Polk County Education
14A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • October 19, 2016 
SCHOOL NOTES
Western Oregon to make early financial aid awards
MONMOUTH  — Western  Oregon  University  will  make  estimated  financial  aid  awards  for  the
2017-18 academic year available in December for prospective freshmen and transfer students.
The timeline will allow incoming WOU students more time to receive and understand their fi-
nancial aid if they chose to attend Western Oregon.
Free  Application  for  Financial  Student  Aid  can  be  submitted  as  early  as  Oct.  1,  three  months
earlier than the traditional Jan. 1 filing date. 
DHS counselor earns Safe Schools Award
DALLAS — Dallas High School counselor Dana Goodale will receive an Oregon Safe Schools &
Communities Coalition “Safe Schools Award” on Saturday for her work with DHS’s Gay-Straight Al-
liance club. 
The GSA has been at the high school since the 2013-14 school year and was formed after a stu-
dent  approached  Goodale  with  a  suggestion  that  lesbian,  gay,  bisexual,  transgender  and  queer
students needed the group. She agreed to be the GSA’s staff advisor. 
The group meets weekly and has about 20 to 25 students show up each week, Goodale said. 
She was nominated by AJ Mendoza, with LGBTQ advocacy organization Basic Rights Oregon. 
Oregon  Safe  Schools  &  Communities  Coalition  will  present  the  award  during  a  ceremony  at
Lewis & Clark College on Saturday. 
DHS robotics looking for match volunteers
JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer
The Oregon Department of Education released 2015-16 district and school report cards
on Thursday. The state intends to revise the report format starting in fall 2018.
State issues school report cards
No overall ratings issued as format changes are to come
Itemizer-Observer staff report
SALEM — The Oregon
Department of Education
released the 2015-16 school
and district report cards
Thursday, but offered no
overall rating for schools.
The reports contain a
wealth of other information
about student demograph-
ics and performance.
This is the second year the
state hasn’t provided school
ratings, this time because of
the state’s intention to re-
design the report card in re-
sponse to new federal edu-
cation guidelines under
Every Student Succeeds Act.
ESSA replaces No Child Left
Behind.
According to state offi-
cials, the new law allows for
more flexibility at the local
level to support school
needs.
In response, educators
and parents have asked for
report cards that go beyond
test scores and reflects areas
in which schools are doing
well and others that need
improvement, an ODE press
release stated.
In 2014-15, the state didn’t
offer ratings because of the
switch to the new statewide
assessment, Smarter Bal-
anced tests.
The 2015-16 reports have
detailed information about
school and district enroll-
ment, assessment perform-
ance, graduation rates, class
size and teacher proficiency.
Reports list the amount of
money spent per student in
each district and at the state
level.
The report also compares
school district graduation
rates, completer rates, and
rates at which freshmen are
considered on track to grad-
uation on time with similar
districts.
Each school is issued a re-
port card, with an introduc-
tion from the school’s prin-
cipal.
District-level report cards
look at overall statistics.
There are more than 1,200
schools in the state within
197 districts.
State educators are asking
stakeholders for feedback on
the report card redesign “to
understand which school
success measures will help
them communicate with
families and communities
while supporting a system of
continuous improvement.”
“The Oregon Department
of Education is working to
ensure that Oregon’s school
and district report cards are
redesigned to provide fami-
lies and communities with
more comprehensive meas-
ures of school quality, en-
hancing academic data with
non-academic indicators,
like school climate and equi-
ty,” said Deputy Superinten-
dent Salam Noor.
The redesigned report
card is expected to be intro-
duced by the fall of 2018.
See school and district re-
port cards online at
www.polkio.com.
DALLAS — Local robotics tournaments are looking for volunteer judges or referees for upcom-
ing tournaments in the area. 
Dallas High School Robotics coach Lee Jones is asking for engineers — or other business own-
ers who might want to hire students with skills learned through robotics — to volunteer at a num-
ber of tournaments in the area. Lunch will be provided for all volunteers. 
To see dates and sign up for local tournaments, including two hosted by Dallas High School,
look for a link on the Itemizer-Observer’s website: www.polkio.com.
For more information: lee.jones@dsd2.org.
The Polk County
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