The State Of HFCS

by Alex Brooks
Much of the Hoosick Falls School Board workshop on August 22 was taken up with a presentation on the State of the Schools with comprehensive information about the School District and its performance. Some highlights from that report are presented here. The full report is available from the school administration.
[private]The Hoosick Falls District ranked 34th in the Capital District Business Review school rankings of 85 Capital District school districts for the 2012-13 school year. This was one place higher than the previous year, but five places lower than the year before that. Both of these are distinct improvements over Hoosick Falls’ previous rankings, which were #45 in 2009-10, #49 in 2008-09 and #63 in 2007-08.
The High School was ranked higher, though, at #16 of the 85 high schools assessed.
Student result targets set by the School Board for the 2012-13 year included a 90% passing rate and 40% mastery rate on NYS assessment tests and a 90% graduation rate. The District had a 90% passing rate and 39% mastery rate on Regents exams, and  it had a 93% graduation rate.
The Board also set goals of 90% of sixth-graders reading at grade level and 40% of sixth-graders reading two grade levels above. On this the District fell a bit short – 83.7% of sixth-graders read at grade level and 31.4% read at least two grade levels above.
Regents Subjects
Although the average Regents passing rate was 90%, results varied quite a bit by subject. The District is very strong in ELA (96%), Living Environment (99%) and U.S. History & Government (98%). It is not so strong in Algebra II/Trig (59%) or Physics (75%). It is slightly below average in Chemistry and Global History and slightly above average in Earth Science and Geometry.
Course Failures
Aside from a very low number in the 2010-2011 year (107), the number of course failures has been steadily declining from 272 in 2008-09 to 234 in 2009-10 to 209 in 2011-12 to 178 this past year.
GED Results
There were seven students enrolled in the GED program. Six passed the test and got their GED diploma, and one left the program.
Advanced Placement
In U.S. History 17 of the 21 students who took the exam got a 3 or better; the average score was 3.6. In Biology 12 of the 14 students who took the test got a 3 or better, and the average score was 3.4. In English 14 of the 19 students who took the test scored 3 or better, and the average score was 3.1. In Environmental Science 5 of the 12 students who took the test scored 3 or better; the average score was 2.2. In Calculus AB 3 of the 9 students who took the test scored 3 or better, and the average score was 2.3.
Grade 3-8 Assessment Tests
The results on these tests are uniformly much lower than last year’s results because it is a new test and much more rigorous than the previous one. Scores on this year’s test are not comparable to those on last year’s test. Superintendent of Schools Ken Facin said, “We were told this test would be two grade levels above the previous norm, but it’s actually more like 3-4 years ahead.” Administrator Pat Dailey said, “This is a different measuring system, not like those we have used before. These are better numbers than they seem to be.”
In ELA the sixth grade passing rate was 31.8%, the seventh grade passing rate was 26.6% and the eighth grade passing rate was 27.3%. In Math, the sixth grade passing rate was 40%, the seventh grade passing rate was 33% and the 8th grade passing rate was 17.9%.
Facin said that rather than getting negative about the test, he plans to take this as a challenge to raise our game to a higher level. “Game on!” he said.
Busing
There were no bus accidents this year and the buses passed their safety inspections 100% of the time.
ESL Position Expanded
The Hoosick Falls School Board accepted the resignation of ESL teacher Kelli O’Shea. Facin asked the Board to expand that position from half time to full time to include AIS in English. He said the student results demonstrate why that is necessary.
The Board passed a resolution 4-0 making that position full time.[/private]