NEONOW FILE PHOTO
Just like students, schools get report cards, too, and the Hermiston School District is happy with the grades it has received.
The Oregon Department of Education released school and district report cards today, summarizing educational performance of its pupils across 197 Oregon school districts. For the second year in a row, Hermiston School District students outperformed comparison district data on every performance measure tracked and reported by the Oregon Department of Education. Comparison schools and district are those with similar demographics, such as poverty levels, diversity of their student body, and pupil mobility.
The majority of schools within the district yielded strong performance. The state’s school rating system rates schools from a 1 (lowest performance) to 5 (model school performance). Armand Larive Middle School, West Park Elementary, and Sunset Elementary all received strong level 4 (Above Average) ratings. Highland Hills, Rocky Heights, and Hermiston High School netted level 3 (About Average) performance, while the district’s alternative school received a level 1 (Below Average) rating.
For the first time, Hermiston School District is proud to identify two Level 5 schools: Desert View Elementary and Sandstone Middle School. To achieve Level 5 status, a school must have a weighted percentage of academic achievement and academic growth percentage greater than 87 percent. Highlights for our two Level 5 schools include:
Desert View Elementary
• 2013-2014 Weight (90.6 percent) – 2012-2013 Weight (79.4 percent) = 14.3 percent Weighted
Growth
• Students meeting or exceeding reading benchmarks – up 8.6 percent from the previous year (16.4 percent above comparison schools)
• Students meeting or exceeding math benchmarks – up 12.3 percent from the previous year (13.5 percent above comparison schools)
Sandstone Middle School
• 2013-2014 Weight (90 percent) – 2012-2013 Weight (79.4 percent) = 10.6 percent Weighted Growth
• Students meeting or exceeding reading benchmarks – up 2.2 percent from the previous year (12.8 percent above comparison schools)
• Students meeting or exceeding math benchmarks – up 3.1 percent from the previous year (11.4 percent above comparison schools)
West Park Elementary School deserves special recognition. At the end 2012 the school was identified as a Focus school, meaning that it fell between the lowest 5 percent-15 percent of Oregon schools. After two years of utilizing state resources, an instructional coach and ensuring best instructional practice, West Park was just two points shy of earning a Level 5 rating. In 2011-2012 their weighted score was 40.6 percent and at the end of 2013-2014 their weight was 85 percent (87 percent is the cut off for Level 5). Over two years, that is a weighted growth of 44.4 percent and earned West Park the title of being the most improved Focus school in the state of Oregon for their demographics (570 students, 83 percent poverty, 62 percent Hispanic). Compared to similar schools, West Park scores 16.4 percent higher in the reading and 13.5 percent higher in mathematics.
At the secondary level, high school completion and college readiness outcome measurements yielded similar results, as HSD seniors outperformed their counterparts in college and career readiness (as measured by:
• The percentage of students who took the SAT = 15.5 percent above comparison schools
• 84.3 percent of HHS students complete high school in 4 years (15.7 percent above comparison schools)
• 90.9 percent of HHS students complete high school in 5 years (17.1 percent above comparison schools)
• 83.2 percent of Freshman students are on track for graduation at the end of their first year of high school
(7.3 percent above comparison schools)
• Academic achievement continues to improve and HHS continues to outperform like schools 5.4 percent in reading and 12.4 percent in mathematics.
Other Hermiston School District Highlights include:
Sunset Elementary School
• Maintained a strong Level 4 rating with a weight of 70.6 percent (same as 2012-2013)
• In terms of academic achievement, SES continues to outperform like schools 5 percent in reading and 7.9 percent in mathematics.
Armand Larive Middle School
• Maintained a strong Level 4 rating with a weight of 76.9 percent (same as 2012-2013)
• Academic achievement continues to improve and ALMS continues to outperform like schools 4.6 percent in reading and 6.4 percent in mathematics.
Assistant Superintendent, Bryn Browning, attributes these successes to a strategic professional development plan and school calendar.
“In 2010, we developed a five year plan to commit financial and personnel resources to improve our curriculum materials, enhance technology, and to refine and improve teacher instructional practices,” said Browning. “We are now seeing this consistent, deep focus paying off with continued student performance from year to year. Our goal is to produce college and career ready students post high school, this means that each and every grade (K-12) must produce students ready for the next level. We have a systematic approach and yes, I believe we are doing the right things; not many high schools can say that they have 85 percent of their students meeting the reading benchmarks and 79 percent meeting in mathematics. All of the teachers (in our system) should be commended for their efforts.”
Browning said that the adjusted instructional schedule (late start or early release) on Wednesdays allows teachers to meet in grade level or content teams to look at their student’s performance. Non-school Friday’s provide time for teachers to learn new practices in their content area through workshops, presentations and outside consultants.
“These changes affect day care and people’s daily schedule, but are very valuable and used effectively by our staff,” Browning said.
According to district officials, continued improvements and initiatives that will be of focus for this school year is the mentoring and integration of more than 60 new teaching staff members to Hermiston School District. Teachers in grades K-12 who teach reading and English language arts are working to implement an entirely new program of materials, made possible by the textbook adoption process completed in June 2014. Finally, K-6 has redesigned their math fact fluency and daily problem solving questions to incorporate the new Common Core State Standards for mathematics.
View the district’s Strategic Professional Development Plan.
A full list of this year’s Model Schools is available online.
Access your school and district report cards here.
