FULTON – During last night’s Fulton City School District Board of Education meeting, Tuesday, September 27, the board discussed an assessment report for secondary level education.
Deputy Superintendent Geri Geitner, joined by others who contributed to the report, including High School Principal Nate Murray and department chairs, gave a presentation on the secondary assessment.
Geitner said as they sift through the data in the report, to expect it to be impacted by the pandemic, a challenge that has not been unique to Fulton, but has been seen across the state and the country.
“We know that we have interrupted school years [in the data] and those interruptions were the most significant impact on the most vulnerable learners,” Geitner said.
Regents exams were canceled during the pandemic, with 2019 being the last typical year of exam administration, and the district saw in June of this year with Regents exams being administered again that some students were challenged with the testing situation.
“Innovation was the silver lining of this pandemic because we were forced to try new things, to take new approaches, and it really helped us hone in on what is critical in the learning process, and we focus on those things and build on those best practices to make changes going into the future,” Geitner said.
Nate Murray, the new principal at G. Ray Bodley, took over the presentation to report on the graduation rate for 2020, 2021 and 2022.
The data is as follows:
For all high school seniors:
2020 – 84% graduated
2021 – 86% graduated
2022 – 85% graduated
For students with disabilities:
2020 – 68% graduated
2021 – 70% graduated
2022 – 62.8% graduated
For economically disadvantaged students:
2020 – 74% graduated
2021 – 77% graduated
2022 – 74.4% graduated
Drop out rate:
2020 – 20%
2021 – 10%
2022 – 8%
He also listed out the types of diplomas students earned in 2022, how many followed STEM or humanities pathways, and how many students were dual enrolled in college and high school courses last year and how many are this year.
Last year 316 students were enrolled in dual enrollment courses with 314 passing at least one of those courses. This year, there are 328 students.
Anyone who attends a SUNY school must complete at least seven out of ten general education categories. The high school offers dual enrollment classes in several categories except social sciences, but the district is looking to add that as well, and other world civilizations.
This offers the opportunity for a student to graduate with all of their general education requirements before they enter their first year at college.
Murray also went over PSAT and SAT scores.
Out of the 39 tenth graders who took the PSATs last year, they had an average score of 992. The averages for the state and country are 932 and 919 respectively. The score range for the PSATs is 320-1520.
Out of the 113 eleventh graders who took the exam last year, they had an average of 912. Average state and country scores are 1013 and 995 respectively.
For the SATs, a total of 90 students took the exam. Fifty students were in the class of 2022 and 40 were in the class of 2021. A majority of those students scored in the 1000-1190 range. The score range for the SATs is 400-1600.
He then discussed the high school’s Regents exams, with the context of COVID-19 being a challenge in education and there being no Regents exams during that time. If students passed their class with a 65 or higher, they earned an E for exemption from the Regents exam pertaining to that class during 2019-2020 and 2020-2021.
For this year, there is an option to appeal for students to pass a Regents exam with a score of 50-64. Traditionally, 65 is the passing score. The student must meet or exceed the passing grade for that course.
Department heads then presented on Regents exam data for their departments.
Regents Exam data is as follows for all students who took the exams:
English – 93% passed, including 9% passing with appeal
Global History – 93% passed, including 22% passing with appeal *Note, US History Regents exam is canceled for 2022 and 2023 due to the mass shooting in Buffalo and content in the framework of the exam.
Algebra I – 91% passed, including 19% passing with appeal
Geometry – 97% passed, including 23% passing with appeal
Algebra II – 96% passed, including 8% passing with appeal
Living Environment – 92% passed, including 25% passing with appeal
Earth Science – 82% passed, including 30% passing with appeal
Chemistry – 78% passed, including 34% passing with appeal
Physics – 95% passed, including 10% passing with appeal
AP and dual enrollment classes:
English – 107 enrolled last year, 89 this year
Social Studies – 173 enrolled last year, 160 this year
Maths – 65 enrolled last year, 58 this year
Sciences – 52 earned college science credits last year
The presenters also discussed how NYS Next Generation learning standards will be implemented in the coming years along with how the district will be working on incorporating interdisciplinary lessons in students’ education, such as math and science for STEAM and English and social studies for Humanities.
The rest of the meeting can be viewed in full here. The agenda for last night’s meeting is available here.
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