News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sisters students gave local educators something to smile about amidst all the gloom associated with looming budget cuts.
Just-released state test scores from last year indicate that Sisters students are outstripping their peers in Central Oregon and statewide in reading, math, writing and science (see scores below).
Sisters schools have more students meeting or exceeding state standards in both reading and math. At the elementary school level, Sisters students performed especially well in reading.
In third grade, 89 percent of students met or exceeded state standards, compared to 85 percent statewide, 87 percent in Bend and 87 percent in Redmond.
In fifth grade, Sisters had far more students exceeding the standard (42 percent) compared to the state (26 percent) or Bend (29 percent) or Redmond (25 percent).
Sisters' curriculum director Lora Nordquist attributes these scores to a strong focus on reading at Sisters Elementary School.
"The elementary school has done tremendous work on their reading program," Nordquist said.
That work includes early intervention to keep students from falling behind and a consistent emphasis on reading skills in each grade.
The only area where Sisters students did not perform well was in eighth grade math problem solving, where 59 percent of those tested failed to meet the standard
According to Nordquist, students have a choice of problems to solve and the test hinges on a single problem. Many Sisters eighth graders chose the same problem and made a critical mistake, failing to make a conversion into square inches.
Nordquist said she plans to look at those student's local work samples to see if the poor score was just a single bad performance or indicates a deeper problem.
In Sisters and everywhere else, scores tend to decline as students get older. According to Nordquist, that is at least partly attributable to the increasing difficulty of the tests.
The tests themselves become more challenging and score requirements to meet the standard get higher.
By 10th grade, for example, the math test is quite tough.
"It's not a basic skills test," Nordquist said. "It's a difficult, challenging math test."
The school district's assessment analyst Karen Withrow is working on tracking student's scores from year to year, which will give educators a better picture of how students are progressing.
Reading/Literature
Performance
standard (%):
Does Not Meet
Meets
Exceeds
3rd Grade
State
15
36
49
Sisters
11
32
57
Bend
13
33
54
Redmond
13
42
45
5th Grade
State
21
53
26
Sisters
09
49
42
Bend
16
55
29
Redmond
15
60
25
8th Grade
State
36
30
34
Sisters
30
34
36
Bend
40
37
23
Redmond
35
34
32
10th Grade
State
47
35
18
Sisters
27
52
21
Bend
49
37
15
Redmond
48
36
16
Mathematics
Performance
standard (%):
Does Not Meet
Meets
Exceeds
3rd Grade
State
23
43
34
Sisters
16
38
47
Bend
21
41
38
Redmond
26
48
26
5th Grade
State
25
53
22
Sisters
06
43
51
Bend
24
55
21
Redmond
21
55
24
8th Grade
State
44
24
33
Sisters
35
27
38
Bend
47
31
22
Redmond
41
23
35
10th Grade
State
56
27
18
Sisters
46
36
19
Bend
55
28
16
Redmond
52
31
17
Writing
Performance
standard (%):
Does Not Meet
Meets
Exceeds
5th Grade
State
31
67
02
Sisters
17
77
06
Bend
27
70
03
Redmond
29
70
01
8th Grade
State
34
64
02
Sisters
24
70
07
Bend
36
62
01
Redmond
44
55
01
10th Grade
State
21
75
04
Sisters
06
87
07
Bend
17
78
05
Redmond
26
70
04
Math Problem Solving
Performance
standard (%):
Does Not Meet
Meets
Exceeds
5th Grade
State
38
58
04
Sisters
17
72
10
Bend
38
57
05
Redmond
30
65
05
8th Grade
State
48
44
07
Sisters
59
37
05
Bend
51
42
07
Redmond
63
33
03
10th Grade
State
51
45
05
Sisters
36
57
07
Bend
45
47
08
Redmond
48
45
06
Science
Performance
standard (%):
Does Not Meet
Meets
Exceeds
5th Grade
State
26
48
26
Sisters
11
41
48
Bend
23
52
25
Redmond
20
55
24
8th Grade
State
38
45
17
Sisters
37
55
08
Bend
35
47
18
Redmond
32
48
20
10th Grade
State
38
41
21
Sisters
25
48
27
Bend
39
40
21
Redmond
100
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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