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6A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 2015 Tested: Students scratch heads over new assessments Across the river, scores tumble, but administrators mostly pleased However, Naselle-Grays Riv- er Valley School District and the Long Beach Peninsula’s Ocean Beach School District FRQGXFWHG DQ HDUOLHU ³¿HOG test” of the assessments to familiarize students with the types of questions, as well as the technology they would need to be comfortable using By KATIE WILSON in order to answer the ques- EO Media Group tions. In general, most of PACIFIC COUNTY, OBSD’s students failed to Wash. — The results of a meet the state standards for new state test were released English and math. The sixth 0RQGD\ DQG VRXWK 3DFL¿F and 11th-grade students County’s two school districts came in especially low. In UHÀHFW QXPEHUV VHHQ DFURVV sixth grade, only 24 of the Washington’s 295 school dis- VWXGHQWV HQUROOHG tricts: take any two students percent) met the English and probably only one of them standard, and had the lowest met the state’s new standards. percentage of students who Still, State Superin- met the math standard: only tendent Randy Dorn was 11 students, or 15.9 percent, pleased. met that standard. In 11th “Statewide results beat JUDGH VWXGHQWV RU our predictions,” he said in percent of the 79 students a press conference held Aug. enrolled, met the English 17. “That says to me that stu- standard and 28.9 percent dents are capable of learning (20 students) met the math our new standards, which standard. are designed to make sure Students in the smaller students are ready for career Naselle-Grays River School and college.” District, which typically Though the numbers look shows up very well on state bad, he said that actual stu- assessments, also mostly dent learning improved. failed to meet state standards, The tests are more de- and in 11th grade, only four manding than previous students of 22 met state stan- state assessments, requiring GDUGV IRU (QJOLVK RQO\ ¿YH strong comprehension and met the math standards. problem-solving skills, state Other challenges educators say. This was the For Ocean Beach School ¿UVW\HDUVWXGHQWVLQJUDGHV through 8 and grades 10 and District and others, the new 11 took the Smarter Balanced tests weren’t the only chal- Assessments for English lenge. “We were in the testing Language Arts and math. Amy Huntley/For EO Media Group Eighth-grader Jessie Huntley got plenty of attention last spring as she helped with a trial of new computer tablet testing procedures and technology at Ilwaco (Wash.) Mid- dle School. Karen Veeland looked on. Students have now taken the tests for real and results were reported Monday. window and they (the Of- fice of the Superintendent of Public Instruction) were sending us updates and changes,” said Amy Hunt- ley, OBSD’s interventions, assessment and curriculum program coordinator. “There was information that we should have known in No- vember that we found out in February.” One thing OBSD didn’t have to worry about, though, was the technology. “Because of our tech levy and our good tech depart- ment, we have a lot of our kids on the technology and, for the most part, they’re at Fall salmon seasons set, with good forecasts periods per week (Sunday, ing in the Columbia River. Tuesday and Thursday) Last year, the first pilot LONG BEACH, Wash. through August in Zones 4 research seine fishery was — Greater than average and 5. Remaining commer- on selected days Aug. 19 forecasts of fall chinook and cial fishing days are Aug. WR 6HSW ,W ZDV coho salmon are opening DQGEHJLQQLQJ limited to 10 seine permits, the way for more commer- at 9 p.m. each day and end- four purse seines (fished cial fishing in the Columbia ing the following morning from boats) and six beach River. at 6 a.m. seines. Some 45 commer- The U.S. v Oregon Tech- The late fall gillnet fish- cial gillnetters signed up nical Advisory Committee ery is expected to begin for the permits. Each per- preseason forecast for the Sept. 14, also in Zones 4 mit was given an individual 2015 fall chinook adult re- and 5. Coho gillnet fishing fish quota (IFQ) limited to turn to the Columbia River is expected in October, like- hatchery chinook and coho WRWDOV ILVK ZKLFK O\LQ=RQHVDQG salmon. A total of 6,000 chi- would be another strong run. The compact also set the QRRN DQG FRKR ZHUH The forecast is 80 per- select area gillnet fisheries allowed, although the actu- cent of the 2014 actual re- (those commercial fisheries al catch was 2,400 chinook turn (1,159,100) and 147 not in the main Columbia and 1,000 coho. percent of the 2005-2014 River channel) at its July 29 The chinook quota this DYHUDJHUHWXUQ hearing. Gillnetters could year will be 5,000 fish and Bonneville Dam passage fish the Deep River select 1,700 coho are allowed, all is expected to total nearly area fishery in Washington hatchery fish. Again, 10 649,000 upriver fall chi- IRU QLJKWV VWDUWLQJ $XJ permits are allowed, but this nook adults. Passage is typ- 17, and for 46 nights, also year the number of permits ically 50 percent complete starting Aug. 17, in Ore- requested as of Tuesday by Sept. 8. gon’s Blind Slough and has been just eight, but just The 2015 coho fore- Youngs Bay. six permits have been pur- cast to the Columbia Riv- The compact also set chased (four beach and two er is for a strong return of the recreational fall salmon seine permits). Oregon and DGXOWV ZKLFK LQ- fisheries. The Buoy 10 fish- Washington are accepting FOXGHV HDUO\ VWRFN ery began Aug. 1 and fish- applications to fill the last DQGODWHVWRFN7KH ing will be allowed through four permits. forecast is 117 percent of Labor Day. Two fish are Each beach seine will the 2005-2014 average of allowed, but only one can be allowed 400 hatchery 459,800 fish. be a chinook. Retention of chinook salmon and 150 Bonneville Dam pas- FKLQRRN FORVHV 6HSW coho salmon. Handling of sage is expected to total and will reopen Oct. 1 with 180 steelhead is allowed. 190,500 adult coho, which a two-fish, two chinook bag Purse seiners are allowed represents 65 percent of the limit. 650 chinook, 200 coho and total ocean abundance of At its most recent meet- are allowed to handle up to Columbia River coho des- ing, the compact set lim- 150 steelhead. Once a sein- tined for areas upstream of its and timing on the 2015 er reaches these limits, they Bonneville Dam. beach and purse seine fish- must stop fishing. Through Aug. 17, 20,744 DGXOW IDOO FKLQRRN sockeye, and 125 coho had passed Bonneville Dam. The cumulative fall chinook count is the second largest since 1989 by that date. Flows are low and tem- peratures are slightly above average at Bonneville Dam. Flow Tuesday on Aug. 11 ZDV FXELF IHHW SHU second while the 10-year average is 169.7 kcfs. The average water temperature Aug. 11 is 70.6 degrees Fahrenheit and the actual temperature was 71 degrees. In three meetings in re- cent weeks, the two-state Columbia River Compact F or u p-to-d a te in form a tion set fishing periods for both plea se ca ll ou r treaty Indian and non-Indi- an commercial gillnetters, select area fisheries, re- search seine fisheries and recreational fisheries. At its July 29 hearing, the Oregon-Washington Columbia River Boundary Compact set openings for the non-Indian early fall salmon commercial gillnet fishery, with three 9-hour Columbia Basin Bulletin least comfortable,” Huntley said. “They know how to log in.” Smarter Balanced As- sessments unfold entirely on a screen, which means students must have at least basic computer skills to nav- igate their way through the tests. After speaking to other districts’ assessment coordi- nators, Huntley knows the technology side of things was a big challenge else- where. Also, other districts dealt with high numbers of stu- dents refusing to take the new tests this year. Some students turned in parent or guardian-signed refusal forms; others simply skipped test day. OBSD, however, had very few refusals, Hunt- ley said. Going forward, Huntley said the test results show the district what it needs to emphasize and help students understand. With the Smarter Bal- anced Assessments, “part of it’s an assessment issue and part of it is a ‘life is com- plicated’ issue,” she said. The tests — with questions that require longer, extend- ed problem-solving work — demand an amount of perseverance that some stu- dents may not currently have or are struggling to develop, she explained. It’s good that the tests ask this of students, Huntley added, “because life is full of that. We need to be teach- ing our kids that.” But, she said, “Certain- ly it’s something that when they hit it on an assessment, if they don’t have that per- severance, they answer it incomplete, may not give it as much effort or they get frustrated and they give up.” Ultimately, Huntley says, the tests pointed out what the district might need to “layer on.” Ocean Beach scores In the other grades: • Of the 81 students en- rolled in third grade in the 2014-15 school year, 41.8 percent met the state’s stan- dard in English language arts; 46.6 percent met the standard in math. • In fourth grade, 52 per- FHQWRURIWKHVWXGHQWV enrolled, met the English standard while 45.2 percent met the math standard. • In fifth grade, 58.9 per- FHQWRURIWKHVWXGHQWV enrolled, met the English VWDQGDUG SHUFHQW PHW the math standard. ,QVHYHQWKJUDGHVWX- dents of 89 — about 40 per- cent — met the English stan- GDUG DQG PHW WKH PDWK standard. • In eighth grade, 54 per- FHQW ² VWXGHQWV RI — met the English standard ZKLOH SHUFHQW PHW WKH math standard. Naselle-Grays River Valley scores In the other grades: • Less than half of the students enrolled in the third and fourth grades met either the English or math stan- dards. • In fifth grade, 60 percent of the 25 students enrolled met the English standard WKRXJK RQO\ SHUFHQW met the math standard. • In sixth grade, more than half met both standards — 52.6 percent in English and 57.8 in math. • In seventh grade, 44.4 percent (12 students of the 28 enrolled) met both the English and math standards. • In eighth grade, more than half of those enrolled met both standards — 60 percent in English and 52.1 percent in math. El Niño looking to be strongest since 1997; more warm temps, less snow possible had developed in March, prompting an advisory to Driven by high- be issued that remains in HUWKDQQRUPDO 3DFL¿F effect. A July update predict- Ocean water temperatures, ed the weather pattern had an El Niño weather pattern strengthened and will likely has been building in strength last into early next spring. since March, but its impacts Strong El Niño events are will vary from one region to characterized by Equatorial another. water temperatures that are “What’s new this month at 1.5 degrees Celsius above is that this could be one of normal for three months. the strongest El Niños” since Halpert said that tem- 1997, said Mike Halpert, perature benchmark could deputy director of National reach or exceed 2 degrees Oceanic and Atmospheric above normal, something Administration’s Climate that has happened only three Prediction Center in College times in recent decades. Park, Md., during a monthly Generally, it is expect- update on the El Niño south- ed that this will lead to be- ern oscillation weather pat- low-normal precipitation WHUQWKDWZDVKHOG$XJ and higher-than-normal Halpert emphasized that temperatures across the Co- predicting how El Niño lumbia Basin and Canadi- could affect storm systems an border states to the east along the West Coast and in through next spring. By con- regions such as the Colum- trast, El Niño could produce ELD 5LYHU %DVLQ LV GLI¿FXOW higher-than-average rain largely because it is not the and snow in California and RQO\LQÀXHQFHRQZHDWKHU in Southwestern states, but it “If it was the only driver was noted that any increased we could say a lot more than precipitation due to El Niño we can,” Halpert said. “El is unlikely to make up for a Niño is certainly different four-year drought in Califor- things to different people in nia. different places.” The broad-brush El NOAA forecasters de- Niño forecast for the Co- clared that a weak El Niño lumbia Basin is not a good Columbia Basin Bulletin DailyAstorian.com TIMBERLANDS CLOSED DUE TO HIGH FIRE DANGER Lew is & C la rk Tim b erla n d s a re closed to a ll pu blic en try a n d w ill rem a in in effect u n til fu rther n otice. REC REATION AL HOTLIN E 5 03 -73 8-63 5 1 Ex t. 2 TIMBERLANDS CLOSED one, considering there could be conditions that might match or exceed this year’s conditions — above normal temperatures that led to a “snow drought” across the region. While overall precipitation was close to average, there was a remarkably early snow- pack melt and runoff, with ULYHU ÀRZV DQG WHPSHUD- tures that are normally seen in August arriving in July. “The real message is that it’s likely to be a strong event,” Halpert said of the El Niño pattern that will persist into next spring. And be- cause it is expected to be a strong pattern, predicted im- pacts will “tend to be more reliable.” However, Halpert said that even with a strong El Niño, predicting impacts from it still amounts to un- certain long-range weather forecasting. “It’s important to remem- ber that just because some- thing is favored (by forecast- ing models), doesn’t mean it will necessarily happen,” Halpert said, referring to the varied effects that could re- sult from one region to the next. Stu ffed C h ick en B reast D in n er w ith R oasted Potatoes & Veggies, Salad & R oll Friday A ug 21 st $ .0 0 8 ea. 4 pm ‘til gone 6PM “K araok e D ave” 2015 Scholarship Presentation ic Publ d !!!!!! Saturday pm e A ugust 22nd 2 Invit W elcom e H om e Party Clats op Pos t 12’s Bike Crew 255 For their Successful Bike Trip across the U nited States for “Operation C om fort W arriors” R aising $19,000.00 plus. 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