Four Everett schools earn WA Achievement Awards. Mill Creek, Cedar Wood and Silver Firs elementary schools as well as Ga
April 2, 2010
Four Everett schools earn WA Achievement Awards Mill Creek, Cedar Wood and Silver Firs elementary schools as well as Gateway Middle School recently received Washington Achievement Awards from OSPI. This award has had different names in previous years, including Schools of Distinction and Great Schools. This marks Gateway Middle School’s third consecutive year of being recognized by OSPI for their achievement. Washington schools were recognized for being top performers in at least one of the following six categories: 1. Overall Excellence 2. Language arts 3. Math 4. Science 5. Extended graduation rate (only awarded to high and comprehensive schools) 6. Gifted education Superintendent Gary Cohn proudly remarked, “These schools have done incredible work in focusing on each student’s achievement. Congratulations to our all of our schools for continuing their commitment to student success and to these four schools for being recognized for that excellence.” The schools will be recognized at celebrations around the state on May 5. The awards are part of the State Board’s accountability program, adopted in 2009. Under the program, all schools will be indexed according to outcomes and indicators from 2007 to 2009. The five outcomes are student performance in statewide reading, writing, math and science tests, as well as the school’s extended graduation rate, which includes those students who took longer than four years to graduate. Those outcomes are each measured using four indicators: 1. achievement of students who are not from low-income families; 2. achievement of students from low-income families; 3. achievement of all students when compared to “peers” (those with similar student characteristics, such as the percentage of students who have a disability, are learning English, are designated as gifted, come from lowincome families, and are mobile); and 4. improvement in the achievement of all students from the previous year. The average of the resulting 20 measures comprises the overall index. “The index will be instrumental in helping schools and districts craft data-driven school improvement plans,” said Edie Harding, State Board executive director. “It gives us a better way to track schools in the future and to pinpoint exactly where they are doing well and where they need additional help.”
