Lind-Ritzville schools focus on scores

RITZVILLE - There were some good results and some not-so-good results in state achievement tests in Lind and Ritzville; the upheavals of building a cooperative district have lessened and it's time to focus on instruction, said Superintendent Robert Roettger.

Roettger said he took a pair of highlighters to the results for both districts; he's the superintendent of the new academic cooperative between the districts that started this year.

He saw some areas of improvement, he said, and some areas where more work is needed.

"There is some work to be done in middle school math," he said. The middle school has a new math curriculum this year, and both the Ritzville and Lind elementary schools will be getting revamped math curriculums, he said.

District officials are analyzing the data, looking for other areas where the new two-district cooperative needs to focus on classroom instruction, he said.

The new school year brought with it a late start on Mondays; classes don't start until 9:35 a.m., and teachers use the time for training and collaboration.

The Lind and Ritzville districts started the new cooperative at the beginning of the school year, but spent all of last year working out the details, Roettger said. While teachers worked to ensure the planning had little impact on classroom instruction, it was an added distraction for teachers and administrators, he said.

Now that the cooperative is in place, administrators are shifting the focus back to classroom instruction and instructional practices, he said. "Things are in place now. Let's go," he said.

RITZVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT

Fourth grade: Reading - 66.7, Math - 46.7, Writing - 63.3

Seventh grade: Reading - 60, Math - 33, Writing - 50

Sophomores: Reading - 95.2, Writing - 100, Math - 85.7 year one, 100 year two

Graduation rate: 70.3 in four years, 74.2 in five years

LIND SCHOOL DISTRICT

Fourth grade: Reading - 54.5, Math - n/a, Writing - 63.6

Seventh grade: Reading 57.1, Math - 28.6, Writing - 57

Sophomores: Reading - 76.5, Writing - 88.2, Math - 72.7 year one, n/a year two

Graduation rate: 83.3 in four years, 81.3 in five years