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High school honored again for ACT excellence
(by Sue Hoffman - February 24, 2010)
High school honored again for ACT excellence
By SUE HOFFMAN
For the third straight year, Solon High School has received the Red Quill award from American College Testing for excellence in preparing students academically for college.
Only three high schools in the Midwest have received the award three consecutive years from the nonprofit college testing service. Besides Solon, the schools are Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, Mo., and Marshall High School in Duluth, Minn. Solon is one of five schools in Ohio and 26 in the Midwest to earn a Red Quill Award from ACT's Midwest region for 2009-2010.
Solon High School received the award for its "significant and measurable efforts to improve post-secondary readiness for all students," Galen Johnson, ACT assistant vice president and regional manager, said.
Laura Beach, elementary and secondary services consultant for ACT, presented the award to the high school staff last week. She said the award recognizes schools which use "innovative, creative ways" to help students achieve, and "use data to drive student improvement.
"Your district is one of the top in the state," she said. The award "is an accolade to all of your teachers ... and students."
Solon High School's class of 2009 achieved an average composite ACT score of 24.8, compared to 21.7 statewide. The top 10 percent of Solon students received an average composite score of 33.2. A perfect ACT score is 36.
The school's average 2009 scores by subject were 24.3 in English, 25.3 in math, 24.8 in reading and 24.5 in science.
The Red Quill Award was established in 2006 to recognize schools in the Midwest that are implementing innovative approaches to improve curriculum and have shown consistent growth in student ACT scores over time.
Schools that use ACT's Explore and Plan assessments for eighth- and 10th-grade students, respectively, are eligible to apply for the Red Quill Award. To earn the award, schools were required to demonstrate how they effectively use test results to improve the curriculum and instruction. They also had to demonstrate consistent improvement in ACT scores over the past five years.
At Solon, the guidance department works with teachers to provide test data from the Plan, Explore and ACT tests to help improve individual student achievement.
"During a recent English department meeting, we reviewed a Plan and Explore test, the college readiness standards including the range we scored in reading and English, the standards we need to work on to get to the next range level, and our individual data for the question response summary," Ann Bruce, high school guidance counselor, said.
"We also logged onto the essay view of the ACT site so that we could review all of our students' ACT writing samples, suggestions by the grader and how the individual essays were graded. This is such valuable information for our teachers in working with students."
Ms. Bruce, Solon guidance counselor Wendy Dingman and Ms. Beach presented the school's use of data to improve instruction at the Ohio School Counselor Association's all-Ohio conference last fall.
"Winning the award for the third year in a row is very gratifying," Solon High School Principal George Steyer said. "It is an outside endorsement of the work we have done here in Solon to improve the performance of our students academically."
"The Red Quill Award is truly a comment on our staff and the value they put on data," said Assistant Principal Terry Brownlow. "ACT opens up doors for students. It's a true reflection on the work teachers are doing daily in interpreting data and making it work for kids."
Several teachers have led the effort in using test data to identify areas of weakness and strength to make sure the school is providing what students need. They are: English teachers Nanci Bush and Brian Jones; math teacher Pete Havens; and science teachers Susan Kenzig and Brian Sabol.
Mrs. Bush said, in English, they "made specific skill set lessons" for the essay, grammar and reading portions of the ACT exam. The lessons are now being introduced earlier to students so that by 11th grade, students are reviewing what they have learned.
"I'm exceedingly proud of the school district," school board member Julie Glavin said at the presentation. "It reflects to the community the amazing job of our staff and students. I am truly impressed."
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