Russellville City Schools students showed marked improvement this year in the ACT Aspire standardized testing, with improvements in 26 of 29 areas.
RCS Superintendent Heath Grimes told the school board Thursday about the results at their monthly meeting.
“Those results show teachers are making a difference in the lives of our students and in their instruction,” Grimes said.
ACT Aspire testing determines proficiency in five areas—English, math, science, writing and reading. Math, science and reading are state accredited areas and testing is conducted on students in grades 3-8 and 10th grade. The other two areas saw testing for 6-8 grades and 10th grades only. Testing was done on RCS students in April.
“Students are given a proficiency level, ranging from 'in need of support' to close to ready to exceeding,” Grimes said. “That proficiency grew in 26 of the 29 areas tested in our system.”
When compared to the national average, Grimes said RCS exceeded the score in several subjects.
“For the first time in a few years, we've seen consistent growth with some of that. Some improvements were pretty significant, in the 30-40 percent range. Not that we've arrived at the top level of proficiency but we're seeing growth and that's an indicator what our teachers are doing is paying off,” Grimes said.
In other action at its June 29th meeting, the RCS board:
--approved final budget amendments to the 2016-17 budget that will be submitted to the State Department of Education. These amendments reflect changes to the budget since it was originally prepared.
--approved facility use requests for RHS facilities on August 12, 2017, for Russellville Kiwanis annual Bike Ride and on May 4, 2018, for use of the RHS football stadium for the Franklin County Relay for Life fund raiser.
--approved an updated Media Center Policy Manual prepared by the library media specialists.
--approved personnel moves including:
Resignation: Joseph Cole, RHS teacher; Kim Horton, RES teacher; Mallory Kincaid, RMS teacher and Katelyn Phillips, RES teacher.
Leave of Absence: Tanya Cleveland, RES third grade teacher, from Sept. 25, 2017-Dec. 15, 2017.
Employment in Position: Emily Malone, RMS teacher; Rebecca Logsdon, SPE teacher at RES and Donna Sykes, engineering/computer science teacher at RHS.
Employment—contract principal three-year contracts: Jason Goodwin, RHS; Karen Thorn, RMS and Deanna Hollimon, WES.
Temporary Employment: Nicole Clingan, 21st CCLC teacher and Kim Palmer, 21st CCLC teacher, both part-time and as needed.
Athletic Consultants: Chase Gilmer for RMS football, payment not to exceed $960, to be paid by Football Booster Club; Daniel Hollimon for RMS football, payment not to exceed $960, to be paid by Football Booster Club and Wayne Wilkes during spring training for RHS varsity football, payment not to exceed $1,380, to be paid by Football Booster Club.
Substitute: Keith Wilson, bus driver.
