News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sisters students may have to work harder to graduate in coming years.
The Sisters School Board is making improvement of academic achievement their highest priority this year. That may mean tying diplomas to tough state standards.
"We need to begin making those connections between the report card process and the (state) benchmark process," said school board Chairman Harold Gott.
Gott recalled talking to a middle schooler who told Gott he was doing well because he got "As and Bs" on his report card. The student said he did poorly on his benchmark tests but "it didn't matter because (he) got promoted anyway," Gott reported.
Doing well on a report card and poorly on benchmark tests isn't going to be enough to succeed in school, Gott believes.
Though the board is just beginning to explore how to make connections between grades and standards, Gott believes the district may eventually "end up with more than one kind of diploma."
One diploma, in Gott's scenario, would be a "CIM certificated diploma" that shows a student has met the state-mandated requirements for a Certificate of Initial Mastery.
"We have to validate that we intend to meet those standards," Gott said.
The district's goal is to have 85 percent of its students meeting statewide standards. Students were close to the goal in reading and met the goal in writing in last year's benchmark tests.
But, while Sisters students outperformed the state average in math, they still fell way short of the district's goals, with only 33 percent of 10th graders meeting the standard.
As it stands now, it would be tough for most students to get a "CIM certificated diploma."
While teachers generally support setting high standards, some have said that the goal of 85 percent is unrealistically high.
"Certainly the 85 percent goal is unrealistic," said middle school social studies teacher Rob Kurtz.
He noted that 11 percent of the school district's students are "special needs" students and "most of those kids aren't going to meet the standards." Gott envisions a modified diploma, for special education students who are unable to reach the standards.
Getting some of the rest of the students to the goal is clearly a challenge. Many students come into the Sisters School District from other schools where they have not been prepared to meet high standards. Some students have home environments that make success in school difficult. And school budgets have shrunk and class sizes are growing.
"The demands are getting higher and higher for kids - and therefor for teachers, too - and our resource pool is getting smaller," said school district Curriculum Director Lora Nordquist.
Still, Kurtz said, "we've got to set the bar high. I believe it's great to have (the goal) out there to shoot for."
Nordquist agrees. She believes that tying graduation to standards will motivate students and teachers, parents and administrators work harder to meet them.
"If we did nothing but make the CIMs more high stakes for the kids, they'd do better on them," Nordquist said. "We've got to make the CIMs more important to raise the level of concern from everybody."
Kurtz noted that there is a movement afoot to require CIM qualification for admission to Oregon colleges and universities. And, he noted, the state is encouraging employers to demand CIMs from prospective employees.
"The kids have the most at stake," Kurtz said.
The schools are still a long way from requiring a CIM for graduation.
In Gott's scenario, students who don't get a "CIM certificated diploma" would get a standard diploma. But that diploma, Gott believes, should have higher standards, too, requiring grades of "C" or better in all core subjects to qualify.
"We need to say to the students, 'look, this is the minimum standard that we require,'" Gott said. "You don't get this diploma for being on your hind end on a bench for those years. You have to do the work."
Gott said he anticipates critics saying that such standards will lead to more drop-outs. But Gott doesn't think the schools should bend on standards.
"I think diplomas should mean something and it's standards that make them mean something," he said.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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