PRESS RELEASE Editor s Note: Press coverage often mistakenly attributes this award to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). This award is independent of OSPI and is sponsored by the Center for Educational Effectiveness (CEE) in partnership with the Superintendents of the Educational Service Districts (AESD), the Washington State School Directors Association (WSSDA), the Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA), the Association of Washington School Principals (AWSP), the Washington State Association for Supervision of Curriculum Development (WSASCD). The primary research and analysis is performed by Center for Educational Effectiveness. Washington s Highest Improving Schools Honored: 2018 School of Distinction Award Bellevue, WA Sustained improvement over a five year period in English language arts (ELA), math, and graduation rate is the reason for 91 schools across Washington State being recognized with the 2018 School of Distinction award today. They represent 51 elementary, 20 middle/junior high and 20 high schools. The Center for Educational Effectiveness (CEE) in partnership with the Association of Educational Service Districts (AESD), the Association of Washington School Principals (AWSP), Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA), Washington State School Directors Association (WSSDA), Washington State Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (WSASCD) have recognized schools in the top 5% of improvement for their levels. entary and middle schools are recognized for sustained improvement in ELA and math achievement. High schools are recognized for sustained improvement in graduation rate over the past five years. These 91 schools span all regions of the state and serve over 45,000 students from large urban to small rural communities and represent all nine Educational Service Districts (ESD s). Student populations in these schools are as high as 95% poverty, and 52% English language learners, as well as high numbers of challenged learners in special education. As Greg Lobdell, CEE s CEO and Director of Research states, The staff and leadership in these buildings are examples to the entire state of the possibilities that we can achieve. Poverty, ethnic diversity, language diversity, and rural/urban settings are seen as opportunities, not barriers. These schools have shown that dedicated professional educators can overcome these inequities and dramatically improve teaching and learning for all students. This year represents the 12th year that CEE and their partners have recognized schools with the School of Distinction award. This award is the only award of its kind in the state that recognizes schools for sustained growth and improvement over time. 1 school received their seventh award 28 schools received their third award 2 schools received their sixth award 25 schools received their second award 4 schools received their fifth award 20 schools received their first award 11 schools received their fourth award Each Educational Service District in the state will be hosting an award ceremony for the schools served in their region. Dates for these celebrations will be announced through local press releases. Dana Anderson, Superintendent, Capital Region ESD 113 and current chair of the Washington Association of Educational Service Districts, stated We are excited to recognize the hard work and breakthrough performance of the 2018 Schools of Distinction. The data paints a beautiful picture of struggle and success. The Schools of Distinction represent the rich and vibrant diversity of Washington s communities. It is exciting to be part of the award process, and we are pleased to help shine the light on the excellence going on around us every day. Congratulations to the students, professional educators and leaders for their outstanding efforts and inspiring results. Well done! # The Center for Educational Effectiveness (CEE) is a service, consulting, and research organization dedicated to the mission of partnering with K 12 schools to improve student learning. For additional information, please contact: Jennifer Jones, CEE President Email: Jennifer@effectiveness.org Phone: (425) 947 5282
2018 School of Distinction Awards Methodology Brief Now in its 12 th year, the School of Distinction (SOD) awards were created in the summer of 2007 to recognize the highest improving schools in Washington State. The awards are not intended as a replacement for state and federal accountability measures of school performance, but rather as a supplemental measure to recognize and celebrate school staff, students, and leaders who improve performance for all students over a sustained period of time in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics. The methodology has remained unchanged over the 12 years other than allowing for the transition from Measures of Student Progress (MSP) to Smarter Balanced Assessments (SBA) starting in 2015. This paper presents our approach to the 2018 SOD awards. The design principles of the School of Distinction awards have remained unchanged over 12 years. Recognize sustained improvement using five years of improvement in performance data. Performance is defined based on two foundational skills literacy and numeracy. Specifically, results from the state assessments over those five years of data in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics. Use publicly available data to ensure transparency and ease of interpretation. Recognize that across our K 12 system there are different performance characteristics by grade bands (elementary, middle/junior high, and high schools). We will recognize the top 5% in each band for both traditional public schools and in alternative public schools. Recognize meaningful improvement: A small number (5%) of schools who have demonstrated sustained improvement in both ELA and math over a 5 year period (elementary and middle/junior high schools) and a sustained improvement over 5 years in graduation rate (high schools). Summary of what changed in 2015 due to SBA. Accurate and Authentic Measure of Improvement with SBA SOD 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015 uses percentile ranks (normalized data) over 5 years in Reading/English Language Arts and Math (entary & Middle School Awards). In the past, percent meeting standard for reading and math was the measure used in SOD. As we saw with the results of SBA in 2015, the percent meeting standard in ELA and math has dropped at all grade levels. Since it s difficult to have improvement when the entire state declined at all grade levels due to the use of a different measurement tool, instead of using percent meeting standard as the measure, CEE has translated percent meeting standard to percentile ranks for each year and each content area for each grade level. For example, if a school is at the 65th percentile, then it is performing above 65% of the schools in the state at that grade and subject area. These percentiles are calculated for each year by combining ELA and math percentiles. The 5 year trend of improvement for each year is then used to measure improvement (in percentile ranks) over the 5 year period. Use 5 Year graduation rate for High Schools. After consulting with ESD leadership, district leadership, and building principals from around the state, CEE determined that SBA could not be used at the high school level due to the irregularities in the testing (primarily the nearly 50% refusals state wide for HS testing in 2015). The overwhelming recommendation from the field was to use 5 year adjusted cohort graduation rates and look at improvement in these rates over time.
2018 School of Distinction Awards Methodology Brief Specifics of the methodology used to determine 2018 winners. Methodology Note: Data source is the OSPI reported data from the data downloads section of the state report card http://reportcard.ospi.k12.wa.us/datadownload.aspx. entary and Middle/Junior High School Bands Three grade bands are used for calculation. For elementary schools grades 3, 4, and 5. For middle/junior high schools grades 6, 7, and 8. A school must have data in two of three grades in each year to be considered for that level in that year. Across the 5 years, a school must have data in 2018 and at least two other years (for a total of 3 years of data). For each year, CEE created a normalized data set for ELA and math. Normalization places each school relative to the others based on the median for all the schools in the state with data at each grade level. The median represents the 50th percentile. Each school s data is then used to determine their percentile rank for that year, in that grade, in each content area. This normalized view enables us to calculate a trend of improvement over the 5 years. For example, a School that was at the 35th percentile in 2013, the 40th percentile in 2014, the 45th percentile in 2015, the 50th percentile in 2016, and the 55th percentile in 2017 would have shown a trend of improvement of 5 percentiles of improvement each year. Percentiles allow us to compare relative performance from year to year. This method is used for both the elementary and middle school categories of SOD awards. High School Band In the past, CEE used the 10th grade HSPE Reading and the EOC Math 1 and 2 assessments results for percent meeting standard to calculate the awards. The move to SBA presents several issues for SOD in high schools. 10 th graders are no longer assessed for accountability purposes (and thus, OSPI does not publish their results). With SBA, the 11 th graders are assessed in ELA and math. However, the 5 years of historical data used for SOD are based on 10 th grade results. OSPI is no longer publicly reporting the 10 th grade assessment results, which is a requirement to be used in the SOD award calculations. Misleading 11 th grade data: Across the state, nearly 50% of the 11 th grade students refused to participate in the 11 th grade assessments in 2015 which continued into 2016 and 2017 data; therefore, these data do not represent a valid view of performance of each school this year. CEE consulted with ESD, district, and school leadership from around the state on possible solutions for the high school SOD calculations. The widespread consensus was that the only meaningful and authentic measure of high school performance that was available for every high school in the state is the graduation rate data. CEE has implemented the SOD awards for 2018 by measuring improvement over 5 graduating classes in 5 year Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rates (ACGR). General Methodology Notes A school may be considered in multiple bands, e.g. a K 8 school would be eligible in both elementary and middle/junior high bands. Alternative learning environments are considered independently in each of the three grade bands. A school must have data in at least three of five years to be considered one of which must be 2018. Improvement is defined as the slope of linear trend over the five years. The number of schools comprising 5% is based on the number of schools at each grade band with valid 2018 data. 655 156 th Avenue SE, Suite 260 Bellevue, WA 98007 (425) 283 0384 www.effectiveness.org 2
2018 School of Distinction Award Winners Northeast ESD (ESD 101) DAVENPORT Davenport Senior High** (3x) HS DEER PARK Arcadia entary LIBERTY Liberty Jr High & entary** (3x) MS ODESSA Odessa High** (5x) HS RITZVILLE Lind Ritzville Middle MS SPOKANE Bryant Center** (4x) MS SPOKANE On Track Academy** HS SPOKANE The Community School HS SPOKANE Westview entary** SUMMIT VALLEY Summit Valley School South Central WA (Yakima ESD 105) CLE ELUM ROSLYN Walter Strom Middle** (3x) MS EAST VALLEY (YAKIMA) EAST VALLEY (YAKIMA) East Valley Central Middle** (3x) East Valley entary** (3x) MS GRANGER Granger Middle MS HIGHLAND Tieton Intermediate** SUNNYSIDE Sunnyside High** (4x) HS ZILLAH Zillah Intermediate** ZILLAH Zillah Middle* (3x) MS Olympia Area (ESD 113) ABERDEEN Harbor High** (2x) HS ADNA Adna entary** (3x) CENTRALIA Centralia High** (3x) HS ELMA East Grays Harbor High** (3x) HS GRAPEVIEW Grapeview entary & Middle** (5x) NORTH BEACH Ocean Shores entary** NORTH THURSTON Horizons entary OLYMPIA McLane entary OLYMPIA Thurgood Marshall Middle** MS RAYMOND Raymond Jr Sr High** (5x) HS TOLEDO Cowlitz Prairie Academy TOLEDO Toledo entary** (3x) Olympic Peninsula (ESD 114) CAPE FLATTERY Neah Bay Junior/Senior High** (3x) HS CENTRAL KITSAP Fairview Middle School** MS CENTRAL KITSAP Silver Ridge entary** (3x) CENTRAL KITSAP Woodlands entary** (3x) PORT ANGELES Roosevelt entary** SOUTH KITSAP Manchester entary Southwest WA (Vancouver ESD 112) BATTLE GROUND Homelink River* (3x) LONGVIEW Monticello Middle MS LONGVIEW R A Long High** (4x) HS VANCOUVER Benjamin Franklin ** (3x) VANCOUVER Lewis And Clark High HS * = Repeat ** = Back to back winner in 2017 & 2018 (Nx) = N represents the number of times receiving the award
Puget Sound (ESD 121) BETHEL Chester H Thompson entary** EATONVILLE Eatonville entary** ENUMCLAW Sunrise entary* ENUMCLAW Westwood entary** FEDERAL WAY TAF@Saghalie** (7x) HS HIGHLINE CHOICE Academy** (3x) MS HIGHLINE Shorewood entary** (3x) KENT Millennium entary** SEATTLE Alki entary** (3x) SEATTLE B F Day entary** (4x) SEATTLE Cleveland STEM High** (6x) HS SEATTLE Hawthorne entary** (3x) SEATTLE Hazel Wolf K 8 School** (6x) SEATTLE Jane Addams Middle MS SEATTLE Leschi entary* SEATTLE Madrona K 8 School** (3x) SEATTLE Rainier Beach High** (4x) HS SEATTLE Tops K 8 School MS SUMNER Emerald Hills entary** (3x) TACOMA Edison entary TACOMA Lincoln High** (4x) HS TACOMA Lyon entary TACOMA Mann entary TACOMA Science and Math Institute** (3x) HS TACOMA Sherman entary* UNIVERSITY PLACE University Place Primary** Southeast WA (Tri Cities ESD 123) DAYTON Dayton entary** DAYTON Dayton Middle* (3x) MS KENNEWICK Hawthorne entary** OTHELLO Wahitis entary** (3x) PASCO Pasco Senior High** (3x) HS PATERSON Paterson entary** (5x) WAITSBURG Waitsburg entary** (3x) North Central ESD (ESD 171) BREWSTER Brewster Middle** MS BREWSTER Brewster High** (4x) HS EASTMONT Sterling K 7 GRAND COULEE DAM Lake Roosevelt Jr/Sr High** LAKE CHELAN Chelan Middle MS Northwest WA ESD (ESD 189) MS DARRINGTON Darrington entary** DARRINGTON Darrington Middle* MS EDMONDS Edmonds entary** EVERETT Garfield entary** (4x) FERNDALE Central entary** (3x) LYNDEN Lynden Academy HS SEDRO WOOLLEY Clear Lake entary** (4x) SEDRO WOOLLEY Mary Purcell entary SNOHOMISH Cathcart entary** (4x) SNOHOMISH Centennial Middle** MS SNOHOMISH Seattle Hill entary** (3x) STANWOOD CAMANO Elger Bay entary** (4x) * = Repeat ** = Back to back winner in 2017 & 2018 (Nx) = N represents the number of times receiving the award 655 156 th Avenue SE, Suite 260 Bellevue, WA 98007 (425) 283 0384 www.effectiveness.org 2