Six Basin districts stay in school improvement

OLYMPIA - A number of local schools will be required to write or continue improvement plans after a report on achievement test results was recently released by the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Schools in Soap Lake, Moses Lake, Quincy, Othello, Ephrata and Warden were among those designated as needing extra help in the OSPI report. One school, Columbia Ridge Elementary in Ephrata, made substantial gains in its test scores and was designated a "reward" school.

Schools were designated as "priority" if they fell in the bottom 5 percent of schools in the state in one or more of the subject areas tested. The achievement test breaks down the results into about 35 different groups of children, and "focus" schools missed hitting the benchmarks for one or more of those 35 groups. "Emerging" schools are in the bottom 15 percent of the state in one of the groups of kids.

The method of evaluating tests has changed over time, and for this test, evaluators worked from a three-year average.

Soap Lake High School and Middle School received a priority schools designation in reading and math. Columbia Basin Secondary School was designated as a priority school due to its graduation rate.

Ephrata Middle School was designated as a focus school because its special education students missed the benchmark; Sage Hills High School in Ephrata is a focus school because of its graduation rate. Warden Elementary School and Middle School students in the English as a Second Language program missed the benchmark, and both were designated focus schools as a result.

In Quincy, Monument Elementary School and Quincy Junior High also had ESL students miss the benchmark and received focus school designations. Hiawatha Elementary and McFarland Middle School, both in Othello, received focus designations in their ESL programs, along with McFarland's special education program.

Quincy, Warden, Ephrata and Othello already were in school improvement for the targeted focus programs.

North Elementary in Moses Lake and Soap Lake Elementary both earned emerging designations for their math and reading programs. So did Lutacaga Elementary in Othello and George Elementary in Quincy.

Othello High School and Scootney Springs Elementary, also in Othello, earned emerging designations in their ESL programs.

Warden superintendent Sandra Sheldon said the school board is considering establishing a preschool for those children who don't qualify for federally funded programs. "I think that's a huge need," Sheldon said. The test data indicates that students who stay in Warden school for six years are reaching the standards, Sheldon said.

Moses Lake superintendent Michelle Price said progress in math and reading at North Elementary has been "inconsistent" which earned it the emerging designation. North has been in school improvement before, Price said, and some of the steps it has taken to improve haven't had time to show their impact yet.

Because CBSS already was in school improvement, its staff has been working with a mentor specifically hired to find ways to raise the graduation rate. District officials try to follow students individually, and measure knowledge acquisition over time, Price said.

Charlotte Throgmorton, curriculum director for the Ephrata School District, said while schools don't necessarily like being designated for school improvement, the experience and training proved valuable.

Quincy superintendent Burton Dickerson said the district has a high percentage of students speaking English as a second language, and there's a difference for a kid still learning the language and one that's proficient in English. "An achievement gap, if you will," he said. The district's goal is to close that gap, he said.