Executive Summary of MCDS’ Standardized Testing
The following is an executive summary of MCDS’ standardized testing results from the 2005-2006 school year. The primary exam given at MCDS is the Educational Records Bureau (ERB) CTP IV, which is taken in the spring of each year by all grades from one through ten with three exceptions. Students in grades four, eight, and ten take the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination (WKCE-CRT). Finally, I will share some preliminary data from our Upper School SAT results.
This executive summary is intended to give you an overview of the standardized exams, explain how we use standardized testing to help evaluate our programs, and inform you of some of the trends regarding our school’s overall performance. As you read below, you may recognize some of the background information; considering the complexity of interpreting standardized tests, it is information that merits repeating.
With the delivery of the latest round of test results, we have once again begun the process of determining how the scores can best help us to continue to improve an MCDS education. For any school, this type of performance evaluation is an exceedingly difficult task. While parents, educators, and politicians pine for black and white indicators regarding a school’s effectiveness, the simple truth is that the standardized tests often yield a world of grey. Curriculum, environments, student populations, and a host of other factors produce variables upon variables. As a result, there are no clear-cut answers from any standardized test.
However, there are trends, which a standardized test - when properly evaluated - can help a school pinpoint. For MCDS, these standardized exams help us to assess our overall curricular approach and provide invaluable benchmarking against peer schools across the nation and beyond. The results can be springboards for enhancements and reforms, provided they are assessed within the context of our curriculum and objectives.
As background, the ERB is a non-profit educational service organization that has been conducting student assessment for independent and suburban schools since 1927. Their tests are administered to over 1,500 independent and suburban schools from around the world. There is no predetermined requirement for schools wishing to participate in the ERB exams. Overall, schools with a large majority of college-bound students who exceed state standards and norms find the program to be a good fit.
We utilize the WKCE-CRT in certain grades to assess how our school compares locally to other Wisconsin schools. Students are assessed in five subject areas, including reading, language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. Results are based on four categories of skill attainment: minimal, basic, proficient, and advanced.
Finally, all of our Upper School students sit for a series of examinations including the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) to gain entry to the college or university of their choosing. The SAT is based on three sections (critical reading, math, and writing) each of which is scored on a scale of 200-800 for a maximum score of 2400.
Once again, the general trends from the 2005-2006 ERB CTP IV exams, the WKCE-CRT results, and our Upper School examinations indicate that our curriculum and teaching methods are very successful. Here are some of the overall trends of note:
- MCDS, in its 10th year of existence, is on par or exceeding the results of other exceptional independent schools in nearly 80% of testing areas on the ERB CTP IV. The remaining areas usually relate to differences between what the CTP IV and MCDS curriculum assess, and at what grade level. It is unlikely to find 100% overlap between a curriculum and a standardized exam.
- On the WKCE-CRT, 100% of our fourth, eighth, and tenth graders were advanced or proficient in every test category. This compares with a Wisconsin state average across those grades and subtests of 76% of students scoring at an advanced or proficient level. 73% of students at Madison public schools scored at this level. Averages from suburban districts in the area were higher than either Madison or state averages but were at least ten points off of the MCDS average.
- The SAT results from our first graduating class speak well to the rigorous nature of the MCDS curriculum. The average section score on the 2006 exam across the three sections for an MCDS senior was 614. The average section score for a senior at an ISACS accredited independent school was 590, meaning that our seniors’ total scores through all three sections were, on average, over 60 points higher than those from other top independent schools. Nationally, the average score on each section was only 506, which means that the average MCDS graduate would have at least a 300 point advantage over the average student test taker. While our first class is a small sample size, it is nonetheless a promising start for the Upper School.
All three of these standardized exams continue to help illuminate curricular areas that warrant greater focus, and they’ve also validated many of our beliefs in terms of curriculum choices and areas of emphasis. We will continue to evaluate the results in the context of our overall mission and the insights of our faculty, students, and parents. We are extremely pleased with the testing results to date. They serve not only as a reflection of our past successes, but are an indication of even greater things to come.
Press
Releases
| January 5, 2007 |
Madison Country Day School Hosts
Pre-K & Kindergarten
Readiness Forum
|
| |
Madison Country Day School will host its first annual Pre-Kindergatren & Kindergarten Readiness Forum. The event set for Saturday, February 3rd, 2007 will focus on issues of concern for parents who have children approaching school age. Talks and roundtable discussions will feature topics such as discipline through love and logic, keeping your child emotionally and physically healthy through the transition to school, cultivating the peace-loving spirit of the young child, and brain-based principles of how children learn differently. For the kids, there will be supervised learning and fun featuring puppet-making, educational games, music, and plenty of physical activities.
“We know that many parents have concerns and questions as their children reach school age,” remarked Luke Felker, Head of School for Madison Country Day School. “They are concerned about such things as ‘will my child have the focus he needs’ and ‘will my child get along with other children?’ We will give parents the opportunity to seek guidance on such issues, ask questions, and get answers from experts in these areas and others.” According to Felker, the Readiness Forum will give parents the valuable information they need to make their child’s transition to school as smooth as possible.
Speakers for the event include:
- Kim Van Brocklin, a Herb Kohl Educational Fellow, who has taught Early Childhood grades for nine years. Through her studies at the University of Wisconsin, Yale University, and Harvard University, Mrs. Van Brocklin has focused heavily on neurocognition in children.
- Deborah Engen, an elementary teacher with 25 years of experience, who has been teaching “Discipline with Love and Logic” for the past 18 years as a graduate course and in parenting seminars. She has a nursing degree, a counseling degree, and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction.
- Cathleen Haskins, a certified Elementary Montessori teacher, was the founding teacher for the 2nd public school Montessori Program in the state of Wisconsin. She has both her undergraduate and her Masters of Science degrees in education. Inspired by her work with young children, she started Teach Peace three years ago, creating materials and sharing ideas that nurture the peace-loving spirit of the young child. She has presented seminars and workshops at national education conferences, as well as statewide organization such as the Wisconsin Education Association Council, Wisconsin Early Childhood Association, University of Wisconsin Early Childhood conferences, and other educational organizations.
Roundtable discussion leaders include experts in the fields of education, nutrition, health, speech, and emotional development.
This Readiness Forum is hosted by Madison Country Day School and is open to the entire Dane County community. Partners for this event include The Little Gym of Middleton, Kindermusik, The Children’s Dental Center, Learning RX and Puppets N’ Stuff, Inc. It will run from 9:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 3, 2007. Reservations are required and a small admission fee of $15 covers parents and children, ages three through six, and includes all programs, activities, and a light lunch. |
| |
| |
| November 3, 2006 |
Madison Country Day School Theatre Department Presents:
The Importance of Being Earnest
(A Trivial Play for Serious People) |
|
Madison Country Day School Theatre Department presents The Importance of Being Earnest (A Trivial Play for Serious People), Friday, November 10th and Saturday, November 11th at 7:00 pm. Tickets may be purchased at the door. Adults $5; Students $2; Children under three admitted at no charge.
Oscar Wilde's most successful comedy of manners is subtitled "A Trivial Play for Serious People." The nineteenth century Irish playwright who for a time was the toast of London society until his scandalous trial and conviction for sodomy originally considered reversing the adjectives! Filled with word play and pithy epitaphs, the play performed in Wilde's original four act version with minor cuts as Mr. Wilde himself approved, pokes fun at the rules of society (Victorian or otherwise) through deception, misunderstanding, and witty bantering.
Two gentleman dandies are caught in their own webs of identity deception when their respective love interests insist on marrying men named "Ernest". The prudish Lady Bracknell unwittingly reveals her own social shortcomings while trying to secure a suitable husband for her daughter, and the romantically inclined tutor and local clergyman form the third romantic couple, freed finally by the disclosure of misconceptions and misplacements of time past. In a play where the servants are expected to set an example for the upper class, wit is the rule, and the characters are aptly portrayed by Middle and Upper School students whose exposure to the play in seventh grade English class first peaked their interest in this masterpiece of theatre.
The production is purposely framed in a "timeless" manner mixing elements of the Victorian and modern eras in both scenery and costuming to extend Wilde's intent to question and chide society's conventions to our own time.
The Cast – in order of appearance
Lane (Servant to Mr. Moncrieff)– Sophia Foldvari
Algernon Moncrieff – Fabian Fernandez
John Worthing, J. P. (Jack) – Hans Eric Becklin
Lady Bracknell – Julian Pozniak
Hon. Gwendolen Fairfax – Christine Bower
Miss Prism – Libby Robb
Cecily Cardew – Caitlin Robb
Moulton (gardener) – Alexandra Pozniak
Dr. Canon Chasuble – Colton Larson
Grigsby (lawyer) – Marcella Prince
Merriman (Butler to Mr. Worthing) – Natalie Haugen
Servant – Sharon Welch
Stage Manager – William Schultz
Sound – Mischa Lewis-Norelle
Light – William Schultz
Stage Crew – Michael Luksich, Tej Mehta, Andrew Thompson
Faculty Advisors – Beatrice Jones, Helga Swatzak, Rod Schlimpert
|
| |
| |
| September 28 , 2006 |
Madison Country Day School
Celebrates 10-Year Anniversary |
| |
| Madison, WI, September 26, 2006: “The Greatest Thing this Generation Can Do is to Lay a Few Stepping Stones for the Next Generation,” reads the invitation to Madison Country Day School’s “Stepping Stones” 10-year Celebration and Auction which will be held at the school on Saturday, September 30, 2006. In 1997, a small group of independent-minded students, families and community members launched a school like none other in Madison—a school founded on the premise that imagination and learning go forward hand-in-hand when linked with high standards and the best of a world-renowned curriculum. And so it was, in 1997, that Madison Country Day School (MCDS) came into being. In the Fall of 2003, an Upper School was added to the mix with the first 9th grade class. MCDS then subsequently added a grade each year to complete the Upper School furthering the mission to provide an intellectually stimulating, personally enriching and academically challenging program in the liberal arts and sciences. The “Stepping Stones” 10-year Celebration and Auction will feature a program highlighting the history of the school and recognizing the enduring efforts of the faculty and staff. The auction element of the celebration features items for sale including class projects, trips, special dinners, golf and special events sponsored by the teachers. |
| |
|
