The Petersburg School board is meeting Tuesday at 6 p.,m. in the Middle and High School library.
The school board will hear results from PEAKS assessment testing that happened this spring. It’s the second year that the school district has used the PEAKS test as the official state assessment. It 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. Last year, Petersburg students fared better than the state, in general. The results showed that about 55 percent of Petersburg students were proficient in English language arts and 40 percent were proficient in math. Superintendent Kludt-Painter last year had said they hoped to score better in the future. But she also hoped that the tests themselves would be improved after the first year. There were some discrepancies—like students who scored high on math in the national PSAT but scored barely above proficient in PEAKS.
The school board will also be hearing about ESSA or “Every School Succeeds Act”. It’s a national law that replaces the No Child Left Behind Act as the nation’s main education law for public schools. The ESSA law passed in 2015 and is still going into effect nationwide. In general, it’s supposed to give states more leverage while still holding them accountable for student performance. Superintendent Kludt-Painter will be giving a presentation on what it means for Petersburg.
Also at the meeting, there will be administrative reports from the superintendent, the principals, and the activities director.
The school board will be meeting in the high school library at 6 p.m. It is open to the public. KFSK will broadcast the meeting live.
Also, tune in for Campus Connection, a call-in program with district officials who will be discussing the meeting agenda. Campus Connection follows the Midday Magazine Tuesday at 12:30 p.m.
