District fails AYP, remains optimistic about results

Despite two straight years of slashed education budgets, students in the Stanwood Camano School District scored relatively well on new state exams given in the spring.

However, the district failed to pass Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standards, which are part of the federal No Child Left Behind Act that requires schools and districts to meet a certain percentage of passing scores in standardized testing.

Mike Olson, Port Susan Middle School principal and assistant superintendant of operations, said the district is not discouraged by the AYP status of “in improvement,” rather it is committed to providing targeted assistance to certain subgroups failing to meet stan dards.

“We know we have work to do,” he said.

Lincoln Hill High School, Port Susan Middle School, Saratoga School and Stanwood High School did not meet AYP passing grades.

However, said Olson, the majority of schools in the district passed in every subgroup, or cell, and those schools not making the cut passed in more categories than not.

Compared to statewide averages, students in grades 3-8, taking the Measurements of Student Progress (MSP), and 10th-graders, completing the High School Proficiency Exam (HSPE), received higher passing percentages in reading and writing categories in all but three instances.

Sixth-graders scored 1 percentage point lower than the state average in math, as did seventh-graders in reading. Eighth-grade students also scored lower in reading, 2.7 percentage points under the state average.

Fourth-graders in the district did overwhelmingly strong in the writing portion, beating the statewide passing percentage by 13.6 points. Seventh-graders were the only other level with a writing portion on the MSP for 2010; they showed a 1.6 point edge on the overall passing average.

At the 10th-grade level, reading and writing scores were more than 5 percent higher than the state average. Although only 44.2 percent met the passing standard for math at the 10th-grade level, the tally was slightly higher than state results.

Grades five, eight and 10 also took science portions in their respective tests. All three grades fell below the 50 percent passing mark; however, the percentage of fifth-graders in the district with passing scores was higher than the state average.

O

lson said a spike in

math scores at the elementary level was a highlight for the district, which recently implemented a new math curriculum. He hopes to see that trend continue at the middle and high school levels.

After releasing the results last week, State Superintendent Randy Dorn said in a press conference that he expected mixed statewide results with the introduction of new state tests and online formats.

Dorn replaced the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) with the MSP and HSPE, shorter exams tied to the use of technology last school year.

“I’m pleased with the first year of online testing,” he said. “It was a quick adjustment for schools and students to a different testing system. I feel comfortable calling it a big success.”

Compared to previous years, in all grades, the reading, math and science tests were shortened to one session.

Immediate feedback from teachers indicated reading sessions were still too long. Dorn said that both the MSP and HSPE reading portions will be trimmed for the upcoming testing in spring.

Out of 291 districts statewide, 212 did not make AYP. With a few exceptions, the majority of those districts are relatively small, said Lloy Schaaf, assistant superintendant of teaching and learning.

Dorn said the standards behind the No Child Left Behind Act are punitive and unrealistic.

AYP standards increase every three years, eventually requiring every student to pass by 2014.

Schaaf agrees that the system could use revision.

“Education research shows that students don’t learn at the same rate,” she said.

She would like to see testing that measures student growth, rather than compare results to a set of standardized scores.

Complete state testing results are available at www. k12.wa.us.

Staff Reporter Adam Stewart: 629-8066 ext. 115