Butler Principal Presents Plans to Keep Students Engaged

At Thursday night’s meeting, the Butler school district gave its presentation on test results and assessment data at for the 2010-11 school year.

Butler High School Principal Martin Wall was responsible for giving the presentation, which highlighted student performance on three different kinds of tests: the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA), the PSAT/SAT and Advance Placement (AP) tests.

performance by eleventh graders on the HSPA was an improvement over the previous year. A total of 21.7 percent of students who took the language arts portion of the exam scored at an “advanced proficient” level, the highest possible scoring category. This was a 15 percent increase in advanced proficient students from the previous year.

Students did not perform as well in mathematics, as more than a quarter of those who took that portion of the exam—25.2 percent—scored in the “partially proficient” category, the lowest of the three scoring categories. However, 60 percent of students managed a “proficient” score. That number is up 9 percent from 2010.

Wall diagnosed part of the issue as stemming from many top Butler and elementary students opting for one of Morris County’s many private schools when they reach high school age.

“Many of our best students really never arrive at Butler High School,” Wall said. “We have a phenomenon that goes on in the Butler district where a number of our students go to the Morris County academies.”

To prevent this from occurring, Wall and his staff have put plans in place to attract more of these students to Butler High School. This includes a revamped eighth grade parents night, which will feature comprehensive presentations on every aspect of high school life from Butler High students and faculty.

“We’re hoping to give everyone a better look at exactly who we are and send people away with a little more of an educated opinion about Butler High School when they leave,” Wall said.

There are plans on the horizon for the school’s test scores, first coming in the form of an effort to improve PSAT and SAT scores, which have hovered near the New Jersey average over the past few years. The district plans to do this by possibly offering SAT courses after school and activities to Butler High School students at a fraction of what it would cost to take the same course at an outside institution.

“We have some work to do internally on it, but I’m hopeful that in mid-January we’ll send a letter out to parents, tell them about the course, have them contact guidance counselors and then we can get the course going,” said Wall.

Wall feels as if the idea will take off amongst students, who will want to join their classmates in potentially improving their SAT scores.

“I think, as culture goes in high school, more kids will want to take the SAT prep course because they’ll want to increase their scores as well, and it will be what everyone’s doing,” said Wall.

The district has also seen mostly positive results on its AP testing, and has joined with other area high schools to sweeten the pot for students to push themselves to take AP courses and tests with

The high school, along with Kinnelon, Pequannock and Pompton Lakes, is participating in a contest giving any student who manages a 3, 4 or 5 on any AP exam a key that may start a new Ford automobile supplied by the Route 23 Auto Mall. In addition, the schools are getting other sponsors in on the action, with the Tri-Boro Rotary and Best Buy the next in line to join.

“It’s going to draw attention to our best students, which is great,” said Wall about the AP Challenge. “It really is the varsity academic sport in the high school, and we want to start presenting it that way.”

The bottom line for the district, in the end, is to have all students who come through the school system attend Butler High School for all four years.

“After seeing all there is to see in Butler, I would like to see these students back," Wall said. “I think there’s a lot here for students in Butler.”