Polk County Education
14A Polk County Itemizer-observer • october 5, 2016
Test participation
will matter more
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-observer
Jolene Guzman/Itemizer-observer
Students in a math 111 class take a quiz on Monday morning at Dallas High School.
Students combine college, high school
Willamette Promise helps students earn credits toward future education
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-observer
DALLAS — During the
2015-16 school year, Dallas
High School potentially
saved students more than
$125,800 through its
Willamette Promise pro-
gram.
More than 90 students,
mostly juniors and seniors,
used the dual credit pro-
gram to take college-level
courses. They combined to
earn 593 credits on the year,
said DHS Principal Steve
Spencer.
Willamette Promise, a
program of the Willamette
Education Service District,
works with local colleges
and universities to “overlay”
college-level work onto high
school classes. Students
have the option of earning
the college credit — if they
pass Willamette Promise as-
sessments — and complete
a high school graduation re-
quirement at the same time.
Because it’s a retroactive
enrollment, meaning stu-
dents apply for the credit
after they have completed
the course, there is no dan-
ger of having a bad mark on
a transcript.
Willamette Promise credits 2015-15
Math 111: 44
Chemistry 104: 88
Writing 121: 124
Biology: 145
Spanish: 192
“This is about creating a
college-going culture in the
high school and (giving) stu-
dents that have been often-
times been classified as un-
derserved or under-repre-
sented that opportunity to
show success in high school
with no risk,” Spencer said.
“When they see that they
can do that college-level
work here at the high school,
we can create that college-
going culture.”
Last year was the second
for the program and Spencer
said school officials were
pleasantly surprised by the
participation rate.
“We wanted to encourage
this, but because it is new,
we didn’t really have a base-
line,” Spencer said. “We
more than doubled the stu-
dents that we had earn the
credits.”
Ryan Bibler, a junior, was
one of those students. He
took Chemistry 104 and
earned four credits toward
what he hopes will be a
teaching degree.
“I thought that is a great
opportunity because college
credit is a lot cheaper when
I’m in high school,” he said.
He had to work a little
harder. Unlike for the high
school course, there was
only one test retake allowed
when shooting for college
credit.
Bibler said it was worth it.
“It’s wonderful. I appreci-
ated it so much,” he said.
“It’s money I save, time I
save, stress I save.”
Math teacher Suzanne
Cassim is teaching math 111
for Willamette Promise for
the second year. She has
added more classes to ac-
commodate the 93 students
taking the class, many of
which intend to seek
Willamette Promise credits.
She said at $30 per course,
it’s bargain for high school
students to apply for the
credit and a chance get a
taste of college work.
“We go at a slower pace
and they have more re-
sources here. I can take my
time to really prep them for
it,” Cassim said. “I do think
that these college and AP
classes and Willamette
Promise classes prepare
them because of the rigor
involved.”
Similar to Bibler’s chem-
istry class, testing require-
ments are stricter with
Willamette Promise. Stu-
dents have no retake oppor-
tunities in her class.
“They know they need to
be ready that first time,” she
said.
Spencer said he won’t
know how many credits are
earned this year until later,
but hopes more students
will take advantage of the
opportunity.
“It’s been exciting to see
kids feeling confident about
the work they do,” Spencer
said. “I have no doubt the
kids that we put up, who are
earning these credits, are
doing an equal amount or
more challenging work than
what’s expected at the next
level.”
DALLAS — Dallas School
District and the charter
schools it sponsors missed
the mark on participation
rates for Smarter Balanced
testing in a few grades dur-
ing the 2015-16 school year.
For now, those statistics
are simply informational,
but soon they will start to
count as the state will begin
holding schools account-
able for testing participa-
tion rates lower than the
federal standard of 95 per-
cent.
After hearing concerns
from parents and educators
about the new assessments,
the state passed a law al-
lowing families to opt out
their children from testing,
which further complicates
matters for schools, said
Steve Martinelli, DSD’s di-
rector of instructional serv-
ices.
“Opt outs did affect us in
a couple of places,” he said.
Percentages lower than
95 are seen at Whitworth
Elementary School in fifth
grade language arts (94)
and math (93.5).
“That is concerning and
we need to look at that and
determine what is causing
that, why there is more opt
outs in our fifth-grade stu-
dents than the other
grades,” he said.
Last year’s sixth-grade
class came in at 94 percent
in math and 94.4 in lan-
guage, also due to opt outs,
Martinelli said.
Even lower rates are seen
are at Dallas Community
School, a charter school
geared for home-school
students. Martinelli said
he’s working with the
school director to see if
those rates can be im-
proved.
“It’s not a super easy sell
in our home-school popula-
tion because that is part of
the reason often they chose
home school,” Martinelli
said. “There are not interest-
ed in standardized tests.”
The issue with low par-
ticipation rates is that they
could soon play into the
ratings schools are assessed
on annual school report
cards issued by the state.
Schools can be rated from a
high of five to a low of one.
Last year and this year,
those ratings aren’t issued
because of the new assess-
ment, but perhaps as soon
as next year, those rates will
count.
“This is the second year
we haven’t had an overall
rating, but on the front
page of the report card, you
will see the number of con-
secutive years you haven’t
met participation rates,”
Martinelli said. “Each year
you don’t meet participa-
tion rates, your overall rat-
ing will drop one level.”
SCHOOL NOTE
Enroll now for YMCA winter program
PolK CounTY — enrollment is open for the YmCa Winter
C.l.u.B. program. The program is open to kids in grades K-5 over
the winter break, Dec. 19-23 and 27-30.
The program run two weeks, but parents can enroll kids for
as much or as little as they like.
each day will feature a different theme, which includes a
STem activity, 30 minutes for reading and activities. each day
also includes a morning and afternoon snack and lunch. Cost is
$40 per day, $180 per week or $300 for both weeks. Scholar-
ships are available to those who qualify. Registration deadline is
Dec. 9.
For more information or to register: 503-399-2753.