News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sisters students beat the state average on last year's assessment tests in reading, writing and mathematics.
The tests, administered in the third, fifth, eighth and 10th grades, measure students' progress toward meeting state benchmark standards for a Certificate of Initial Mastery (CIM). Scores were released by the state Department of Education last week.
Sisters students were strongest in writing and math problem-solving, with 83 percent of 10th graders meeting or exceeding state standards in writing and 64 percent meeting or exceeding the standard in math problem-solving.
Those tests require students to provide writing samples and to work out actual math problems. Sisters curriculum director Lora Nordquist was pleased with the results on those tests.
"To me, performance assessment means a lot more because it tells us what our students can actually do," she said.
The news wasn't as good in the mathematics multiple-choice test. Only 39 percent of Sisters' 10th graders met or exceeded the standard, just 2 percent more than the state average. However, students in earlier grades did much better, with 70 to 80 percent of the students clearing the bar.
Nordquist, along with educators statewide, is puzzled by the drop-off in scores at the 10th grade level.
"There hasn't been a significant change in the math scores in the last two or three years," Nordquist said. "If we've been focusing on math - and I know we have - why aren't we seeing improvement in math scores?"
Nordquist believes there may be some problems with the 10th grade test - perhaps too high a cut-off score.
Nordquist also voiced some concerns about the reading scores of 10th graders, which barely exceeded the state average.
"I'm not proud of 53 percent of our students meeting or exceeding the standards in the 10th grade," she said. "I think we're assuming to much about kids' reading skills."
Nordquist noted that there is little instruction in reading skills at the high school level and that high school teachers need to become better reading teachers.
Reading scores in third, fifth and eighth grade - where teaching basic skills is emphasized - were much higher and Sisters students far outshone the state average.
The Sisters School District still has a ways to go before it meets its stated mission of having 85 percent of its students meeting or exceeding state standards. But progress is being made.
"We're almost there in writing and we're within shooting distance in math problem-solving," Nordquist said.
According to Sisters educators, tracking individual students' progress over time on the state assessment tests is the most effective way to measure the success of the schools' curriculum.
The school recently purchased computer software designed to track that progress.
"That's going to be a tremendous tool for us to evaluate our academic programs," said Sisters High School principal Boyd Keyser
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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