Herald - Lantern - Dispatch 17 July '85

55

From The Principal I By Stanley Kotzen Principal, Lower Cape May Regional High School

The results of the New Jersey High School Proficiency Test have now been released and as expected, they are generating more heat than light. Anytime you administer a test statewide to more than 88,000 students and come up with an average score of 64 in a test that is supposed to measure skill in Mathematics you can expect a mild commotion. Facts or explanations have little significance when the media and the public get a fat pitch like that to hit. However, there are some things that parents and students should know about the HSPT and hopefully the public will come to understand that this test is nothing more than an attempt to improve the quality of education in the state. HERE ARE a few of these facts: 1 . The HSPT is a primary tool used to raise academic standards for all public school students. It tests Basic Skills and is to be used as a high school graduation requirement for all students who will be ninth graders in September, 1985. 2. The test is administered to ninth graders in the beginning of March each year, (the test has been given previously for

two years) after students have been in high school for only six months. As such. Commissioner of Education Saul Cooperman, has stated that the test is "essentially a test of training from kindergarten through 8th grade". 3. RESULTS OF the test are to be used by all 592 school districts in the state to revise curricula and modify existing programs to be sure that the Basic Skills are being taught and that by 12th grade each graduating senior in New Jersey will hold a diploma that has real meaning. 4. The HSPT is a test designed to go beyond Minimum Basics Skills into areas of Proficiency in Reading, Mathematics and Writing that are consistent with demands made on high school graduates by employers and college admissions officers. 5. A passing grade on the test or a cut-off score has not as yet been determined in Mathematics, Reading and Writing. All that has been published are the state and Local averages in each of the disciplines. 0 fact that all local results are presented with the disclaimer "the test was not designated for comparative or normative purposes. It is neither appropriate nor meaningful to compare results across subjects because the tests are of varying difficulty". Therefore, it cannot be assumed that we are doing a 20 percent better teaching job in Reading and Writing than we are in Math. 6. At Lower Cape May Regional our scores were very close to the state averages, which means that as many youngsters did better than ours as there were who did poorer on the test. Being considered average is comforting only to those people who don't want to keep score. We are not satisifed with the results of the HSPT and we are working to do all those things necessary to lift our students' performance in this important measure of what they have learned.

Graduate of War College WILDWOOD - Army Col. Joseph J. Thomas, son of Jewel Thomas of Ventnor, and Justin C. Thomas of 6105 Park Blvd. here, has graduated from the National War College, one of two senior service schools at the National Defense University, Washington. The college offered a course of study emphasizing national security policy formulation. Students studied military, economic, scientific, political and other topics which affect the formulation and conduct of national security policy and strategy.

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Doris Ward GOLDEN DAY — Mr. and Mrs. Robert Clarke of Goshen recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary at the Goshen Methodist Church. Friends and relatives of the couple attended a buffet luncheon at the church presented by their son and daughter-in-law Mr. and Mrs. Neil Clarke.

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