Susie Lynch, Sumner School District’s research and assessment director, presented the district-wide standardized testing progress report to the school board at its monthly meeting Sept. 15.
The preliminary Adequate Yearly Progress report measured results taken from the state’s two standardized tests, the Measurement of Student Progress for grades three through eight and the High School Proficiency Exam for students in grade 10.
The report showed mixed results for schools and grade levels in the district; For the most part, the district is ahead of the state averages and federal benchmarks for reading and math, but it remains just below progress expectations.
Lynch noted the difficulties the district had ahead in integrating students to new statewide standardized tests from the WASL.
“This is going to be a bumpy year for determining who takes what test at what time,” she said.
Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, is the state’s report card to measure school achievement, as dictated by the 2002 federal No Child Left Behind act. Schools and districts meet AYP each year by demonstrating all students meet or exceed the established proficiency goals in both mathematics and reading, or by demonstrating improvement in defined groups of students.
Only schools classified Title 1—receiving federal funds for low-income students—are subject to consequences for not meeting AYP goals. Schools that do not meet AYP are required to inform parents, create a plan to get back on track and may have to offer alternative school choices to parents in their jurisdiction, depending on the size of the deficit in the score.
“Sumner School District did not meet AYP for 2010,” Lynch said. “But overall we’re still in Step 1, which isn’t a bad place to be.”
Under its Step 1 plan, the school district must inform parents that it has not met AYP for two consecutive years, develop an improvement plan, and allocate 10 percent of its Title 1 budget to address professional development needs for teachers.
Not every school in the district is Step 1. Five elementary schools—Crestwood, Daffodil Valley, Emerald Hills, Maple Lawn and McAlder—met their AYP goals. Of the remaining eight campuses, Bonney Lake Elementary and Bonney Lake High School are in Step 1; Liberty Ridge Elementary, Victor Falls Elementary, Lakeridge Middle School and Sumner High School are Step 2; and Mountain View Middle School and Sumner Middle School are Step 3.
The worst rating for schools not in compliance is Step 5.
Lynch provided three examples to demonstrate the three steps of AYP non-compliance.
Bonney Lake Elementary, at Step 1, must notify parents that it has not met AYP for two consecutive years, revise its School Improvement Plan, and use 20 percent of its Title 1 budget to fund students that choose to attend another school.
Liberty Ridge Elementary, at Step 2, must also offer school choice. In addition to funding that choice, it must use the same 20 percent of the Title 1 budget to offer supplemental educational services.
Step 3 Sumner Middle School must take an additional step by picking one of three options to improve the school: making curriculum and instruction changes, appointing outside consultants to improve the school, or extending the length of schooling.
Sumner Middle School has extended its school day by 10 minutes, Lynch said.
Results by grade level show a somewhat more favorable picture. The school district exceeded the state average for reading, math, writing and science in almost every grade level and most exceptionally in fourth-grade reading, math and writing. Exceptions were third- and sixth-grade math, which were 0.4 percent and 4.4 percent below the state average, respectively.
Math education was and will continue to be the biggest hurdle for the district, Lynch said.
A comparison of the fourth, seventh and tenth grades showed that the former two exceeded the federal benchmarks, beat the state average and improved from the 2008-2009 school year. While 10th grade math results for the district beat the state average, they were below federal benchmarks and have continued to fall since the 2007-2008 school year.
“This (10th Grade is where the graphs get a bit sad,” Lynch said. “We have a lot of work to do. We don’t have the answers, obviously, or else we would be celebrating a 100 percent pass rate. But our teachers are working hard.”
