Many kindergartners don’t know letters, tests results show

Recent tests of Columbia Falls students who have just started kindergarten show that teachers will have their work cut out for them when it comes to getting the youngsters reading and writing.

At Glacier Gateway Elementary School, a full 62% of kindergarteners are below the benchmark for reading and knowing the letters of the alphabet, according to Smarter Balanced Standardized tests that were given to students earlier this fall.

At Ruder Elementary the numbers were a bit better — about 56% of kindergarteners were below the benchmark. The standardized tests are used nationwide.

“It’s shocking to me that so many kids entering kindergarten don’t know their letter names,” school board President Jill Rocksund said at last week’s board meeting.

Part of the problem is exposure — some kids enter school having never read a book, while others are read to by their parents every night, noted Gateway principal Penni Anello.

Educational TV only goes so far, reading good old-fashioned stories to kids works the best, it seems.

Test scores improve in the latter elementary grades, as students begin to gain skills, both Anello and Ruder Elementary principal Brenda Krueger noted.

But by junior high, the reading scores tend to level out — for example, in sixth grade, about 56% were reaching reading benchmarks, but 44% weren’t.

In math, the junior high numbers were worse, with just 34% of sixth-graders at or above the benchmark.

The high school numbers were worse yet, with just 23% of freshmen at or above the math benchmark. The same for 11th graders.

Reading was better — 65% at or above the benchmark for freshmen, but a dip in 11th graders, with just 55% at the benchmark.

The test results were presented to the School District 6 Board by Superintendent Cory Dziowgo and the principals at each school.

The idea is to give the board a short presentation on school data every meeting, rather than one long meeting with hours of data. The Smarter tests will be retaken in January and then again in spring, Dziowgo said. He fully expects the test scores to improve as the school year goes on.

The test, he noted after the meeting, can drill down into the specific areas teachers and students need to work on. As for the low kindergarten scores, elementary schools have been working with preschools to help with reading and other skills.

“It’s one picture in the photo album,” he told the board. He also noted to the board that it was about transparency and accountability to not just the board, but the public.

Having said that, the test is designed to measure growth, not achievement.

One parent, who was in the audience, said her child, who is otherwise an excellent student, simply doesn’t well.

Another factor is the test has no bearing on a child’s grade, so motivation may also be a factor, Dziowgo noted after the meeting. At the high school level, for example, the ACT test is the standard for college acceptance, while the Smarter exam isn’t, so a student is going to work on an ACT test, while not be as motivated for the Smarter test.

Last year, for example, more than half of all high school students in Columbia Falls qualified for some sort of college scholarship and many others set themselves up for careers in the skilled trades through programs at Flathead Valley Community College.,

Dziowgo noted that buy-in for the Smarter test at the high school level probably plays a role.

“It’s not ability … they’re obtaining success academically or job-wise,” he noted.