Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The Oregon Department of Education released school report cards for the 2004-05 school year on Oct. 12.
Foster Elementary remained “satisfactory.” Hawthorne Elementary moved from satisfactory to strong. Holley Elementary and Oak Heights Elementary dropped from “exceptional” to strong.
Sweet Home Junior High and Sweet Home High School remained satisfactory.
Based on state criteria, Crawfordsville Elementary was not rated in 2004-05 because it did not have enough students. The threshold for a rating is 80 students. Crawfordsville was ranked “strong” in 2003-04.
This is the seventh year that Oregon has issued report cards, and the ratings cover 1,066 schools. The Oregon Legislature in 1999 passed a law requiring the school report cards to help public schools communicate with parents and their community about student test performance, school improvement, attendance, dropout rates, and other trends.
Schools are given one of five overall ratings: Exceptional, strong, satisfactory, low or unacceptable. Districts must send the report cards to parents by the end of March.
Throughout the state, 137 schools were ranked exceptional; 390, strong; 508, satisfactory; 23, low; and eight, unacceptable.
The report cards are based on information from the 2004-05 school year.
All schools except Foster met federal annual yearly progress (AYP) requirements, set by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).
Foster missed meeting the requirement in attendance by a couple of tenths of a percent, Supt. Larry Horton said.
No Child Left Behind requires all students to meet state standards by 2014 and requires schools to meet growth targets each year in order to meet the adequate yearly progress definition of the law.
As part of AYP, students must be identified and have their progress measured and reported by specific populations: economically disadvantaged, disabled, English language learners and racial and ethnic groups. Under Oregon?s NCLB plan, schools must get 50 percent to standard in English/language arts and 49 percent to standard in math for all student groups this year. The academic target is 10 points higher than in 2004.
Schools must also meet an attendance or graduation requirement in order to make the AYP list. In addition, school districts must inform parents and communities about school progress. Schools that receive certain types of federal funds and do not make adequate yearly progress are required to provide supplemental services; such as free tutoring or after-school assistance; take corrective actions; and, if still not making adequate yearly progress after five years, must make dramatic changes to the way the school is run.
“We try to do diognostics (using) not so much the report cards but the actual data,” Horton said. School officials look at scores and ratings to determine where school performance is low and then work on ways to improve it.
They tend to look at trends over time rather than single-year scores, Horton said. “The card itself is probably more political than helpful.”
Horton shared the new report cards, which will be mailed soon, with the District 55 School Board at its regular meeting on Oct. 17.
Present were Ken Roberts, Lena Neuschwander, Don Hopkins, Chairman Scott Proctor, Diane Gerson, Jeff Lynn, Jason Reddick and Dave VanDerlip. Mike Reynolds was absent.
In other business, the board:
– Set a Jan. 1 date for its new anti-tobacco policy to take effect. The board approved the new policy in September. The new policy bans tobacco products and use from all school property and events based on a new state law that takes effect Jan. 1.
It may take some time to educate the public about the new policy, board member Lynn said. He suggested waiting until Jan. 1 before the policy takes effect.
– Adopted goals for the 2005-06 school year. They include the following:
? Research innovative programs that reform the way we deliver eduication to meet th eneeds of students according to their individual talents, interests and learning styles.
? Assess effectiveness and efficiency of maintenance department. Implement recommendations where appropriate and feasible.
? Lower tobacco, drug and alcohol use among studnts.
? The board will conduct at least one informal meeting each with classified, certified and administrative employees.
? Develop a finalized plan, using the Facility Planning Committee’s recommendations as a guide, that will deal with low enrollments at Crawfordsville and Holley schools.
– Learned that the district and the teachers union, Sweet Home Education Association, will enter mediation on Oct. 26 to help settle a contract. The district and the association jointly asked for a state mediator to assist with negotiations.
The two bargaining teams are still negotiating on 12 articles, including salary, insurance and a number of language issues.
In each year of the proposed three-year agreement, certified employees are asking for a step increase plus the consumer price index plus 2.25 percent to salaries. The district proposes step increases plus 1 percent in the first two years and reopening the contract for salary in the third year.
In insurance, the certified team is asking for an insurance cap of $775. Each of the next two years, the association would like a cap of $775 plus 90 percent of any increases over the 2005-06 rates. The district is proposing $615 and $640 in the second year with a reopener in the third year.