We would like to introduce you to our husband and wife teaching team, Mr. and Mrs. Kamieneski. Julie Kamieneski, also known affectionately at "Mrs. K," is principal and teacher for grades K - 4. Dick Kamieneski, also known affectionately as "Mr. K," is teacher for grades 5 - 8 and also maintains the school facilities. Dick retired in June of 2017 but was rehired on a contract basis to teach the upper grades. Both Mr. and Mrs. K are committed Christians and members of the Amesbury Seventh-day Adventist Church. Not only are they academically qualified and experienced as teachers, but they take a genuine interest in each individual student. They view their calling as teachers to be much more than simply transmitting information. Their calling includes the mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical development of their students that they might be prepared to be useful and productive citizens both of our society and of the heavenly Kingdom.
To learn more about our teachers, click on the links below.
All of our teachers are certified for first aid and CPR.
Iowa Tests of Basic Skills
One of the measures used in elementary schools to rate academic performance is the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS). The ITBS tests students’ abilities in various academic areas and compares their performance to that of other students in the same grade. Among the academic abilities tested are: vocabulary, reading comprehension, spelling, capitalization, punctuation, usage and expression, mathematical concepts and estimation, problem solving and data interpretation, mathematical computation, social studies, and science. Each student’s performance is averaged over the various academic areas to give a composite score in terms of a percentile rank.
The graph below shows the average percentile rank for students in the Amesbury Seventh-day Adventist School as a function of the school year.
This percentile ranking is not the same as a grade percentage. Rather it is the percentage of the students at the same grade level that our students rank above. For example, in our lowest year (2005), our students, on average, ranked above 67.5% of the students nationwide at the same grade level. In our highest year (2003), our students, on average, ranked above 88.4% of the students nationwide at the same grade level in ITBS performance. This is truly an extraordinary achievement.
Grade Equivalency in Standardized Tests
Below are listed the class average grade equivalency of students in each grade tested on the union conference adopted standardized tests.
Average Grade Equivalency for School Year 2007 - 2008 |
Test Area |
Grade 3 |
Grade 4 |
Grade 5 |
Grade 6 |
Grade 7 |
Grade 8 |
Reading |
4.7 |
4.7 |
|
4.8 |
8.4 |
13+ |
Language |
3.9 |
5.6 |
|
8.2 |
9.1 |
13+ |
Mathematics |
3.2 |
5.0 |
|
6.2 |
8.9 |
11.3 |
Social Studies |
3.3 |
4.5 |
|
6.0 |
8.4 |
7.7 |
Science |
2.9 |
4.3 |
|
5.5 |
10.0 |
12.3 |
Sources of Information |
4.7 |
5.3 |
|
8.0 |
8.5 |
11.2 |
Composite Score |
3.7 |
4.9 |
|
6.4 |
8.9 |
11.2 |
Average Grade Equivalency for School Year 2006 - 2007 |
Test Area |
Grade 3 |
Grade 4 |
Grade 5 |
Grade 6 |
Grade 7 |
Grade 8 |
Reading |
4.2 |
|
6.0 |
8.0 |
8.5 |
8.4 |
Language |
3.7 |
|
7.1 |
10.6 |
10.7 |
11.6 |
Mathematics |
3.5 |
|
6.2 |
9.6 |
7.4 |
13+ |
Social Studies |
5.5 |
|
4.7 |
9.1 |
10.0 |
8.7 |
Science |
7.4 |
|
5.6 |
8.5 |
7.0 |
7.4 |
Sources of Information |
6.5 |
|
6.4 |
9.5 |
9.6 |
9.1 |
Composite Score |
5.0 |
|
5.9 |
9.2 |
8.7 |
9.7 |
Average Grade Equivalency for School Year 2005 - 2006 |
Test Area |
Grade 3 |
Grade 4 |
Grade 5 |
Grade 6 |
Grade 7 |
Grade 8 |
Reading |
|
5.3 |
6.0 |
7.7 |
7.1 |
10.8 |
Language |
|
7.5 |
7.9 |
8.1 |
8.8 |
8.5 |
Mathematics |
|
5.7 |
7.3 |
6.8 |
9.6 |
9.6 |
Social Studies |
|
6.2 |
6.7 |
10.2 |
7.0 |
9.1 |
Science |
|
4.6 |
5.8 |
10.3 |
7.4 |
11.9 |
Sources of Information |
|
7.2 |
7.3 |
6.4 |
7.5 |
8.5 |
Composite Score |
|
6.1 |
6.7 |
8.1 |
7.8 |
9.6 |
Students in Adventist schools outperform. In a three-year study of 51,000+ students in Adventist schools (kindergarten through high school), researchers documented that they out-performed the national average. At all grade levels. In schools of all sizes. And in all subjects.
Students in Adventist schools overachieve. Additionally, researchers compared student performance on standardized tests with what would be predicted based on their Cognitive Abilities Test scores, and found they performed above what would be predicted.
Students in Adventist schools gain even more with time. One of the most dramatic findings is that students who transferred to Adventist schools saw a marked improvement in test scores. Furthermore, the longer students are in Adventist schools, the better their achievements and abilities.
