The Petersburg School board is meeting Tuesday at 7 p.,m. in the Middle and High school library.

The Petersburg School Board is meeting Tuesday night for a regular meeting. The board will be hearing a report from administration about how students did on the most recent statewide assessment tests. Last year was the first time the state used PEAKS assessment tests which stands for “Performance Evaluation for Alaska’s Schools”. Students are scored on a scale that’s divided into four categories: advanced, proficient, below proficient, and far below proficient. The tests were given to students in grades three through ten.

The results show that in Petersburg, about 55 percent of students were proficient in English language arts and 40 percent of students were proficient in math. That means that about 45 percent were not proficient in language arts and most of the students–60 percent of them–were not proficient in math.

Results varied from grade to grade.

The highest scores were in 3rd grade math where nearly 67 percent of students were proficient and 6th grade language arts where about 66 percent of students were proficient. The lowest scores were in 8th grade language arts where about 55 percent of students were below proficiency. And in 10th grade math, where nearly 81 percent of students were found to be below proficient.

In general, Petersburg fared better than the state overall.

In the state, about 62 percent of students were not proficient in language arts on the assessment. In math, about 68 percent of students were not proficient.

In a written statement about the statewide results, Alaska’s Commissioner of Education, Michael Johnson says, quote: “We must be dissatisfied with these results.” He says many schools are already implementing changes to give students more opportunities for learning.

At the Petersburg school board meeting, Testing Coordinator, Bridget Wittstock, and Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter will be going over what the test results mean here.

Another topic to be covered at the meeting is technology. Director of Technology Jon Kludt-Painter, will be giving an update on projects going on at the district. He will also be talking about the upcoming viewing of the movie, Screenagers, a documentary on kids and screen time. It talks about what is too much screen time and gives tips to families.

The school board is continuing to update the district’s policies to comply with state requirements. At the meeting, they’ll be voting on about a dozen sections.

The school board is also looking for community members to serve on a strategic planning committee.

The school board’s meeting is Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in the Middle and High School library. KFSK will be broadcasting the meeting. Also, tune into Campus Connection, a call-in with school officials. That will be airing today at 12:30 after the Midday Magazine.