By Lori EhdeIt’s one thing to test students to measure classroom achievement, but it’s quite another to compile the data into useful information.Luverne Elementary Principal Stacy Gillette and a team of district teachers attended training last fall to decipher the mountains of data resulting from frequent testing."It was a unique opportunity for us," Gillette said about what was called a data retreat. "We not only were trained in how to use the data, but we actually took our data with us to the retreat."Gillette presented school data information to School Board members at their Feb. 24 meeting.The retreat, sponsored by the state, broke the data into four categories: 1. achievement data (test scores), 2. perception data (survey information), 3. program data (math and language arts) and 4. demographics (socio-economic student status).1. Achievement DataAccording to test results of the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments, Luverne School District is meeting Adequate Yearly Progress."We’ve made AYP for the last two years, but we need to do more than maintain the status quo," she said.AYP is the measuring stick for the federal No Child Left Behind Act. "The benchmark for AYP keeps going up every year, so we need to keep doing better," Gillette said.2. Perception DataThe retreat last fall helped districts use information collected from surveys."We were very lucky because we had just conducted surveys in the district," Gillette said. "Surveys are hard to do."Parents of fifth-, eighth- and 11th-grade students were surveyed last year about their perceptions of the district. In addition, a high school student survey was taken last year with useful results.3. Program dataProgram data put math and language arts under the microscope, in addition to all-day every-day kindergarten and the Reading Recovery Program.Gillette said the K-5 math program was identified as a possible area of concern for Luverne."This confirmed some of our concerns when we went there," Gillette said. "Now we have data to support it."She said by the time the data was examined, Luverne Elementary teachers were already implementing changes and improvement in curriculum.Another concern for the district is intermediate (third through fifth grades) and middle school reading scores."We have good readers in the early grades, and some of our best reading and writing scores are in the high school," Gillette said. "But we have this dip in the middle grades, and we’re looking at curriculum and the amount of time dedicated to reading in those grades."She said personnel changes in the middle school English program may have also affected test scores. "We’ve got Jan Olson in that department now working to get our feet on the ground again," Gillette said.4. Demographics To measure AYP, test scores are broken down by demographic groups. "We can’t take the average of all our kids anymore," Gillette said.Test scores are looked at by gender, special education and those qualifying for free and reduced lunch."When we looked at gender, we wondered, ‘Are boys really better than girls in math and science?’ And to be honest, we didn’t find anything significant there," Gillette said.She said Luverne’s special education students are showing improvement. "The goal is to get them performing up to grade level," Gillette said. "Since 2000, the MCA data shows fewer of our special education students are below grade level, and more are above grade level."Nearly 15 percent of Luverne’s students fall into the special education category. The state average is about 11 percent.In the demographic subgroup of students qualifying for free and reduced meals, Gillette said test scores dipped."Their scores were lower than students not on free and reduced meals," Gillette said. "So the conclusion of our team was we need to monitor this group."She said the district will make a more concerted effort to connect students in this group to mentoring and tutoring resources through the district’s Child Guide program.About 30 percent of Luverne’s elementary students qualify for free and reduced meals. The category is singled out, because of possible socio-economic effects on learning. Overall, Gillette said the data information has helped teachers and staff put test data to use in Luverne."I saw this retreat as an opportunity to look at where we go from here," Gillette said.