Four local schools were taken off a federal list of those that need improvement after providing the state with better information.
Monroe’s Sky Valley Education Center, Oak Harbor Middle School, Stanwood-Camano’s Port Susan Middle School and Sultan Middle School made successful appeals regarding their WASL performances.
The schools last month were among dozens listed as needing improvement under No Child Left Behind. The federal law requires 100 percent proficiency in reading and math by 2013-14. Schools that fail to meet progress goals on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning are put on the watch list.
All students, as well as eight subgroups, must meet test-score goals in reading and math. There also are participation, attendance and graduation standards.
“(Adequate yearly progress) is just an amazing standard to meet,” Sultan Superintendent Al Robinson said. “So we’re pleased that we’re there.”
In Snohomish County, 13 schools won appeals. Not all resulted in a school being taken off the watch list.
Sultan Middle School had been put on the list of troubled schools because of student absences.
Staff tracked the problem to a handful of students who were referred to the court system as truants, Robinson said. The state accepted the school’s appeal that “it wasn’t a systemwide breakdown.”
Oak Harbor Middle School also was cited for absences.
There, a clerical error was to blame, Principal Peggy Ellis said.
Last spring, the school began using a new computer program for student records, meaning there was extensive data entry. For roughly a month, a secretary was putting excused absences into the unexcused column.
The errors didn’t come to light until the school’s report card was released.
“I thought it had to be wrong,” Ellis said. “One of our goals last year was to improve unexcused absences.”
Monroe and Stanwood-Camano also blamed bad data.
Sky Valley Education Center had been listed for a low graduation rate. But the building serves students in all grades and houses three different alternative programs, including one for home-schooled students.
Port Susan Middle School was listed because students in special education fell short in math.
But the school accidentally listed 40 special education students as taking the test, rather than the accurate count of 38, said Randy Varga, Stanwood-Camano director of research and evaluation. Under the law, a subgroup of less than 40 students is exempt from being counted.
The changes follow a statewide trend to correct data, said Kim Schmanke, a spokeswoman from the state superintendent’s office.
Statewide, 156 schools successfully appealed parts of their state report cards.
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