Wamego’s USD 320 School board heard the results of last year’s assessments at Monday’s meeting. Dr. Mary Kaye Siebert went over the District wide assessment results. The Early Reading assessment uses the Aimsweb Screener and shows that 81% of 2nd Graders are grade level or above.
The Reading/Math uses the NWEA (Northwest Evaluation Association) Map Assessment and measures grades 2 thru 9, with the 9th grade being a computer adapted assessment and aligned to Kansas College and Career Readiness Standards. This assessment measures individual student’s growth over time.
Siebert noted many schools the size of Wamego don’t offer Advanced Placement (AP) classes, but Wamego offers AP classes in six different subjects. The AP classes were created by College Board and in 2016, Wamego had 96 students that earned AP credit with a score of 3 or above, while 35 did not earn credits.
Siebert reported that Wamego’s ACT composite score was 23.0, while the National was 20.9 and the State overall score was 21.9. Both Superintendent Tim Winter and Siebert said they can’t remember when Wamego’s composite score was this high.
The board also heard a construction management presentation at Monday’s meeting. BBN Architect Carl Riblett went over a detailed list of the things that need to happen with the list of projects once the Bond Issue is passed. The list includes securing a Construction Management at Risk (CMAR) General Contractor, and the advantages of having a CMAR at the beginning of the project. Riblett cited a 2012 Kansas Statute for the 3-phase process for selecting a contractor on “Best Value”. If the Bond Issue is approved on November 8th, the selection process will begin immediately.
Additionally, the board approved a motion to purchase a new bus at a cost of no more than $70,000, while requesting a plan to gradually recycle buses to help mitigate a severe bus shortage.
This is the first year for Superintendent Tim Winter to be evaluated and he told the Board they have the procedures and documents. His evaluation was to be done on October 24th, but the date was changed to October 25th. He noted he will have his self-evaluation available at the October 25th meeting.
