The drop in third graders' scores may be because the gifted kids went to Hunters Woods.

Maybe Litsa stole all the money intended for extra SOL instruction ...

Apparently you do need to be bright or else the kids would've passed them. The tests measure pretty basic stuff and if they aren't passing, they aren't too bright.

You don't need to be "bright" to pass the SOLs.... they are baselines, i.e. minimum competencies. Maybe they put more kids in the classes in 3rd grade, maybe one teacher didn't get the lessons across. I don't know what the answer is, but I'd be asking those assistant principals WHY the pass rate for reading went down so much. They study those results on a micro level and they know exactly who's class did poorly or if all the third grade classes had lower pass rates.

Maybe last year's 3rd graders aren't nearly as bright as the year before. It makes no sense to compare one year to the next. How did the 4th graders do as compared to when they were 3rd graders?

You don't consider it significant that the pass rates changed from a year ago as follows:

3rd grade reading -- dropped from 93 % to 81% (all kids combined)
3rd grade science 96% to 90%
History/Soc.Stud. 97% to 90%

Notably, white third grade passing scores dropped from 94% to 79%. That would give me reason to ask what is going on in 3rd grade. Also white kids 3rd grade science dropped from 100% passing to 89%.

the other grades didn't have such big drops in the total, but some of the subgroups did have significant drops.

I looked at the state report card and I would disagree that the score went substantially down for all groups. I have a second grader at Navy. I will say the teachers tend towards a lot of homework, for better or worse. The parents can be a fairly competitive group, probably due to the fair amount of high income neighborhoods that go there. We are the only school that will go to Franklin Middle and then to Oakton High School, since the redistricting several years ago ( I think most others go to Chantilly). The PTO does a great job, although I feel there could be more after school club choices ( for example mad science will fill up within a day or two of opening for signup). There is NO fundraising, meaning the PTO asks for 50 bucks in the beginning of the year so we don't have to sell anything the rest of the year. I love love that. The PTO also paid the entry fees for 5 odyssey of the mind groups last year. We have a new princal this coming year, very young, so we will see what that brings. I will also add that although I have no personal experience with the special needs program, I have heard from two or three teachers/speech paths that Navy is not very good for special needs. I also have no experience with gifted programs as that starts in third grade. This coming year there are something like 40 kids going to Hunters Woods for AAP so that is why the numbers drop in enrollment in the third.

I meant "it's not just the disability kids..."

Look at the school report card on the Va Dept. of Ed. site... Navy did go down substantially and it's not just the disability or kids. There are substantial drops in the passing rate for white kids too. Something was very off this year.

Anonymous wrote:If you are referring to AYP, then the answer is yes, the school did not make AYP, but if you look into why this happened, it is due to two subgroups not meeting the AYP goals -- English and Mathematics for Students with Disabilities. As has been posted on several other threads, if one subgroup does not meet the ever-increasing criteria for SOLs then the whole school is labeled as not making AYP -- which is not only confusing but downright incorrect.

And this is one of the other threads that references the "if one subgroup doesn't make it, the whole school does not make AYP" issue:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/182546.page

If you are referring to AYP, then the answer is yes, the school did not make AYP, but if you look into why this happened, it is due to two subgroups not meeting the AYP goals -- English and Mathematics for Students with Disabilities. As has been posted on several other threads, if one subgroup does not meet the ever-increasing criteria for SOLs then the whole school is labeled as not making AYP -- which is not only confusing but downright incorrect.

I don't see where the scores went down? I think the school is very good. I wouldn't leave it for any others around here. Very little teacher turnover, lots of flexible grouping of the kids, smart boards in every classroom, great families.

Anonymous wrote:Where is Navy?

Fairfax

http://www.fcps.edu/NavyES/

Where is Navy?

I always thought navy was one of the better schools in that area. Seems like the scores were pretty lower than usual this year. Also any navy parents here who can tell me what other academic activities they have there like some of the other schools do.... Lego league, odyssey of the mind....those sort of things. We are looking to buy in that area so I was wondering what the general feel of that school is especially this year since the scores went down.