Warren Hills tackles low state test scores Middle school will combine teaching of reading and English in hopes of boosting its results. Thursday, June 14, 2007 • BY LYNN OLANOFF • The Express-Times WASHINGTON | Warren Hills Regional Middle School students next year will be taught reading and English together in one longer period as a way to boost the school's standardized test scores. The school has failed to meet the annual yearly progress for four consecutive years on standardized tests as set by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The overall student body is meeting the mark but the school's learning-disabled and economically disadvantaged students as a whole are not. With some students still failing to meet federal testing standards, the school has adopted state-mandated changes. A state team visited the school last fall and issued its recommendations this spring. The team and the district debated the recommendations over several months. The district is now awaiting final state approval for its planned changes, but middle school Principal Jack Paulus said he thinks they will be approved because the school essentially adopted most of the state's recommendations. Quarterly reviews Along with jointly teaching reading and English, the school next year will begin to regularly collect data on students' knowledge of the testing subjects. The data will be gathered every marking period and analyzed to decide how to better teach those subjects to struggling students, Paulus said. "We can begin to tailor the instruction to the needs of the kids who are not meeting those levels," he said. "A one-size-fits-all approach is not acceptable in this day and age." In response to another state recommendation, the district is working to align its curriculum among its staff and its sending districts. The district has hired a curriculum coordinator to ensure students from Washington Borough and Franklin, Mansfield and Washington townships are at the same minimum skill levels when they start the regional middle school. The middle school is also changing its scheduling next year to allow its core-curriculum teachers -- language arts, math, science and social studies -- to share planning periods so they can align their curriculums. Combined instruction Reading and English instruction are being combined so teachers can incorporate English lessons with reading and writing lessons. Instead of two 50-minute classes, the subjects will be taught during one 100-minute block. "It gives them the flexibility of being able to read more, write more and still focus on the grammar and punctuation that goes with the English," Paulus said. The school is also aiming to better engage the students' parents, especially those whose children are struggling on the tests. District Superintendent Peter Merluzzi said some of the changes were recommended by district officials to go beyond state mandates. "We're doing things beyond their recommendations because we're concerned about it also," he said. Standardized tests were given again this spring. The school just received the results Tuesday, and officials are in the process of analyzing them. Paulus did not know the outcome of the results Wednesday. Reporter Lynn Olanoff can be reached at 908-475-8044 or by e-mail at lolanoff@express-times.com.