=======1998-99 ERB Testing Report: 

=============6th Grade | 7th Grade | 8th Grade | 9th Grade | 10th Grade

Each spring all students in grades six through ten take the Educational Records Bureau’s CTP III standardized test (ERB’s). Through a series of sub-tests, the ERB’s measure students’ verbal and quantitative ability as well as their achievement in academic areas related to these abilities. These achievement areas include general mathematical skills, algebra, geometry, writing, reading comprehension, and vocabulary.

This report presents a picture of our students’ academic ability and achievement in relation to their peers. The ERB tests provide three different reference groups with whom to compare our students:

a. National: students in general, including students in large urban and small rural schools.

c. Independent schools: including almost all members of the National Association of Independent Schools and is the reference group most similar to Cary Academy .

Unlike most other standardized tests given to secondary school students, the ERB assesses students’ ability as well as achievement. Students receive a measurement of their quantitative and verbal ability at the time of the test. This provides one indication of how well students, and also classes and grades, are achieving, given their ability. It also gives the school an indication of how well it is teaching particular academic skills.

Also presented in this report are the results from the ERB Writing Assessment Program. This program asks students to write an essay in response to a specified prompt, and then evaluates students’ writing in six different skill areas. It is designed to be a more authentic and accurate gauge of students’ writing ability than typical multiple choice standardized tests.

The following reports the results of each grade from the tests given in April, 1999.

Last year’s 6^th grade demonstrated particularly strong quantitative ability. A 6^th grade student right in the middle of the 6^th grade class at Cary Academy last year had stronger quantitative ability than 95% of the students around the country (national norms) and stronger quantitative ability than 75% of students at suburban public schools and 63% of students at other independent schools.

The bottom quartile at Cary Academy equates with the 90^th percentile nationally and 45^th percentile of independent schools. Our 6^th grade’s strength in quantitative ability means that a student coming into Cary Academy’s 6^th grade last year from a Wake County Public School who has been at the top of her class in math, may well find she is in the middle of her class at Cary Academy.

Considering our 6^th grader’s ability last year, how well did they achieve? They achieved at levels we would expect given their ability. At comparable percentiles we continue to score higher than national, suburban and independent school groups. The bottom quartile achieved at the 85^th percentile nationally and the 33^rd percentile on independent school norms. Note that while this is slightly less than their ability differences, it is not statistically significant.

In the area of verbal ability, a Cary Academy 6^th grader right in the middle of the class (the 50^th percentile) scores higher than 84% of students nationally, 66% of students at suburban schools, and 51% of her independent school peers.

Achievement results for our 6^th graders in the areas that relate to verbal ability (reading comprehension, writing, and vocabulary) fall right in line with what we would expect given their ability. In short, our 6^th graders last year achieved better than students nationally and in suburban schools and at the same level as students at other independent schools.

On the writing assessment, at each percentile reported our 6^th graders scored higher than suburban students and slightly higher the independent school students.

Cary Academy’s 50^th percentile at grade 7 equates to the 90^th percentile nationally, the 62nd percentile in suburban schools, and the 51^st percentile in independent schools.

Cary Academy’s 50^th percentile at grade 7 achieved at the 93^rd percentile nationally, 63^rd percentile of suburban schools, and 51^st percentile of independent schools. These results are what we would expect given their ability, which is indicated above.

Our 7^th graders last year who were accelerated into the Algebra I course achieved quite well on the ERB Algebra I achievement test. The 7^th grader scoring in the middle of our 7^th grade Algebra class received a higher score than 91% of 7th graders at suburban schools taking the Algebra test and 73% of the independent school 7^th graders who took this test. The chart above shows that across the board our seventh grade algebra students scored higher than their 7^th grade peers at suburban and independent schools.

Our 7^th graders performed as expected given their ability on the vocabulary, reading comprehension and writing mechanics achievement tests, with percentiles being nearly identical to the verbal ability results. The one exception appeared in writing mechanics where our scores were not quite as strong as independent school scores for the bottom half of our 7^th grade. At the 50^th, 25^th and 10^th percentile our students placed in the 48^th, 28^th and 18^th percentiles. While these percentiles are very similar, given our students ability (60^th, 39^th and 27^th percentile) we might expect them to be higher.

On the writing assessment our 7^th graders performed as expected given their ability, with slightly better (but not statistically significant) than expected scores on the independent school norms.

Last year’s 8^th grade also exhibited particularly strong quantitative ability. Cary Academy’s 50^th percentile at grade 8 equated to the 96^th percentile nationally, the 73rd percentile in suburban schools, and the 66^th percentile in independent schools. Cary Academy’s bottom quartile finds itself at the 87^th percentile nationally, the 57th percentile in a suburban setting, and the 45^th percentile at other independent schools.

On the mathematics sub-test Cary Academy 8^th graders performed up to their strong ability, with our 50^th percentile equating to the 99^th percentile nationally, 77^th percentile suburban, and 71^st percentile independent school. Of particular note, at each given percentile level Cary Academy students scored higher than their independent school peers.

39 8^th graders took the Algebra I sub-test. Interestingly, our 50% equated with only the 55% of both suburban and independent schools. The picture was vastly different for the 14 8^th graders who took the Geometry sub-test. Here Cary Academy’s 50^th percentile fell at the 91^st percentile on suburban and 66^th percentile on independent school norms.

In the area of verbal ability, a Cary Academy 8^th grader right in the middle of the class (the 50^th percentile) scores higher than 95% of students nationally, 82% of students at suburban schools, and 71% of her independent school peers.

Cary Academy 8^th graders performed as expected on the verbal achievement sub-tests given their ability. The table below gives our 50% percentile score compared to other groups in all three areas.

The chart below indicates how well Cary Academy 8^th graders performed on their writing task for the ERB’s. Of particular note, a student in the middle of our 8^th grade last year wrote better than nearly three quarters of her peers at independent schools and 84% of her peers at suburban public schools. Students at the lower end of the 8^th grade class also achieved strong results with their writing. The bottom quarter at Cary Academy scored as well as almost half the students at other independent schools!

A student right in the middle of the 9^th grade class at Cary Academy last year had stronger quantitative ability than 89% of the students around the country (national norms.)

While the student at the 50% at Cary Academy in quantitative ability fell at the 89^th percentile nationally, this student scored better than 97% of students nationally on this achievement sub-test. Also of note was that the bottom quartile at Cary Academy achieved at the 87^th percentile nationally, 47^th percentile on suburban norms, and 32^nd percentile of independent school norms This indicates that our 10^th grade class has achieved well in mathematical computational and problem solving skills.

While the results on the Geometry subtest taken by 10^th graders matched fairly closely their quantitative ability scores, their results on the subject test for Algebra I were not as strong as we might expect. Our 50^th percentile tested out at the 47^th percentile on suburban norms and the 29^th for independent school norms. At all levels our students did significantly lower than their independent school peers.

Cary Academy’s 9^th grade showed particularly strong verbal ability. A Cary Academy 9^th grader right in the middle of the class scored higher than 92% of students nationally, 72% of students at suburban schools, and 59% of her independent school peers.

While our students performed slightly lower than expected given their ability testing, these differences are not statistically significant.

Last year’s 10^th grade exhibited strong quantitative ability. Cary Academy’s 50^th percentile at grade 10 equated to the 94^th percentile nationally, the 72nd percentile in suburban schools, and the 63^rd percentile in independent schools.

10^th graders performed up to their ability on this achievement sub-test, with our 50^th percentile equating with the 99^th percentile nationally, the 74^th on suburban norms, and the 66^th on independent school norms.

On the Geometry achievement sub-test, our 10^th graders did not perform particularly well. Our 50^th percentile equated with the 48^th percentile on suburban norms and the 37^th percentile on independent school norms.

On the Algebra II achievement sub-test, our 10^th graders met expectations with the 50^th percentile falling at the 63^rd percentile on suburban and 61^st percentile of independent school norms.

10^th graders at Cary Academy demonstrated strong verbal ability, with the bottom half of the grade scoring particularly well when compared to its independent school counterpart.

The scores on these subtests follow fairly closely the same pattern as the ability testing, with vocabulary receiving the highest scores and writing mechanics the lowest. This relative weakness seemed to be confirmed on the 10^th grade’s performance on the writing assessment.

Given that this was only Cary Academy’s second year taking ERB tests, and our first year with significant numbers of students taking the tests at each grade, we are reluctant to draw specific conclusions for the school. Overall, we are very pleased with how our students performed on these standardized tests last year. The results clearly indicate that Cary Academy already has established itself as a school where students achieve well above the national average and slightly better than independent school students around the country. On the whole, our students are performing up to their ability and in some areas slightly better. Over the next few years we will carefully monitor student progress to identify trends in student learning, and to identify specific academic skills that are either strong or need further development.

Appendices: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | Top

=======PSAT AND SAT TESTING

All Juniors at Cary Academy are required to take the PSAT/NMSQT in October. Results for the graduating class of 2001 follow.

Number of students: 61

=======CARY ACADEMY FACULTY & INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT STAFF

Appendices: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | Top
=======

The goal of the survey was to better assess the school’s strengths and weaknesses during its first year of operation. The results from the survey will help us better focus our attention in year two in order to provide the best possible education for our students. To that end, a committee of parents, administration and faculty (students?) designed a survey that was sent to all parents, faculty, staff and students at the close of our first school year. A total of surveys were returned ( parents, students, faculty/staff).

Surveys were kept anonymous with members of the Cary Academy Advancement Office entering the data into SAS software, and the data then being compiled and presented to the Academy Administration for analysis by SAS employees. This data is voluminous and soon will be made available to the entire Cary Academy community. What follows is a summary put together by Don Berger, Head of School, with assistance from Lynne Fountain, Director of Advancement, and Randy Mullis, Cary AcademyWeb Master.

Strengths: There were many items on the survey that received high ratings from parents, students and faculty/staff. To carefully identify what we did well in our first year, we identified an item as a strength only if 90% of a group gave a rating of 3, 4 or 5, where 3 was the middle rating and 5 the highest, or if 80% of a group rated the item a 4 or 5. Please note that it is our belief that we can improve on strengths, and a strong rating does not mean that area will be neglected in the future.

An impressively high number of parents, faculty/staff, and students were very satisfied with their experience at Cary Academy during the first year.

On our 1 to 5 scale, where 3 is satisfied, 4 is very satisfied and 5 is extremely satisfied, 94% of parents answered with a 3,4 or 5, and 83% of parents responded they were either very or extremely satisfied. 95% of faculty/staff and 86% of students rated their satisfaction as being a 3,4, or 5.

Areas to Improve: To determine which questions warranted further consideration as areas to improve, we examined any question that had more than 25% of its ratings in the 1,2 or 3 range (again, 1 being the low score, 3 average, and 5 the high score). Our thinking is that if 1 out of every 4 respondents gave an average rating or below, we believe we can do better. As indicated above, our goal is 9 out of every 10 respondents believe we are average or better. Examining the responses to questions falling into this "area to improve," revealed agreement among all constituents in the following areas:

All 3 groups gave ratings that leave considerable room for improvement. 2 of 3 respondents in each group would like to see more sandwich and more salad bar options. All three groups would also like to see the current level of menu variation expanded. While students would prefer a cafeteria style lunch, parents overwhelmingly support our family style program (80% rate it a 3,4 or 5; 11% did not rate it; 9% rate it a 1 or 2).

To determine which factors were most important to parents when selecting Cary Academy for their children, we asked parents to rate 20 common factors. 90% or more parents rated the following factors highest (a 4 or 5, with 5 being very important):

· Quality of Education, Quality of Faculty, Variety of Courses, College Preparatory Emphasis, Small

· Class Size, Individual Attention, School Safety/Atmosphere, and Technology.

· Parents were also asked to then select their three most important factors. The two most often selected

were: Quality of Education and Quality of Faculty.

· The admissions office also got high marks from current parents and students on questions of how they were treated during the admissions process. 9 out of 10 parents gave the office a 4 or 5 on the question "I was pleased with the way the Cary Academy Admissions Division handled my questions and my concerns." (on a 1 to 5 scale where 3 = "agree" 5 = "strongly agree."

Appendices: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | Top

=======1998-99 Community Survey Report

Both parents and faculty and staff responded to the statement with a 4.0 average (very satisfied) on our 1 to 5 scale, with a 1 meaning "unsatisfied," a 3 meaning "satistfied," and a 5 meaning "extremely satisfied." This was very similar to last year’s average of 4.1 for both groups. 90% of parents selected a 3, 4 or 5 at the end of year two, as compared with 94% in 1997-98.

98% of faculty and staff responded with a 3,4 or 5 at the end of year two, up slightly from 95% in 1997-98. An almost equal number of faculty responded with 3’s and 5’s, accounting for the 4.0 average in year two (whereas with parents there were a larger percentage of 5’s than 3’s, which was balanced by a small number of 1’s and 2’s).

Parents and faculty and staff continue to strongly believe that technology is being used effectively at Cary Academy.

On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the lowest rating and 5 the highest, parents had an average rating of 4.4 to the statement "computers enhanced students’ learning experience" and faculty and staff’s 4.2 rating concurred. Furthermore, 97% of parents rated this statement with a 3,4 or 5, (95% in year one) and 60% of our parents gave it the highest rating.

94% of parents felt computers were used an appropriate amount in their children’s courses. Also, 97% of parents feel our computer use policy is appropriate (average rating of 4.4).

Parents are making more use of the technology at Cary academy as a communication tool.

Note the changes from 1997-98 to 1998-99 in the percentage of parents answering a 3, 4 or 5 to the following two questions. (1 is strongly disagree and 5 is strongly agree):

1998 1999

The Cary Academy intranet is user friendly 72% 90%

I’ve been able to access the intranet from off campus easily 56% 83%

Of further note is 55% of parents access the Cary Academy online reports (homework assignments, grade book, etc) at least once each week. This question was not asked in year one.

Parents and faculty and staff continue to strongly believe the school encourages student creativity.

On a 5 point scale where 1 is the lowest answer and 5 the highest, the average answer for faculty and staff was 4.4. An extraordinary high percentage of parents and faculty and staff (97%) gave a 3, 4 or 5 rating. This matched 1997-98 ratings which were also 97%. 90% of parents rated this a 4 or 5, up slightly from 1997-98 results of 87%. Encouraging creativity received the highest rating of all statements in the survey.

Parents continue to feel that project-based learning enhances their student’s learning experience.

Parents responded with a 4.2 average and 95% rated this statement a 3,4 or 5. This is remarkably similar to 1997-98’s 96% rating in the 3,4 or 5 range.

Item: Parents feel teachers are approachable and willing to listen.

The mean response to this item was 4.3 with 96% giving 3, 4 or 5 rating. Slightly more than half the parents responded with the highest rating possible. 1997-98’s results showed 97% of parents agreed or strongly agreed that teachers were approachable and willing to listen.

Item: Teachers are willing to help outside of class with the material

Average answer was 4.3 and 97% of parents gave a 3,4, or 5 rating, up slightly rom 94% in year one.

Item: Teachers returned my calls/emails promptly.

The mean answer was 4.2 and 92% gave a rating of 3,4 or 5, down slightly from 94% in 1997-98.

Item: Administrators interacted with parents in a respectful manner.

Parents responded with a 4.3 average answer, 93% agreeing or strongly agreeing.

Item: Cary Academy is a school where students are nurtured and given individual attention.

93% of parents and 97% of faculty and staff, similar to last year’s results of 94% and 98%, agreed with this statement.

Item: Cary Academy is helping students prepare for a rapidly changing society.

98 % of parents and 97% of faculty and staff responded with a 3,4, or 5. This is nearly identical to the first year results of 98% and 95% respectively.

 

Item: Cary Academy communicates effectively with students, parents, faculty and staff, and

staff.

In 1997-98 this statement drew a 1, 2 or 3 rating from 29% of parents and 37% of faculty and staff/staff. Last year’s survey saw the parents rating increase to 33% and faculty and staff decrease to 35%. Yet when we look a bit more closely at the numbers, and focus on the below average areas, a 1 or 2 rating, the percentage of parents who disagree with the statement dips to 13% (identical to 13% in 1997-98) and the faculty and staff percentage dips to 11% (down from16% in year one).

Item: Teachers notified the student/parent as soon as difficulties surfaced.

In 1997-98 40% of parents responded with a 1, 2 or 3 rating. This figure rose to 49% in 1998-99, but a closer inspection reveals a different picture.

27% of parents gave this a 1 or 2 rating in 1998-99, up from 22 % after year one. While this also reveals the roughly three out of every four parents feel they are notified as soon as difficulties arise, clearly this continues to be an area where we can improve.

On a more positive note, 75% of parents gave a 3, 4 or 5 rating to the statement "teachers notified the student/parent about positive achievement as well." And slightly more than half of our parents gave faculty and staff an above average rating here. While there is room for improvement, this is typically an area where most schools and teachers are not strong, tending to focus on the students with difficulties and not providing unsolicited praise for high achieving students.

Although parents were more positive about the cultural and ethnic diversity of our students, both averages hovered around 3.0. Cary Academy community recognizes the need to attract more students who represent the ethnic and cultural richness of the Triangle.

Item: Cary Academy promotes appropriate student behavior on and off campus

13% of parents and 26% of faculty and staff gave an unsatisfactory rating to this question. This is up slightly from year one’s 10% and 18%.

34% of parents and 71% of faculty and staff answered with a 1,2 or 3. This is rather similar to year one’s results: 38% for parents and 72% for faculty and staff.

While the average rating by parents to the statement "Overall, I/my child enjoyed the Cary Academy lunches this year" was 3.27, 76% of parent responded with a 3, 4 or 5, up from 61% in year one. Of note, 87% of parents (up from 80% in year one) like the family style lunch program (a 3,4 or 5 rating). 84% wanted to see more salad bar stations. These results were in concert with discoveries made at the end of the year by our Parent/Student/Staff Dining Services Committee. Among other suggestions, this committee recommended an additional hot bar and two soup terrines that were purchased by the school and now in use.

The statement "the dress code is enforced consistently" drew one of the lowest ratings of all questions. Parents responded with an average rating of 2.8 with 46% giving it a 1 or 2. While this was down from year one’s 56%, parent as well as student and staff dissatisfaction with the dress code led to the formation of last spring’s Dress Code Committee. The Committee modified the code and gathered increased community-wide support for the code this year. It will be interesting to see if this will result in a significant improvement in the answer to this question on the year-three survey.

In the area of homework, 29% of parents felt faculty did not assign an appropriate amount of homework (rating of 1 or 2). The implication here is too much homework was assigned; however, we will need to reword this item in future surveys to obtain more specific data and draw accurate conclusions.

Appendices: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | Top

May 12, 1999 LRP Parent "Listening" Group

May 14, 1999 LRP Faculty/Staff "Listening" Group

May 18, 1999 LRP Upper School Student "Listening" Group

May 19, 1999 LRP Parent "Listening" Group

May 24, 1999 LRP Middle School Student "Listening" Group

Appendices: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | Top

FACULTY AND STAFF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, COLLABORATION, AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT ACTIVITIES, 1998-1999

• Attended conference, workshop, or took class in last year – 19
• Total number of conferences, classes, or workshops taken in the last year – 43

• Total number of conferences, workshops at which staff presented – 7
• Total number of staff who participated in professional activities – 8

• 1 – facilities instructor
• 1 – Technology overviews
• 1 – coaches training
• 3 – Curriculum development, training workshops, designing model for student identification
• 1 – Leadership Greater Raleigh Education Forum
• 1 – Conference with North Carolina Business Officers

• Total number of staff who participated in community collaborative work – 9
• Types of community work:

• 4H Equine Activities
• Eastern Hunter Assoc.
• Raleigh Community Chorus
• Campbell University Community Christmas Chorus
• Soup Kitchen
• Youth Soccer
• Coaching Youth Sports
• Special Olympics Volunteer
• Durham Public Ed Network
• Cary Youth Orchestra Founding Board Member
• Community Outreach Program

• Attended conference, workshop, or took class in last year – 52
• Total number of conferences, classes, or workshops taken in the last year – 138

• Total number of conferences, workshops at which staff presented – 54 (some presented at 2 or more conferences)
• Total number of staff who participated in professional activities – 54

• 1 – Volleyball Workshops
• 1 – organized program for new PE techniques
• 1 – Cramer Athletic Training Workshops
• 1 – Technology training
• 1– NC theatre conference
• 1 – American College Theatre Festival
• 2 – Art Exhibition / teaching Art education
• 18 – Technology Training Camp
• 1 – Member Rainbow Dance Company
• 4- Foreign Language for Wake County Cooperative
• 1 – Foreign Exchange Program
• 1 – Teacher Training Program for Future Science Teachers
• 1 – Worked with NC Art Educators
• 1 – Developed Database for Ed. Research
• 1 – developed speakers program from fire department, State Bureau of Investigation, State Med. Examiners Office
• 1 – Outward Bound
• 1 – Created Java Script web pages for Physics
• 6 – Worked with SAS Curriculum Development for Curriculum Product
• 1 – presented Wake County workshop for Resume Writing, Capstone Teaching, and Interdisciplinary teaching
• 1 – facilitated discussion for UNC play on the Berlin Wall
• 1- Music conducting workshop
• 1- Instructor at Duke Young Writers Camp
• 1- College Board Planning Session to design web resource for AP English teachers
• 1 – AP reader

• Total number of staff who participated in community collaborative work – 35
• Types of community work:

• Habitat for Humanity (6)
• Seeing Eye Dog Training
• Special Olympics (4)
• Project Clean Sweep
• Founder/Director Cary Youth Orchestra
• Salvation Army
• Helping Hand Mission
• V Foundation
• Red Cross
• Director/Founder Concert Singers of Cary
• Director/Founder NC Symphony
• Mentor for teen parent
• Operation Beach Sweep
• "Rock-a-Baby" Program
• President of Professional Theatre Company
• Stared Battle of the Books for 6 NC schools
• Volunteer at elementary schools (4)
• Volunteer at Public Library
• Storm Drain Stenciling
• Heart of Carolina Food Drive