Editor’s Note: This is the second of a four-part series on Spanish Fort schools’ test scores.

SPANISH FORT, Ala.—With enrollment increasing steadily and the number of teaching units shrinking in time with countywide budget cuts, Rockwell Elementary will continue to offer the same programs during the 2009-10 school year that saw all of its tested students perform in the 90th percentile or above on the Alabama Reading and Math Test.

“As of right now, the funding cuts have not hurt the programs we have in place,” Rockwell Principal Robbie Owen said Tuesday, a day he spent trying to help teachers displaced by the latest round of countywide layoffs fill slots in other schools.

Owen said there is no question that fewer teachers mean larger class sizes, but the effects will be offset by the strength of internal programs aimed at identifying and addressing the needs of struggling students early in the process.

For instance, smart boards have been added in all early childhood classes, meaning all students in kindergarten through third grade receive the benefits of instruction via the interactive technology tools.

“It really has made instruction come to life,” Owen said, noting that small-group instruction has also helped boost achievement across the board as well as the use of a tutoring program.

“We have a massive volunteer tutoring program where parents come in and work one-on-one with students. Last year we had more than 50 volunteers who came in and worked with the students, and we hope to see as much interest in it this year,” he said.

In addition, the school begins offering practice tests for the standardized testing in January for all third- through fifth-graders, and then allows second-graders to take a practice test when their older classmates are taking the real tests in the spring.

“It gives (second-graders) a chance to get familiar with the Scantron format, and it takes a little of the anxiety out of it, so they won’t be so scared when it’s their turn,” Owen said.

And how prepared, exactly, were Rockwell students for last year’s tests?

“Our third-graders scored the highest they have ever earned,” he said.

Indeed, Rockwell third-graders scored in the 97th percentile in reading, while fourth- and fifth-graders scored in the 98th and 97th percentiles respectively on the Alabama Reading and Math Test. Owen said comparable scores were earned in math.

By comparison, Rockwell third-graders scored in the 95th percentile in reading in 2008.

The scores, he said, indicate Rockwell students in all grade levels tested are “way ahead” of where they need to deem “adequate yearly progress” by the Alabama Department of Education.

The statewide ARMT is a byproduct of the federal No Child Left Behind Act designed to ensure all students — nationwide — are performing at grade level or above by 2014, so Owen said the bar is raised each year, and Rockwell students continue to excel.

Owen said it might be unrealistic to strive for math and reading proficiency for 100 percent of students nationwide, but he said the process has helped Rockwell teachers and administrators to implement a variety of test-taking skill strategies as well as zero in on subgroups of students who struggle with the subject material more than most.

“Our higher scoring students have always achieved extremely well, and the whole purpose of No Child Left Behind and the Alabama Reading and Math Test is to make sure we’re not allowing the average or below average students to slip through the cracks,” Owen said, applauding his teaching staff for digging deep to “find that special thing they can do to help a child and prepare them for testing.”

In turn, he said Rockwell’s curriculum has not changed significantly to accommodate the testing, but it has helped teachers develop new strategies for reaching those students in need of more remediation and, in the process, made better reading instructors of some of the teachers for whom the subject was not their specialty.

“All of our teachers are excellent, but some were not always as strong in the area of reading instruction, and now they are because of these tests,” Owen said.