Warden students receive $25,000 grant

Money awarded for gains on WASL

WARDEN —Students at Warden Elementary have much to celebrate this school year.

At an assembly last week, students were greeted by Sen. Joyce Mulliken and Rep. Janea Holmquist, both R-Moses Lake, to celebrate a $25,000 grant awarded for fourth-grade gains made on all three sections of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning in the last two years.

"It's very inspiring to see a small school district reach this level of achievement," Mulliken said in a press release statement.

Called the Apple Award Construction Achievement Grant, only 10 schools across the state received the grant to fund capital construction projects on school grounds or on other public property in the community, city or county where the school is located.

Warden Elementary principal Jill Massa hailed the grant as a great achievement that did not happen over night.

"It's years worth of work," Massa said.

"It speaks both for the students and the staff," said Warden School District superintendent Larry Blades. "It's great to finally have something like that recognized."

On the 2004-2005 WASL test, fourth-grade students at Warden Elementary doubled their scores with 50.8 percent passing math compared to 26 percent in 2003-2004. Writing increased to 49.2 percent from 22.1 percent and students reached 78.5 percent passing up from 41.6 percent the year before in reading.

Those same students now in fifth-grade will be tested on the reading and math portion of the WASL, making it easier to continue to track their progress, Massa said.

In 2004 the grant was first funded by the Legislature, providing $100,000 in the capital budget for four elementary schools that showed the greatest increases in students meeting the WASL. This year House Bill 1998 made the awards program part of state law.

Garden Heights Elementary was one of the first to receive the grant. As directed by Legislation, students help decide how the money should be spent.

Warden Elementary has until Dec. 15 to submit student requests. So far ideas include a skate park, outdoor drinking fountains and benches and a butterfly garden. The project is scheduled to be completed by August of 2006.

Improved WASL scores are evidence to educators and the state that student achievement is improving. Getting to that point has taken adjustments in how educators utilize intervention techniques and offer help to struggling students.

When a student is performing below grade level teachers are being more intentional about offering strategies specific to the needs of individual students, rather than attributing low performance to lack of motivation or family background and not providing any solution on how to fix the problem, Massa said.

Parents have also voiced concern about a lack of curriculum being taught in other subject areas due to an overemphasis on WASL preparation.

Massa responds to those criticisms as valid concerns that are being addressed.

Students are engaged in phonics games, songs and writing activities that are incorporated into other subject areas such as history and science, Massa said. "We're not just preparing them for the WASL, we're preparing them for their future."