Vesta Losen, who was not present for the meeting, sent her concern with the scores, as well.
Principal Keturah Godfrey said as the demographics change, the scores are affected.
Losen had sent word that her belief is that the students come to Keystone already behind and if a student stays there three years, the student is proficient.
Godfrey said the district now is qualified to have free lunches for all students because of the changing demographics.
Godfrey said the school also is facing a teacher shortage. She said it is throughout Michigan and not just their district. The district is fully staffed, she said.
She said it was a shock to her to have one red number on the report of scores from National Heritage Academies, which operates the school. Keystone numbers usually are all coded green, she said.
She referred to the third graders scoring 4% below the 46% statewide score on math. Keystone’s score of 41% proficiency, however, was higher than Van Buren Public Schools score of 32% and Lincoln Consolidated Schools score of 38%.
Keystone outscored Van Buren and Lincoln in all the other categories, as well, on the chart supplied by NHA. Average Keystone proficiency scores for grades 3-8 were 51%, compared to Van Buren’s 25%, Lincoln’s 25%, and the state’s 38%.
Godfrey explained the interventions in math and reading, with reading intervention in its fourth year. She said NHA is using Keystone as a pilot school for the math intervention using the Dreambox program.
In other business at the Oct. 11 meeting, the board:
• Heard Godfrey explain that the Sumpter Township police have discovered no information on who started the recent fire in the middle school boys’ restroom and so nothing more can be done. She said cameras are being installed throughout the school;
• Heard Godfrey report there were 778 students present on count day. She said there is more attrition in the middle school this year than in other years and she said it has to do with students wanting more extensive sports programs; and
• Approved NHA updated practices and procedures for handling a Foster Care Child and a Homeless Child.
Board vice president Darren Hickonbottom chaired the board meeting in Losen’s absence.