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Clark Elementary School principal Judy Wright said earning a state standard of excellence is like a come-from-behind win in the championship game. "We did it. We got our touchdown," Wright said.
"When I think about how far we've come — well, I can't even explain how much this means to us."
Four years ago, the Wichita elementary school's scores on state assessment tests were among the lowest in the district.
On Tuesday, state officials announced that Clark, a high-poverty school near Kellogg and Woodlawn, had earned its first state standard of excellence awards in reading and math. Clark students' math proficiency on state tests increased 20 percent over the previous year, and their reading proficiency rose nearly 12 percent.
"We were determined to get (test scores) up," said fifth-grade teacher Angela Carter. "So we worked hard, incredibly hard, and we used every resource we could."
Wichita schools this year received 164 standard of excellence awards, 56 more than last year, according to state data released Tuesday.
The standard of excellence award is given when a certain percentage of students in a school score in the top performance levels on the state tests.
The same tests are used to determine whether schools achieve "adequate yearly progress" in reading and math as required by federal No Child Left Behind law.
Results from the 2011 Kansas assessments, presented during a State Board of Education meeting in Topeka, show an 11-year growth trend in reading and math statewide, officials said.
Students performing in the top three levels — meets standard, exceeds standard or exemplary — on the reading assessment increased to 87.6 percent, up from 86.3 percent in 2010. In math, students in the top three levels totaled 84.7 percent, up from 83.1 percent in 2010.
Wichita officials cheered the announcement. Standard of excellence awards were given to 35 Wichita elementary schools — nine more than last year — two K-8 schools, four middle schools, two high schools and two special schools.
In addition, the number of Wichita schools that met state testing targets in reading and math nearly doubled this year, according to results released in August.
Wright said Clark students' test scores were dismal and their behavior "out of control" when she started as principal at the school four years ago.
"I couldn't believe the things I was hearing from teachers," she said. "The kids were running the school."
Several years in a row, more than a dozen teachers asked to transfer or simply left the school, Wright said, frustrated at what they thought was a hopeless situation. She said she launched her tenure with "a heavy dose of straight talk" to teachers, students and families.
"We didn't try to sugar-coat anything," Wright said.
She illustrated Clark's test-score situation using football analogies and graphics.
At meetings she showed a football field with a team lined up on its own 37-yard line, saying only 37 percent of Clark students had passed the 2008 math assessment. The field position in reading was not much better, lined up near the 40 with an arduous 60 yards to go.
"Every time we met, it was, 'This is where we are. We have to keep marching up that field,' " Wright said.
In addition, she launched a new schoolwide behavior plan focused on high expectations, student-led problem solving, and accountability. She also urged teachers to talk about test-taking strategies and practice with students.
"It was so clear to me that our kids were nowhere near test-ready" in 2008, Wright said. "We had babies throwing up, sick to their stomachs. They were so nervous, they just froze."
Bringing her football analogy full circle, Wright instituted test-day pep rallies. Teachers wore jerseys, chanted and waved foam "No. 1" fingers. Younger students cheered older ones as classes stormed into the gymnasium. Everyone got a football-shaped doughnut.
Carter, the fifth-grade teacher, said she was excited but not surprised when she saw the school's test results and heard about the standard of excellence honors Tuesday. Several factors led to the rise, she said, including a technology grant that funded more computers, smart boards and document readers.
"Everything put together just made the students eager to learn, and that made it easier to teach," she said.
Pausing while reading "The Diary of Anne Frank" at her desk Tuesday afternoon, fifth-grader Maleah Pickens put it more simply:
"Our teachers are good at teaching," she said. "I'm not nervous about tests."
State officials said results of state science assessments also showed improvement statewide this year.
Science is tested in grades four and seven, and once in high school. The percentage of fourth-grade students in the top three levels increased to 92.7 percent, up from 91.7 percent in 2010. Seventh-grade students in the top three levels increased from 83.3 percent in 2010 to 83.6 percent. High school students performing in the top levels increased from 83.6 percent in 2010 to 83.8 percent.
A banner on the wall of Wright's office says, "It's not the children. It's what we do with them." She said Clark's achievement proves the adage.
"Every year — shoot, every day — we look at the data and ask, 'What's wrong here, and what can we do to make it right?' " she said. "And now, oh my gosh, we have arrived. ... That hard work paid off."
