NATCHEZ &045; Robert Lewis Middle School Principal Bettye Bell knows that by the time elementary school children get to her, there are so many life forces tugging at them that standardized test scores become almost non-important.

She has a written plan to improve those scores, she has several major academic concerns and she has clear goals in place, yet she can’t talk about the test scores without talking about the children.

&uot;They need so much,&uot; Bell said. &uot;The average administrator and teacher do not understand what a middle school student needs. You don’t know what they bring here.

&uot;If you can fix the child, you can fix the test.&uot;

That line of thought is why one of Bell’s biggest concerns is behavior.

&uot;We have to establish order and safety,&uot; Bell said. &uot;Middle school children deal with so much rebellion and peer pressure. It takes time to address. It’s very different, nothing is just so cut and dry.&uot;

Bell, in her first year at RLMS, has already told the school board she’ll need the full year to establish order, but some steps are already being taken.

In November more than 100 students were suspended after a fight broke out and students failed to go to class after being warned. Instead of sending the students home, Bell offered Saturday detention as an alternative to suspension.

Saturday detention is something that has continued at the school, cutting back on the class time students miss for behavior problems. During the weekend detention the students spend 30 minutes writing about what they did to receive the punishment.

Then volunteer teachers, parents and administrators spend at least two hours working with the students on the math components of the Mississippi Curriculum Test.

The ministers mentoring program has also had positive effects on the school, Bell said. More than 20 ministers spend time in the building, walking the halls and chatting with students. The presence of the ministers encourages the children to behave properly, Bell said.

Attendance is a top district and school concern for RLMS this year because of its No Child Left Behind label, School Improvement, Year 1. RLMS is the only district school in the improvement status category.

Though most actual test scores went up and the school moved from a state Level 2-under-performing to a Level 3-successful school, it failed to test enough students in two of the NCLB subgroups. The school is in School Improvement, Year 1, because too few white students and students with disabilities took the test.

In fact, Superintendent Anthony Morris said the school was only one or two students short in each category.

Regardless, the label stands, and Bell had to follow the requirements set by the federal legislation. The school sent out a letter to all parents making them aware of the label and wrote a school improvement plan. Bell’s plan includes steps to improve reading, writing, math and attendance and to increase parental involvement and mentoring programs.

&uot;School improvement is not a bad thing,&uot; Bell said. &uot;It raises your awareness of your weaknesses, and you are held accountable.&uot;

Despite the positive attitude, Bell said the school improvement label did sting most of the school’s teachers who felt that had worked their hardest to improve the school.

&uot;There is a lot to do when you are in school improvement,&uot; Bell said. &uot;All eyes are on you. The teachers are giving you all they’ve got and then some and then something like this happens. You couldn’t control the small population that didn’t show up. You don’t know for what reason a child doesn’t show up on test day. If a child gets sick on the morning of the test, he’s sick, but you are held accountable.&uot;

Morris said the key to improving test-day attendance is increasing attendance year-round. RLMS is now giving rewards for attendance and is working to make parents aware of the importance of daily attendance.

Academically, Bell is worried about the school’s math scores in algebra and measurement or geometric concepts. To boost math test scores every teacher is doing 20 minutes a day of math curriculum, regardless of the subject they teach.

In reading, the students participate in America’s Choice, a program that stresses daily rituals, and take part in the 25-book campaign, which requires them to read at least 25 books during the year.

Students who tested poorly last year and need extra help attend in-school or after-school tutoring programs. Students leave their elective classes for in-school tutoring each day for one hour.

That time is split between reading and math. The after-school program meets on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays for two hours.

Bell said she believes one of the reasons students’ test scores drop in the higher grades is the way teachers are trained.

&uot;We have teachers who are not content (or, subject area) teachers,&uot; she said. &uot;They went to school as elementary teachers. It’s not the teacher’s fault; it’s the state’s fault. We don’t have math content teachers.&uot;

Bell is using staff development to better prepare her teachers to teach set subjects.

RLMS is also trying to individualize instruction and have teachers identify weaknesses in each student.

&uot;If a child hasn’t gotten these skills in the early grades it is very difficult to fix it,&uot; Bell said.