Putnam City Schools Wins Excellence Award

Putnam City Schools was one of five school districts to receive a national award for excellence for use of data to improve teaching and learning, says Jason Simeroth, Putnam City’s executive director of Curriculum and Instruction. The Student Assessment Solution Award was given to the district by Pearson School Systems at their annual conference on Nov. 8 in Anaheim, Calif.

More than 2,300 school districts and 20,000 schools nationwide use Pearson School Systems technology. The award to Putnam City recognized innovative and extensive use of testing to measure students’ understanding of subject matter.

Putnam City students take "benchmark" tests every nine weeks in reading, math and other subjects for which there is end-of-year state testing in their grade level. After the benchmark tests, teachers received detailed reports telling them which students need help and in with what concepts they need help. Teachers can then target specific instruction to specific students.

The No Child Left Behind Act requires state testing of students beginning in third grade and continuing into high school. Students are tested in reading and math in elementary grades. In middle school and high school, students are tested in a larger range of subjects that includes reading, math, algebra, science, biology, history, geography and writing. During the course of a single school year, the thousands of Putnam City students in grades 3 through 12 take more than 100,000 benchmark tests that are assembled and graded with the help of Pearson’s products.

The result of the testing efforts, says Simeroth, is more effective teaching and better student results.

"Having the capability to quickly and accurately assess each student’s progress, diagnose their needs and prescribe solutions for individualized instruction is helping us meet and exceed our objectives for student learning," says Simeroth.