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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Friday, October 24, 2008 Schools on a bad list, then a good one Three county schools that are on a federal watch list are honored by the state. By Kaitlin Manry, Herald Writer ARLINGTON -- Less than two months ago, Post Middle School landed on a federal watch list for the third year in a row. WASL scores at the school hadn't improved enough and the school once again was branded as failing. On Wednesday, those same WASL scores earned Post a trophy and a spot on the prestigious state "schools of distinction" list. All three of the Snohomish County middle schools honored as schools of distinction are also on the federal watch list. Gateway and Heatherwood middle schools in Everett are the other two schools. Statewide, 16 of the 98 schools of distinction are on the federal watch list. "I think it's very confusing," said Diane Kirchner-Scott, executive director of teaching and learning for the Arlington School District. "It's confusing for some educators, let alone the public." Schools can be condemned on the watch list and honored on the schools of distinction list because the lists are based on different analyses of WASL scores. To rise above most of the state's 2,500 public schools and become a school of distinction, students at the school must, as a group, exceed the state average on the fourth-, seventh- or 10th-grade WASL. Schools also must show considerable improvement over six years. Schools earn a spot on the on the federal watch list when groups of students fail to make "adequate yearly progress," by not meeting state standards on the WASL. If enough minority students, kids from low-income families or special-education students fail the WASL, their school will be on the watch list. There are 37 categories where kids can fail to meet standards. Schools that receive federal funds because of high poverty rates face an escalating series of consequences for being on the watch list. Schools must hire outside tutors and pay to bus students who request it to other schools with better WASL scores. State schools chief Terry Bergeson started the schools of distinction program, in part, to reward schools that were improving, but still getting criticized for failing to meet federal standards. "Should the federal standard, AYP, be the only method by which schools are graded or assessed?" said Nathan Olson, a spokesman for the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. "We think no." Neither the federal watch list nor the schools of distinction program perfectly measure school success, said Paul Rosier, Washington Association of School Administrators executive director. Still, Rosier believes that the schools of distinction program has value and is a more reliable measure of school success than the federal watch list. "If you're looking at the OSPI system for distinction and the federal system, I'll go to with the OSPI system," he said. In 2014, every school in the nation probably will be on the federal watch list, said Karst Brandsma, Everett schools interim superintendent. That's the year every student is required to pass the test in order for schools to make adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind law. "The bar keeps going up," he said. "Eventually you're going to run out of air in the room." Post, Gateway and Heatherwood middle schools don't have enough low-income students to qualify for federal funding, so they're not required to hire outside tutors or bus students to other schools. Still, winding up on the federal watch list three years in a row was demoralizing, said Sherry Anderson, a Post Middle School seventh-grade teacher. The school was placed on the list because not enough special-education students passed the math WASL. "You work so hard and you end up on a list that says you're going nowhere," Anderson said. "A lot of people don't understand." When teachers learned that Post was being honored as a school of distinction earlier this week, the joy and pride was palpable, said seventh-grade teacher Denise Jackson. "It was like landing on the moon," she said. "It's validation." Reporter Kaitlin Manry: 425-339-3292 or kmanry@heraldnet.com. Snohomish County's schools of distinction: Sunnycrest Elementary, Lake Stevens Glenwood Elementary, Lake Stevens Dutch Hill Elementary, Snohomish Stanwood Elementary, Stanwood Post Middle School, Arlington Gateway Middle School, Everett Heatherwood Middle School, Mill Creek Schools of distinction that also are on the federal watch list: Post Middle School in Arlington Gateway Middle School in Everett Heatherwood Middle School in Everett Evergreen Elementary in Sedro-Woolley Meridian Elementary in Kent Springdale Elementary in Springdale TEAM High School in Woodland Goodman Middle School in Gig Harbor Doris Stahl Junior High in Puyallup Osborn Elementary in Leavenworth Peninsula Elementary in Moses Lake Nooksack Valley Middle School in Everson Garfield High School in Seattle Madison Middle School in Seattle Pioneer Middle School in Steilacoom Washington Middle School in Seattle READER COMMENTS Be the first to comment. 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