"To explain the Cuban Missile Crisis to her class, U.S. History teacher Kristine King placed a stool in the center of the room and let students zoom around it as the missiles seeking the target. Its just one of the innovative and creative teaching exercises utilized at Gautier High School. Students at the school, which is part of the Pascagoula School District, recently scored well in their subject area tests, state tests that must be passed for seniors to graduate.
Students may take the tests as often as needed to pass them, however, the first scores are used to decide accreditation levels for each school. Those results, which rank schools from Level 1 to Level 5 will be released by the state Sept 2.
Gautier High students, who took the subject area tests along with thousands of Coast students last year, scored a perfect 100 in Biology, which means that 100 percent of the students who were taking the exam for the first time passed it. They scored second in U.S. History with a 99.4...
...Gautier Principal Wayne Rodolfich made an unofficial comparison of 20 Coast schools and claims that his school fared the best with 97.01 percent of the students taking the test passing on the first try.
The other local high schools- Pascagoula, Ocean Springs, St. Martin, East Central, Vancleave, and George County - all had average scores in 90's, while Moss Point came in at 72.98 percent passing the first time.
Rodolfich isn't satisfied with the 97.01 percent. "It means a whole lot of people are doing a great job, but it means that 2.99 percent (of students) needs improvement," he said. In his third year as principal of the high school, Rodolfich said his entire staff, students, and their parents have worked hard to better the test scores. An after-school tutoring service is available for those students who need it, provided through district funding and teacher volunteers. "Teachers just believe that it is important that students achieve," he said.
Parents sign letters of permission so that their children can participate in the program, and Rodolfich makes sure every child who needs it stays for it, even if it means stopping the buses at the door until all the students signed up are in the class.
The staff also sends letters and progress reports to parents of all 830 students at the school, which goes from ninth to 12th grade. "There were 40,000 parent contacts made last year," he said. For example, secretaries called all the parents to invite them to open house last week. More than 500 parents attended.
"Our community and students are outstanding. They work very hard," he said. "We're in school to learn. We're not going to just show up and go through the motions. The teachers and the district go the extra mile for the students. We understand that we're the last shot these students may have for a good future."
King said her biggest compliment is to have students come back and tell her that they love history after taking her class. She strives to make her class fun, but challenging. "We're going to do whatever it takes for them to learn this stuff," she said. |
High School |
Algebra 1
|
U.S. History
|
Biology
|
English*
|
English**
|
English***
|
MS Avg. |
90
|
95.7
|
89.2
|
83.1
|
84.9
|
89.2
|
Gautier |
99.4
|
99.4
|
100
|
92.2
|
93.9
|
97.2
|
Ocean Springs |
95.3
|
99.2
|
98.1
|
90.2
|
93.6
|
94.1
|
Pascagoula |
97.2
|
99
|
98.2
|
89.6
|
98.1
|
95.2
|
St. Martin |
96.8
|
100
|
97.2
|
92
|
90.8
|
89.1
|
Vancleave |
99.2
|
97.8
|
97.4
|
87.8
|
85.5
|
86.2
|
East Central |
86.9
|
98.3
|
94.9
|
90.2
|
86
|
89
|
Moss Point |
78.2
|
83
|
69.8
|
63.4
|
69.7
|
73.8
|
George County |
88.3
|
97.4
|
96.5
|
82.1
|
90.3
|
92.5
|
English* is English II Multiple Choice |
|
English ** is English II Narrative |
|
English*** is English II Informative |
|
|
Source: Office of Research and Statistics, Mississippi Department of Education
|
The "alligator" resting on the bank of the pond is NOT real!
|