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CAPITAL REGION
State lists schools in need of improvement
Several districts in region named due to low test scores
BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter

    The Schenectady, Amsterdam and Albany school districts showed up again on the state’s list of “needs improvement” schools. Gloversville joined the list this year.
    The State Education Department on Thursday identifi ed the districts whose students have failed to make adequate yearly progress in English language arts or math. The designation is determined from standardized tests taken by students in third through eighth grade.
    Schenectady has six schools on the list — Schenectady High School, Martin Luther King International Magnet School (K-, Mont Pleasant Middle School, Oneida Middle School, Paige Elementary and Katherine Burr Blodgett. All are not making the grade in English.
    Blodgett, however, is no longer an elementary school. It has been transformed into the Blodgett Success Academy for students in seventh and eighth grade who have failed a grade and are trying to complete work so they can catch up to their classmates.
    Schenectady High School is in the first year of a major restructuring in response to low academic achievement. Freshmen have been placed in their own wing of the school for the core subjects. The district has hired two attendance deans to crack down on chronic absenteeism.
    Those efforts seem to be working early in the new year. Associate Superintendent Gregory Fields said ninth-grade attendance is up 10 percent to about 92 percent.
    Also, the school has added more counselors and support services to help students deal with problems that occur outside of school that spill into school and affect their learning. There seems to be a change in climate.
    “Teachers are excited; students are excited,” he said.
    Also new this year, about 100 students are participating in the Early College High School program. They take classes as part of a special team with increased expectations. In their junior and senior years, students will have the opportunity to earn college credit by taking classes at Schenectady County Community College.
    The district’s middle schools have been on the list for several years. School offi cials have tried to improve middle school achievement by moving the sixth-graders back into the elementary school. Last year, they created two kindergarten through grade eight schools at Martin Luther King and Central Park. Administrators have said that behavior has improved with the older students setting an example for their younger peers. ............>>>>...................>>>>..............................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00900&AppName=1