Haleyville City Schools applauded over test scores

HALEYVILLE - Higher poverty rates in a school district usually mean lower testing proficiency rates, but Haleyville City Schools has proven that to be wrong, being listed as one of just three schools in the entire state to have grown in math proficiency by double digits.
HCS, known to be in a higher poverty rate area, showed a double digit jump in math scores on the Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program, more commonly known as ACAP, last school year.  The school district received recognition in state media reports by jumping 35 percent in overall ACAP math proficiency for students in the system now at 46 percent, data from the Alabama State Department of Education showed.
In the spring, HCS gives second graders a reading ACAP.  If students do not make the cut score, they have to attend summer school, according to school officials.
The ACAP that determines scoring accessibility, is given in both math and reading to grades 3-8, added Chere Fetter, director of instructional services for HCS.
Grades 4, 6 and 8 take ACAP science. 
“There are four levels a student can score,” Fetter noted. These begin at the lowest level of 1, which will not give a school system any points toward its state report card, Fetter further explained.
Students scoring on levels 2, 3 or 4 help the school system earn points toward its report card score, Fetter added.
The next testing after 8th grade is the ACT, which determines proficiency for 11th grade, Fetter continued.
A breakdown of test scores for HCS shows 100 percent growth for grades 3-5 at the elementary school, Fetter stated.
Growth is determined by looking at ACAP scores from the previous year and comparing to the present year, which showed that both the elementary and middle school both scored at 100 percent growth, Fetter said.
“We have seen gains every year we have given the ACAP,” Fetter pointed out. 
At HES, they are showing 80 percent ACAP achievement, according to Fetter.
In 2021-2022, students on grade level at the end of the school year at the elementary school showed 71 percent reading on a third grade or above reading level, rising the past four years 24 percent to 95 percent by 2025, school officials said.  
HMS showed 75 percent achievement, Fetter continued. 
“That means our teachers are working hard  on teaching their standards of their subject area,” she stated.
At the high school, the ACT is the measurement for 11th grade, where students, “grew leaps and bounds in our ACT scores,” said Fetter. There is no standardized testing for grades 9 and 10, although a pre-ACT is given to 10th grade, she added. The ACT WorkKeys, or a more work-based test, is given to 12th graders as a job assessment, educators added.
Students scoring on the ACT at level 4 in math decreased from 6 to 1
.“Our gains in math were at levels 2 and 3,” Fetter noted.
“In 2024, we had 61  of our 11th graders score a level 1, which would mean no points, to only six,” Fetter said. Level 2 scoring went from 42 in 2024 to 55 students.  Level 3 scoring went from 13 in 2024 increasing to 23 students, Fetter continued.
Students scoring a level 4 in English/Language Arts increased from 8 in 2024 to 10, Fetter explained.
“It’s wonderful to be able to celebrate with our administrators and our teachers on the hard work they have put into our students, for our students to be successful in life,” Fetter said.
“Our administrators are leading our teachers into segregating their data,” Fetter explained.  They are pulling out data and seeing which areas need remediation, and specializing the instruction for students, she said.
“Our teachers have done a tremendous job looking at those scores, looking at their standards and teaching and re-teaching for what their students need,” Fetter said.