Reports show schools improving in East County

Several more schools meet Adequate Yearly Progress standards than last year

By Rob Cullivan

The Gresham Outlook, Sep 18, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Carole Archer / The Outlook

Cheyenne Kruse, 13, raises her hand to answer a math problem in Jon Gabriel’s eighth grade Algebra class at Dexter McCarty Middle school in Gresham.

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They’re getting better.

That sums up the state of East County schools, according to the latest collection of preliminary Adequate Yearly Progress reports, which measure how well the nation’s schools meet standards set forth under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

The majority of East County schools met all the AYP requirements, and six schools in East County that had not met all of the AYP requirements last year did so this year.

However, only two East County public high schools met all the AYP standards.

Meanwhile, two schools, East Orient Elementary in the Gresham-Barlow School District, and Woodland Elementary in the Reynolds district, did not meet all AYP requirements this year after doing so last year, though reports on both schools show they had met nearly all requirements.

The AYP reports measure students’ academic achievement in reading and math, as well as their test participation, and attendance. No Child Left Behind requires students to meet state standards by 2014 and for schools to meet growth targets each year.

According to the state, 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.

East County school administrators had a variety of reactions, mostly positive, to the AYP reports. They stressed that parents should note that a school is placed in the “Not Met” category even if fails to meet a requirement in just one area.

“When you see that ‘Not Met,’ it seems to negate a lot of hard work that’s been done,” said Cheryl Williamson, director of curriculum and student learning for the Centennial district. “All the stars have to align.”

On the other hand, she said, the AYP requirements compel schools to not settle for simply having a good average score. To illustrate her point, she noted that the reports measure progress a school makes with sub-groups categorized by race, poverty level, disabilities and/or English proficiency.

“It really does force us to focus on this or that group,” she said.

While not all East County schools met every AYP requirement, more did so than last year. For example, in the Gresham-Barlow School District, Springwater Trail High School, as well as Dexter McCarty, Gordon Russell and West Orient middle schools and East Gresham Elementary moved from the “Not Met” category last year to the “Met” category this year.

Meanwhile, in the Reynolds School District, Walt Morey Middle School moved from “Not Met” to “Met.”

In addition to Springwater Trail, the only other East County high school that met all the requirements was Corbett. Reynolds, Reynolds Learning Academy, Gresham, Barlow, Centennial and Centennial Learning Center did not.

Meanwhile, the elementary and middle schools in the following districts did not meet AYP:

• Gresham-Barlow: Clear Creek Middle School as well as East Orient Elementary. East Orient had met all the AYP requirements last year, but failed to meet one this year related to the participation of Hispanic students, according to the school’s report.

• Reynolds: H.B. Lee and Reynolds middle schools, as well as Alder and Woodland elementary schools.

Woodland had met the requirements last year, but did not this year. Robert Siegel, director of school improvement for the Reynolds School District, noted that the only requirement that Woodland was unable to meet was the one measuring the math performance of students for whom English is not their first language. Otherwise, Woodland met all other AYP requirements, he said.

• Centennial Middle School.

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