Schools
School District Reviews Academic Progress
Already above state averages, PWHS students take practice exams to push ACT scores higher.
Port Washington High School students are doing well. And they can, and will, do even better.
That was the message Monday night as Principal Duane Woefel presented the School Board with recent data on student achievement.
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“Our ACT scores are higher than the state average,” Woefel said, referring to figures compiled from the 2009-2010 academic year.
According to his report, PWHS students earned a mean score of 23, nearly a full point better than the statewide average of 22.1.
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This year, Woelfel said, he would like to see an improvement in those scores, and he and the administration have put measures into place to prepare students more fully for the exam.
So for the first time, all PWHS juniors were given a practice version of the academic aptitude test, regardless of their college plans.
Familiarity can be a big help with this type of standardized test, said board President Patty Ruth.
“Students tend to do better the second time, sometimes significantly better,” she said.
Beyond a trial run, Woelfel would like to see improvements in courses that teach the exam's four core areas: English, reading, science, and math.
In the report, he suggested that he’d like to see teachers in those areas receive additional training by ACT representatives to make their courses more rigorous.
Woelfel said he planned on reviewing those core course offerings to make sure they are of the highest quality.
The ACT is not the only test on which PWHS students are excelling. Now offering 16 Advanced Placement, or college level classes, the school is seeing a high percentage of passing scores that provide students with college credit.
The AP exams take place every May, measuring what students have learned over the year in subjects from physics to foreign language to European history. Last year, 78 percent of students at PWHS received passing scores.
Woelfel attributed those scores to dedicated students and teachers.
Even on early release days, AP teachers have held regular class or hosted study sessions – which didn’t seem popular at first, but were well received in the end, Woefel said.
With testing dates nearing in the coming months, Woelfel stands behind his pupils.
“We support all students in their learning goals,” he said.
