ACT scores down 1.9 points in NLR
ACT college entrance exam results from Pulaski County area school districts and charter schools continue to arrive after the publication in Wednesday's newspaper of the 2016 national, state and some local scores.
The North Little Rock School District reported a composite score of 17.9 for its 2016 class of graduates, down from 19.8 for the preceding Class of 2015 and 20.7 for the Class of 2014. The ACT is scored on a scale of 1 to 36.
The fall in the composite score came at the same time there was a sharp increase in the number of North Little Rock test-takers, from 370 in the 2015 class to 590 in the 2016 class.
Leaders of ACT Inc. have said that a significant increase in test-takers is often a key reason for a decline in scores. The additional test-takers are likely to be those who weren't planning to attend college and aren't as academically prepared for the college entrance test.
The national composite score for the ACT dropped from 21 to 20.8 for 2016 at a time that the number of test-takers approached 2.1 million, up from 1.9 million. The Arkansas composite fell from 20.4 to 20.2, while test-taker numbers increased from 26,995 to 28,220.
In regard to results from charter schools, the Maumelle Charter High School -- operated by Academics Plus Charter Schools Inc. -- reported an ACT composite score of 21.7 for its 27 test-takers in the 2016 class. That score is up from 20.3 in the 2015 class and 19.9 in the 2014 class.
LISA Academy North in Sherwood reported an average composite score of 22.3 for its 2016 class of 21 test-takers, up from 21.9 earned by 16 test-takers in the previous year.
LISA Academy in west Little Rock reported a composite score of 19.3 for its 72 test-takers in the 2016 class. That was down from 20.1 for the 43 test-takers in the class of 2015.
Substitutes in LR get pay rate bump
The Little Rock School District has increased the daily pay rate by $15 for substitute teachers with bachelor's or master's degrees and substitute teachers who hold state teacher licenses to increase the pool of applicants and become more competitive with neighboring districts.
The new rate will be $80 for substitutes who work between one and 20 days. After 20 consecutive days in the same classroom the rate of pay increases to $90.
The Little Rock district contracts with PCMI/Will Sub, as do other districts and charter schools in the area, to place substitute teachers in classrooms. The automated system allows substitutes to select which school district, school and classroom assignment that they prefer. The ability to receive a higher pay rate is an important factor in the selection process, a district leader said about increasing the number of candidates.
"High quality substitutes are vital to student performance," Rhonda Benton, the district's director of human resources, said. "When we demonstrate to substitutes that we value them, it has a positive impact on our students."
More information about the substitute teaching is available at pcmiservices.com.
Attorneys seeking transfer case fees
Attorneys for the Joshua intervenors in the long-running federal Pulaski County school desegregation lawsuit are seeking legal fees for their part in a challenge to the state allowing a student to transfer out of the Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District.
The legal team, headed by Rep. John Walker, D-Little Rock, is asking for $10,087 in fees for attorneys Walker, Robert Pressman and Austin Porter, and for paralegal Joy Springer. The legal team represents the class of black students in the Pulaski County Special and Jacksonville/North Pulaski districts.
Earlier, Scott Richardson, an attorney for the Jacksonville district, asked U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. to approve legal fees and costs to the Jacksonville district for $13,224.
Marshall ruled from the bench on Aug. 8 that the state Board of Education must honor the Jacksonville district's claim to an exemption from participating in Arkansas School Choice Act student transfers -- as was envisioned as part of a January 2014 settlement agreement in the desegregation case. The judge reversed the state Education Board's decision to allow a student to transfer from Jacksonville, where she resided, to a Cabot School District campus.
The Jacksonville district filed the initial challenge to the transfer, calling it a violation of a 2014 settlement agreement among the Pulaski County school districts, the state and the Joshua intervenors in what is now a 33-year-old case.
The Joshua intervenors and the Pulaski County Special district also argued against the student transfer as a violation of the settlement agreement.
Metro on 08/28/2016