On Monday night, the Pascack Valley Regional High School District Board of Education swore in student representatives, elected the vice president, presented the Annual Score Report, reflected on the White House and U.S. Department of Education Summit, and proposed possible solutions to public concerns.
The meeting began with the Oath of Office and the appointment of student representative Andrew Varian for Pascack Hills High School and student representative Ella Gokhale for Pascack Valley High School.
Yas Usami as acting President called for the nomination of vice presidential candidates. Of those who spoke, only Debra Stephans was elected. Therefore, Stephans was applauded with the new honor of vice president of the Pascack Valley Regional High School District Board of Education.
Before Director of Curriculum & Instruction Barry Bachenheimer began the Annual Score Report presentation, he proudly spoiled the results.
“Spoiler alert, we’re very pleased with our scores,” he said.
Math Supervisor Mark Russo presented information regarding math-specific score reports. English Supervisor Valerie Mattessich continued in English-related areas of interest. To complete the presentation, World Language Supervisor Argine Safari discussed English language learners (ELLs) testing data, and Seal of Biliteracy results. Tara Flannery presented the Dynamic Learning Map (DLM), which consists of ‘emerging’, ‘approaching target’, ‘at target’, and ‘advanced’ levels. Their points included:
- Pascack Valley Regional High School District offers 25 different AP subject and their respective tests, with the most popular being physics and English Language Composition
- At Hills, The total number of AP students has decreased to 210 since last year, but the number of exams taken increased to 585, and the percentage of students with scores of three or higher has slightly increased over the years to 92.5 percent.
- SAT math and verbal mean scores have increased this year.
- Regarding the NJGPA, the “Not Yet Graduation Ready” percentages, generally, went down, more so in the math department than in the English department.
- District interventions such as boot camps, programs, and services have stayed relevant and prioritized since their implementation in 2021.
- Graduation rates and college attendance at Hills has increased.
- The majority of ELLs reached the developing level in achievement.
- 86 students in 2023 received their Seal of Biliteracy across seven languages.
Russo emphasized plans in the math department to highlight key concepts and center focus, additional review, work with NCTM’s 8 Math Teaching Practices, and Math Center continuation.
Mattessich plans to continue a workshop of foundational support for students, continue implementing vocabulary and reading comprehension practice, emphasize independent reading development, and assess writing focuses and approaches.
Bachenheimer praised the NJGPA’s data accuracy in comparison to previous forms of testing.
“When I would present on the old PARCC exam, the issue we had with that was that it didn’t count for anything and so the motivation of students was called into question. The NJGPA has been a graduation requirement for Juniors now for several years so as a result students take it far more seriously and the scores are a bit more reflective of that effort as a result,” he said.
Superintendent Sarah Bilotti gave her report regarding the White House and U.S. Department of Education Summit on Digital Equity, Inclusion, and Emerging Technology. Bilotti met with a Department of Homeland Security agent who talked about cyber security in schools and highlighted Four Points of practice: digitizing Student Learning Management Systems, Records for, specifically, students with disabilities, consistent access to student devices, and a focus on common planning time.
“The four points of practice [taught at the summit] were things that we’ve been doing in our district for a very long time,” she said.
Additionally, the district plans to embrace AI by creating a common district philosophy and educating teachers on the appropriate use of AI in classrooms. Dr. Bacheniheimer was nominated and successfully secured the Google AI Plus edu Fellowship for the district schools.
James Stankus addressed former comments from the public regarding midterms and final exams. Proposals included standardizing the midterm and final as 5% of the year’s grade, spiraling test prep, and data analysis with teachers. Yet, according to Stankus, the final exam impact was minimal and most students’ grades remained the same.
