SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM
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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2020
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Data gap doesn’t worry school districts
Jordyn Brown Register-Guard
USA TODAY NETWORK
In contrast to previous years, the at-
a-glance school and district report
cards released last week by the Oregon
Department of Education are slim on in-
formation.
When COVID-19 prompted schools to
shut down in March, Oregon students
also skipped a year of standardized test-
ing. The testing results, usually the bulk
of the information released annually in
the report cards, provide a consistent
way of tracking student groups’ pro-
gress toward proficiency and other key
indicators such as attendance.
But this year’s report cards still have
valuable data, including 2018-2019
graduation rates (which were reported
in January) and teacher experience.
Local district leaders say they’re not
concerned with the gap in testing data
and still are tracking student progress in
their own ways as students are distance
learning this school year. And with tests
required again this year, ODE is starting
to make plans for how to do testing with
safety precautions in mind.
Districts track progress in other
ways
The largest portion of data that’s
missing this year is the proficiency lev-
els and progress of individual student
groups, such as homeless students, stu-
dents with disabilities and low-income
students. It also groups students who
are Black, Native American, white and
so on.
The purpose of tracking proficiency
and progress is to show which student
groups are being served well and which
groups need additional resources or
care to ensure they’re getting an equita-
ble education.
The state testing data helps parents,
individual schools and districts get a
feel year-to-year how student groups
are progressing. Because it’s a snapshot
in time during the year, it’s not always
the most representative measure for
districts as it is for the state. One year
gone is not considered a major issue.
Salem-Keizer Public Schools is rely-
ing on formative, or real-time, assess-
ments.
“While we look to our performance
on those tests, when it comes to a report
card that we get from the state, often-
times, especially for older students,
those numbers are what we call post-
mortem because it doesn’t give us the
Recent graduates throw their caps in
the air during the graduation
ceremony at Sprague High School in
Salem, Oregon, on Tuesday, Aug. 4,
2020. BRIAN HAYES / STATESMAN JOURNAL
information we need in the moment, to
make adjustments to help support stu-
dents and put in interventions,” said
Iton Udosenata, Salem-Keizer assistant
superintendent.
One way districts are keeping track of
students is through attendance. ODE’s
definition of attendance amid distance
learning is much broader, allowing for
teacher check-ins or any engagement by
the student on that day to count as hav-
ing attended.
School districts are getting more cre-
ative in ways they ensure students at-
tend.
Bethel School District, for example,
uses auto-dialers, or a teacher will call a
family to check in if a student hasn’t
logged on and if they can connect they
will mark the student as attending.
“We’re not willing to lose anybody
during this time. So we are obviously
working with our … systems to keep stu-
dents engaged,” Kee Zublin, curriculum
director in Bethel, said. “We are making
a concerted effort to identify students
who are starting to go off track before
they even have a chance to really go off
track and organizing data teams around
supporting those students and con-
ducting outreach on a regular basis.”
Salem-Keizer is paying close atten-
tion to schools with lower attendance
rates than others, and keeping a no-
show list to make sure they check on
students who consistently don’t log on.
“What you have is very little gray
area, where kids are either completely
engaging or they’re really not engaging
at all,” Udosenata said. “So we’re seeing
a high number of kids that aren’t engag-
ing and there’s no real physical way to
connect with them.”
To help combat this, some staff are
trained to do home visits called “knock
and connects” to be in touch with these
students if other means of outreach
don’t work.
Springfield Assistant Superinten-
dent for Instruction David Collins said
the district feels confident that after its
detailed community outreach for new
money coming from the Student Suc-
cess Act, and they have a better under-
standing of community needs and
where they should be putting resources.
Springfield is continuing to use its
data analytic system, which gives the
district a comprehensive report on en-
rollment trends, attendance, disciplin-
ary data (which Collins noted isn’t evi-
dent in a distance learning setting) and
student benchmark data.
“We haven’t started our benchmark-
ing for this year, but it gives us the in-
formation from the two datasets we had
prior to the spring shift to a virtual dis-
tance learning model,” Collins said.
Springfield’s system also tracks
whether students are on-track to gradu-
ate.
“We’re able to monitor how our stu-
dents are doing in their classes, in their
courses. Once we get through a grading
credit-granting period, we’re able to as-
sess how credit has been earned and
where deficiencies might be.”
Annual tests tied to federal
funding
When COVID-10 prompted the shut-
down of schools in March, the U.S. De-
partment of Education gave states the
option to have federal standardized
testing requirements waived. Oregon
took advantage and didn’t conduct the
Smarter Balance reading and math pro-
ficiency tests for the 2019-2020 school
year.
However, in a Sept. 3 letter penned by
U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos,
she said these waivers will not be of-
fered again this year.
“It is now our expectation that states
will, in the interest of students, admin-
ister summative (or long-term) assess-
ments during the 2020-2021 school
year, consistent with the requirements
of the law and following the guidance of
local health officials,” she stated. “As a
result, you should not anticipate such
waivers being granted again.”
States must have students take these
standardized tests each year or risk los-
ing funding for other important areas of
education.
The U.S. Education Department has
asserted that it could take actions
against states that don’t comply with
the federal assessment and account-
ability requirements.
The funding affected is part of the Ti-
tle I, Part A program, which provides
grant funding to schools with high per-
centages of students from low-income
families to ensure they are supported
academically, and Title VI program,
which pertains to “Indian, Native Ha-
waiian, and Alaska Native education,”
according to the education department.
The federal government could with-
hold Title I, Part A administrative funds;
place the state’s Title I, Part A grant on
high-risk status and make the state use
a portion of its Title I funds to address
this; or withhold or redirect Title VI
state assessment funds, according to
ODE spokesperson Marc Siegel.
For the 2018-2019 school year ODE
got about $5.4 million in federal funding
to conduct the statewide assessments.
“It typically accounts for approximately
40% of our annual statewide assess-
ment budget,” Siegel said in an email.
What about this year’s tests?
ODE has started the process of figur-
ing out what standardized tests would
look like in a distance learning world or
an in-person operation that has to ac-
count for COVID-19 safety procedures.
ODE has changed its summative test
blueprints in English language arts and
mathematics for this year to “reduce the
impact upon instructional time,” Siegel
said. “The possibility of remote admini-
stration of our secure summative as-
sessments is under discussion at pre-
sent. There are several challenges to re-
mote administration, including privacy,
item security, and test validity.” Giving
the tests remotely could mean online, or
just outside of the school setting.
Salem-Keizer has the ability to bring
students on campus for testing, though
conducting the Smarter Balance tests
would be a bigger feat. Udosenata said
the district may have to get creative and
partner with some of the surrounding
community colleges for space to proctor
the exams with students physically dis-
tanced, if that’s what ODE says needs to
be done.
Contact reporter Jordyn Brown at
jbrown@registerguard.com or 541-338-
2203, and follow her on Twitter @thejor-
dynbrown and Instagram @register-
guard.
Obituaries
Alice Miriam Kinnaird
SILVERTON - Alice Miriam Kinnaird, 91, for-
merly of Silverton, passed away October 17th. She
was born to parents Frank Howard and Jennie
Eicher Howard on May 29th, 1929 in Medford,
Oregon. Alice graduated from Medford High
School in 1948, and received a Bachelors degree
in Elementary Education from Southern Oregon
College in 1952. She married the late Fred Kin-
naird in 1954, and they lived together in Silverton
for more than 50 years. Alice is survived by three
children: Lynn Nickelson, Kathryn Slate, and Cindy
Humphreys (Mark) all living in Eugene, Oregon.
She is also survived by 11 grandchildren and nine
great-grandchildren. Alice was predeceased by her
loving husband in 1999. Alice was a woman of
God and dedicated much of her time as a steward
of the Methodist Church. As a youth she went on
Methodist Caravans representing her faith. She
remained active in the church through her adult
life, as a leader, preacher and teacher. Alice’s profes-
sional life was dedicated to educating children. She
taught mostly 4th grade, in and around Marion
County. In the last years of her teaching career she
taught Title 1, focusing on children with learning
disabilities, and teaching them how to read - this
was the most rewarding time of her career. Alice
and her husband Fred spent their retirement years
creating beautiful hand-crafted and hand-painted
woodwork together and attending various holiday
markets to sell their creations. She was a loving
mother, grandmother and wife. A blessing to all
who met her. An angel on earth. A memorial is be-
ing held Thursday, October 29th, at 1:00pm at Un-
ger Funeral Chapel in Silverton. Due to Covid-19
restrictions, the number allowed in attendance will
be reserved for family members. Graveside service
to follow. You are welcome to join via Zoom and
will need to register in advance for the service
https://greaternw.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJck-
cOChqD0iH9cgiCLx8nFuJJ59Oj2J7ALE
In Lieu of sending flowers please make donations
in support of Silverton Together, Lane County
Signature Hospice, or a charity of your choosing.
Assisting the family is Unger Funeral Chapel -
Silverton.
Lisa Espe
SILVERTON - Lisa was
born on June 15, 1963
in Silverton to Gary
and Carolyn Espe. Lisa
passed away on October
10, 2020 at home sur-
rounded by family and
friends.
After high school
graduation Lisa worked
at Safeway in the Pro-
duce Department and
she loved working there.
She found her true call-
ing as a volunteer at Sil-
verton Hospital in the
Recycling Department.
She made many friends
and loved every minute
there.
When Lisa was 5 years
old, she overcame great
odds and survived her
first brain tumor. She
had to re-learn to do ev-
erything again and she
was not expected to live
another 5 years. Just 3
short weeks ago she
was diagnosed with yet
another brain tumor.
She amazed us one last
time and peacefully and
gracefully passed from
this life.
Lisa will be remem-
bered for her love of
people and of animals,
especially cats! Lisa is
survived by her parents,
Gary and Carolyn Espe,
sisters Sandy Chinn
of Eugene and Bren-
da (Dan) Qualey and
brother Tom (Becky)
Espe of Silverton as
well as many nieces and
nephews.
Lisa will be dearly
missed but due to the
current pandemic a
service will not be held
at this time. Arrange-
ments are by Unger Fu-
neral Chapel - Silverton
Simple Cremation $795
Simple Direct Burial $995
Church Funeral $2965
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