Sisters students excel in qualifying for CIMs

Sixty-one percent of this year's Sisters High School graduates earned a state Certificate of Initial Mastery (CIM) in addition to a diploma. That is undoubtedly the highest percentage in Central Oregon and one of the highest in the state.

Last year, 42 percent of Sisters graduates received CIMs. The next highest proportion in Central Oregon was 30 percent at Crook County High. The statewide average was 27 percent. State figures for the current year are not yet available.

The Certificate of Initial Mastery is an awkwardly named child of the school reform program adopted by the 1991 Legislature. A CIM is not required for graduation, which is one reason it is ignored by many teachers and students alike. But its achievement is educationally meaningful.

To obtain a CIM, a student must achieve a proficiency level on statewide tests in reading, writing, math, math problem solving and science. The student must also complete eight "work samples" that include three essays, three speeches and the solutions to two complex math problems.

It's possible to earn a CIM by the end of the 10th grade, but many students don't do so until their junior or senior year.

The system encourages students to re-take the tests and keep working toward other requirements until graduation, if necessary.

But the degree of emphasis on earning a CIM varies widely among high schools across the state.

The Sisters teaching staff is clearly pro-CIM. Sisters Middle School Principal Lora Nordquist, who heads the district's curriculum committee, said last week:

"We align our instruction to the CIM standards, and it's good instruction. It's teaching to the test in the best sense of the word because the work samples are very authentic assessment tools.

"If teaching to the test means teaching a student to deliver a great persuasive speech or to write a fine narrative essay, I don't have any problem with teaching to that test."

She added: "We're really proud. I'm proud of the kids and of our district because I just feel that it's our emphasis on the standards that has created this type of success. Plus our diligence in tracking our students' progress and paying attention to how individual students are doing."

Those sentiments were shared by Karen Withrow, a physics and chemistry teacher who is also the high school's assessment coordinator.

When asked to speculate on the reason for the dramatic increase in CIM recipients this year, she noted that three years ago, when the class of 2003 started the 10th grade, the high school initiated its LINK program.

Through LINK, every student is assigned a teacher who "travels" with him or her through all four years of high school. That teacher keeps track of the student's progress toward a CIM and enters work samples in the student's CIM folder.

The monitoring effort is aided by a computer tracking system. And several times a year, Withrow sends teachers a status report on where students in their group stand, and what tasks remain for them to qualify for a CIM.

Withrow pointed out that the 61 percent is based on 72 CIM recipients out of 118 total graduates.

But the record looks even better when you consider that 20 of the graduates received 22-credit State of Oregon diplomas, not standard Sisters High diplomas, which require a minimum of 26 credits.

The number obtaining a CIM represents 73 percent of those receiving a standard Sisters High School diploma.