The results are in and while Kent’s scores on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) are generally an improvement over last year, district officials admit there is still much work to be done.
As a result of this year’s scores, eight of the district’s 40 schools met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), putting five of the district’s elementary schools onto the “school choice” list which will give parents at those buildings the opportunity to move their child to a school that made AYP.
The requirement applies only to schools that receive federal Title I money, which the Kent elementary schools receive.
Parents of students at Daniel, Kent, Millennium, Panther Lake and Pine Tree Elementary Schools will soon be receiving letters notifying them of their options under the No Child Left Behind act.
Martin Sortun is the only Title I school in the district that continues to meet AYP targets.
This is the second year Kent has had to offer the public choice option, which indicates that a school has not met AYP for two consecutive years. Last year, 152 students in eight elementaries took advantage of the public school choice and changed schools.
The eight schools which were placed on the school choice option last year also moved forward to the “supplemental services and continued school choice” position.
The news is not all bad in Kent, however. Adequate Yearly Progress must be met in all “cells” in which students are categorized for the school to make AYP. Cells are broken into ethnicity as well as English language learners and free and reduced lunch as well as special education. Students can also be in multiple cells.
According to Director of Assessment Bob Isenberg, the district performed better than last year.
“We met a higher percentage of cells as a district,” he said, adding that 74 percent of cells were making AYP, compared to 68.7 percent last year.
Isenberg said the district’s numbers generally “mirror the state.” Kent outperforms the state averages in math, however in reading, Kent’s scores are slightly below state average.
“Our strength is math, particularly grades six and up,” he said. “In reading, we’re not seeing the improvement we’d like to see.”
However, the disparity between some cells is striking. For example, all of the “white” cells met AYP while all of the black/African American cells did not.
“You can see there’s a disparity,” Isenberg said during an Aug. 12 presentation to the School Board. “The black columns are areas of concern.”
Hispanic/Latino students only met AYP in one of four cells and both special education and low income students did not meet AYP in any cells.
Members of the school board expressed their concern at the disparities in the data.
“What are we doing to intervene?” asked Board President Jim Berrios. “We can’t just keep going like this.”
“The pattern is unacceptable,” agreed Assistant Superintendent of Instruction and Learning Merri Rieger.
“Obviously this is not where we want to be,” said Superintendent Edward Lee Vargas, adding that the district would have a “laser-like focus” around instruction and student achievement as well as focus in best practices and a possible realignment of resources to help improve scores next year.
Vargas said a plan would be developed and presented to the board this fall.
Letters notifying parents of the school choice option and the school to which they can send their child are expected to reach homes this week.
For more information, call your local elementary school.
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