September 17, 2010

Elementary schools show strong improvement in state testing
The results of state testing released this month shows a mix of ups and downs in Oak Harbor School District, with some very positive gains and some puzzling trends.

All three elementary schools that missed state testing goals last year showed big improvements in 2010, with two of them rising above the bar of "Adequate Yearly Progress" or AYP. Adequate Yearly Progress requires that schools show a high level of proficiency in math and reading - not just overall, but also in each category of low income, special education, and the ethnic groups of blacks, whites, Hispanics, and Asians.

All AYP goals were met in all subgroups at Broad View, Hillcrest, Olympic View, and Oak Harbor elementary schools. Crescent Harbor missed in one subgroup (low income math) by just 1.5 percent. That's the equivalent of two students each getting one more question correct, according to Assistant Superintendent Lance Gibbon.

"Altogether our elementary schools have 95 different ways to fail," he said. "We met 94 of those requirements and missed the last one by a hair. Our schools did a terrific job."

As the No Child Left Behind law reaches closer to its 2014 goal of 100 percent of students passing 100 percent of the time, the stakes keep getting higher and higher, Gibbon said. Statewide this year, 56 percent of schools and 71 percent of school districts failed to make AYP.

The bigger and more diverse the school district, the less likely they will make AYP. Smaller school districts that don't have a minimum number of students in the various subgroups are not required to meet those individual standards. Statewide, only two of 82 larger school districts (with 3,000 students or more) made AYP.

In Oak Harbor, the high school and both middle schools did not make all of the state goals. Math and special education continue to be the biggest problem areas there, just as they are statewide, Gibbon said.

After adopting new reading materials two years ago, the district adopted a new math curriculum last year for grades K-8. Those new textbooks and materials are now in use throughout the district. "Just as our new reading materials in elementary schools appear to be moving things in the right direction, we have high hopes that the new math curriculum will do the same," Gibbon told the school board Monday.

Gibbon also cautioned that throughout the district, writing scores dropped. "We're not sure why that happened, but we are looking into that carefully," he said. "This is one area where we're expecting to see improvement next year."