Suffolk News-Herald

Suffolk School Superintendent Dr. Milton R. Liverman tried to put the best face possible Tuesday on the latest Standards of Learning test results, but couldn’t hide his disappointment.

While improvement was noted in many areas, the fact remains that two fewer elementary schools are now accredited on the basis of the results.

According to Liverman, it was fifth grade social studies that retarded the city’s progress on total SOL accreditation.

&uot;While I am pleased at the progress we’re making, I’m still extremely disappointed because I expected this year to have all of our elementary and middle schools meet full accreditation,&uot; said Liverman. &uot;All but one elementary school would have been fully accredited, had it not been for fifth-graders’ performance on the new social studies assessment,&uot; he added, which Suffolk gives in grades 5-7.

Three previously accredited elementary schools – Kilby Shores Elementary School, Oakland Elementary School, and Nansemond Parkway Elementary School – also &uot;got caught in this social studies drop,&uot; said Liverman. &uot;I feel like I’ve been blindsided by these scores. It’s like being drop kicked from the back.&uot;

All 12 elementary schools saw social studies scores drop an average of 16 percentage points.

All other subject area test scores continued to show improvements, he said.

A total of six schools are now fully accredited, down from eight. The three that lost accreditation were Kilby Shores, Oakland and Nansemond Parkway, while Booker T. Washington achieved full accreditation.

Liverman said he is particularly proud of Booker T’s performance, which experienced the same drop in social studies as the other schools, &uot;but even with that, they pulled up science scores and had success in being fully accredited.&uot;

&uot;We’ve been successful in achieving what we’ve been asked to do, as our steady progress demonstrates,&uot; added Liverman.

&uot;This one decrease in one subject area in one grade level shows us our focus area for the 2004-2005 school year.&uot;

The list of &uot;fully accredited&uot; schools now includes:

-Booker T. Washington Elementary School

(new)

-Driver Elementary School

-Florence Bowser Elementary School

-Northern Shores Elementary School

-Forest Glen Middle School

-John Yeates Middle School

A press release from the schools noted positive results from the tests:

-Staff said pending data on SOL scores for both Lakeland High School and Nansemond River High School made the accreditation status of both schools &uot;too close to call.&uot;

-Third-grade history scores increased 9 percentage points division-wide.

-Virginia Studies scores (which Suffolk administers to 4th-graders) increased 11 percentage points.

-All elementary, middle and high schools met the writing standard.

-All elementary schools met the new higher English standard of a 75 percent pass rate.

-All elementary and middle schools met the mathematics standard.

-All but one elementary school met the science standard.

-All middle schools met the science standard.