District scores

“That freshman class is a concern. We’re watching that carefully,” North Wasco County School District 21 Superintendent Candy Armstrong told the school board Oct. 24. The data showed that at the high school, 76 percent of ninth graders last year were on track to graduate, down 8 percent from the year before. The state average was 85 percent.

While the districtwide “on-time graduation” rate is 75 percent, that figure includes the alternative school, Wahtonka Charter School, which has a significantly lower on-time rate of just 21 percent. Looking at The Dalles High School alone, it’s on-time graduation rate last year was 85 percent, well above the state average of 79 percent.

The district ranked in the upper “average” category in terms of individual student progress for students in grades 3-8. It measures year to year progress in English language arts and math.

“I’m very proud of the fact we’re moving that dial faster than other districts,” Armstrong said.

New state legislation is putting a significant emphasis on closing the “achievement gap” between minority and low income students and other students. One focus is the demographic makeup of teaching staff.

In North Wasco County School District 21, 53 percent of students are white, but 97 percent of teachers are.

Districtwide, 77 percent of students in grades K-2 are “regular attenders,” up 2 percent from the previous year, but below the 83 percent state average. The district stresses regular attendance, as lost classroom time exacerbates dropout rates and achievement gaps.

Being able to read at grade-level by the end of third grade is a strong indicator of likelihood to graduate. Testing found 43 percent of the district’s third graders were reading at grade level, a six percent increase from the previous year, but lower than the state average of 47 percent.

As is the case across the state and the nation, math scores in the district are low, with just 28 percent of eighth graders meeting grade-level expectations. However, that’s up 4 percent from last year, though it is 11 percentage points behind the state average of 39 percent.

“Across the district we still struggle, as does most of Oregon,” and the nation, Armstrong said. She said the district has to do something different “across the board” when it comes to teaching math.

She said the district had recently adopted new math curriculum.

She said “there are some hopes out there for coaching models” in regards to teachers at the elementary level who aren’t specialized in math. She added that states are now expecting kids to perform “at a higher level at a younger age. We’re all struggling with this.”

At the individual school level, Armstrong said “you start to see a little bit of a difference” in scoring.

All three elementaries have more than 95 percent of students qualified for the free and reduced lunch program for low-income families.

But there were significant differences in other categories. Dry Hollow had 17 percent of students who had English as a second language, Colonel Wright Elementary had 24 percent, and Chenowith Elementary had 37 percent.

Dry Hollow had the highest level of regular attendance, at 85 percent of students, up 11 percent from the previous year, and above the state average of 80 percent. Colonel Wright had 83 percent regular attendance, down 3 percent, while Chenowith had 74 percent regular attendance, down 1 percent.

Dry Hollow topped academic performance, with 52 percent of students meeting English language arts expectations, down 3 percent from last year, but above the state avereage of 51 percent. Colonel Wright had 47 percent meet those expectations, up 8 percent, and Chenowith had 39 percent meet expectations, up six percent.

In math, Dry Hollow had 42 percent of students meeting math expectations for the grade level, down 3 percent from the year before, and one percentage point below the state average of 43 percent. Colonel Wright had 28 percent meet math expectations, down 1 percent, and Chenowith had 23 percent meeting expectations, down one percent.

But Chenowith had the highest percentage of students who showed academic progress, year to year, in English language arts and math. It rated “high” on student progress, while Colonel Wright rated average and Dry Hollow also rated high, but at a slightly lower point in the “high” category.

At Mosier Community School, a k-8 school, 43 percent of students qualified for free or reduced lunch, less than half the rate of the three elementaries. It also had smaller class sizes than the elementaries, averaging 21 students per class, compared to 23-25 for the other schools.

For English language arts, 63 percent of Mosier students met expectations, down 4 percent from the previous year, but well above the state average of 52 percent. In math, 42 percent of students met grade-level expectations, down 4 percent from the previous year, but above the state average of 41 percent.

Students there rated average in terms of individual student progress year on year.