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Show o A-9 Jbducatioii, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1997 EDUCATION EDITOR Christy Call 649-9014 ext 1 18 THE PARK RECORD Briefs Elementary Core Test results are released AT Testing Attention all parents of students grades 5j 8, and 11. The Park City School 1 1 District would like to announce that Sept. 22-26 are the testing ; dates for the Standard Achievement Tests in the District. To help this week be a success, please help your child be prepared and ready. Research shows that students stu-dents test best when they get plenty of rest, eat a well-balanced breakfast, break-fast, and attend school everyday. Back-to-School night atPCHS Back to school night at the Park City High School will be held Monday, Sept. 15. This gives par-" ents an opportunity to meet the teachers that interact with your student. stu-dent. A copy of the schedule for each student will be available. Each period will meet for approximately 10 minutes with a five-minute passing time. Back-to-School night at TMMS Treasure Mountain Middle School has re-scheduled their back-to-school night for Wednesday, Sept. 17., at 7:00 p.m. Parents with students stu-dents at Treasure Mountain are encouraged to attend and became familiar with their students schedule and teachers. District-wide the scores are encouraging encour-aging for teachers and parents by Christy Call OF THE RECORD STAFF Park City's elementary school Core Test results have been released. The performance perfor-mance assessment monitors the district-wide reading ability for grades K-6 and in math for grades K-5. There are four levels lev-els of proficiency: advanced, proficient, basic, and below. The test results generally showed that in most grade levels students performed as they have consistently done in the past. There were, however, some significant sig-nificant increases in test scores. For example, the reading scores of third-graders increased from a 78 percent basic and above scoring from last year, to a 88 percent scoring this year. First-graders First-graders increased their math scores from a 85 percent basic and above score from last year, to a 94 percent score this year. For the last five years math scores in the first grade have increased substantially. While these percentages represent rep-resent the district totals, the report also broke the numbers down for each elementary school. For first-grade reading, Jeremy Ranch scored the lowest, low-est, with only 41 percent of its students scoring at a basic or above reading level. However, this low score may be explained by the fact that children have very different maturation rates. The district goal was to see marked improvement by the third-grade, where testing most accurately reveals a student's developmental level. This goal was ultimately accomplished district-wide. McPolin elementary school scored the highest in first-grade reading with a 84 percent basic or above score, and Parley's Park came in at 65 percent. Jeremy Ranch fared better in fourth grade math with 99 percent per-cent of the tested students scoring scor-ing at or above basic level. McPolin also did exceptionally exception-ally well in first-grade math. In fact, they did as well as a school could do, with 100 percent of the tested students being at or above basic level. However, Linda Singer, Principal at McPolin, cautioned against reading too much into these scores. "It was only one test on one day. Tests can be so fickle. I think if you look at trends over the last few years, we're increasing increas-ing in a lot of areas and we're consistently above what are basic expectations. When you look at testing you can not look at one isolated incident. You have to look at trends." According to these trends, district-wide, over the last five years Park City elementary students stu-dents are doing better in almost every area. Carol Murphy, a Park City School Board member, commented com-mented on the results. "I think we do well. We sort of reworked our elementary math program this year and the results are encouraging. The scores show us a lot of things we are doing correctly. They also show us where we need to work and we will work on those areas, especially reading." Murphy also commented on the often difficult task of monitoring moni-toring a student's reading ability. abili-ty. "In reading it's not quite so easy to zero in on what kids are missing. We have reading specialists spe-cialists in our elementary schools and the board has given a lot of attention to elementary reading. We are using these tests as a diagnostic tool. At some point, we will look at each school individually and assess the results. We need to ask what did and did not happen this year." Murphy expressed confidence confi-dence in the fact that the schools would make appropriate changes as would the Board of Education. "I am absolutely positive that we know how to make kids good readers. We're working and working, but its Please see Results, A-10 Leaving class to consort with the dragonflies and ducks SCOTT SINEPARK RECORD "Look and listen, don't touch or take." With those instructions from Mrs. Volla, a teacher at Parley's Park, students hit the unpaved path. Local students experience the wetlands by Christy Call OF THE RECORD STAFF On a recent afternoon, scattered scat-tered among the cattails and wild-flowers wild-flowers was a group of enthralled Parley's Park elementary students. stu-dents. The third- grade students took a field trip on Wednesday, Sept. 10, to the wetlands, which are located behind Treasure Mountain Middle School. With thunder rolling in the distance and a scattering of dark clouds above, the children set out to experience firsthand the sights and sounds of the wetlands. Each student came equipped with appropriate field gear, including a clipboard, a magnifying magnify-ing glass, a pencil and a notebook. The objective of the trip, as expressed by Mrs. Volla, a third-grade third-grade teacher at Parley's Park, was to, "look and listen, not touch or take." After being instructed not to talk loudly or disturb the landscape, the students managed tremendous self-control. Along the pathways students crouched to observe daddy lon-glegs lon-glegs in the grasses, the intrinsic delicacy of wildflowers, and to hear the soft murmur of invisible waters below the tall bushes. The most popular critters of all were the ducks. The students observed them swimming, immersing their heads in water, and occasionally taking flight. The student response was overwhelmingly over-whelmingly enthusiastic. Max Makana said that his favorite thing about the wetlands were the toads. "I've been hearing big toads and rushing water. I saw a toad on a little tiny island out there and it so quiet here." Andrew Archer said, "I saw a duck and the duck was finding food, probably for his young and I saw rushing water. I also saw duckweed and cattails." About the distinctive wetland smell Please see Wetlands, A-10 Notice of Tax Increase The Park City Fire Service District is proposing to increase its property tax revenue. As a result of the proposed increase, the tax on a $1,000,000.00 residence will be $446.60. and the tax on a business having the same value as the average value of a residence in the taxing entity will be $812.00. Without the proposed increase the tax on a $1,000,000.00 residence would be $373.45. and the tax on a business having the same value as the average aver-age value of a residence in the taxing entity would be $679.00.The Park City Fire Service District is proposing to increase its property tax revenue from $21.805.78 collected last year to $26.115.48 this year, an increase of 19.76. The 1997 proposed tax rate is .000812. Without the proposed increase the rate would be .000679. All concerned citizens are invited to a public hearing on the tax increase to be held 6:30 p.m.. September 17. 1997. at Burns Fire Station, 730 West Bitner Road. Park City. Utah 84098. 84098. Wasatch County - Bald Eagle Club Community Only. MP muwm Ma a, p COPY |
