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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 31, 2018)
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2018 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A7 EDUCATION School ratings show some growth on test scores age of 85 percent. The dis- trict’s elementary schoolers scored below the state aver- age in English language arts, but its high schoolers were above at a “level 4.” District math scores were around the state average at the elementary schools, but below average at the mid- dle and high school. Hermiston Schools Superintendent Tricia Mooney said the informa- tion in the reports had been previously available to the public or to districts, but the at-a-glance profiles made it more understandable. “As a district we have some areas we can be proud of and some areas that need more of our attention,” she wrote in an email. “The good news is that we have a committed staff, talented students and a support- ive community working together to prepare all of our students for their next steps.” Umatilla School District scored low on many of its math and reading ratings, with only the high school meeting the state average in reading. But the district scored above the state aver- age in its graduation and freshmen-on-track ratings. About 95 percent of Uma- tilla’s ninth-graders are on track to graduate, and 82 percent are graduating in four years. Umatilla Superinten- dent Heidi Sipe said while she appreciates the new format for the state report cards, the district doesn’t use them as their only mea- sure of progress. “We decided many years ago not to focus on SBAC (Smarter Balanced Assess- ment Consortium) as there is no correlation between Oregon students’ results on SBAC and their graduation or college success,” Sipe said. By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN STAFF WRITER Reports released by the state last week show Herm- iston school scores at or below state average, with a few exceptions. The ratings, which the Oregon Department of Edu- cation released to the pub- lic on Oct. 24, offer data for every district and individual school and tracks progress based on Smarter Balanced state test scores. The rating areas include English and math scores and growth, and success of English lan- guage learners. Each report also tracks schools’ chronic absenteeism, or students who are absent for 10 per- cent or more of school days. For high schools, there is also data for fresh- men on track, and four- and five-year graduation rates. Data was presented in “At-a-Glance” docu- ments, which used graphs to show overall progress of schools in each category. An accompanying report offers more detail, look- ing at student performance by subcategories like race, economic background, lan- guage background and dis- abilities. The ratings were divided into five levels, with level 1 being the low- est and level 5 the highest. Hermiston scored at or below the state average in most areas, scoring at the lowest category in only one area — on-time graduation. Hermiston is at 66 percent, about 10 percent lower than state average. The district saw its strongest overall ratings in math and reading growth, where the major- ity of the district’s elemen- tary school students scored a level 4 or 5. Its freshmen-on-track score was 82 percent, just below the state’s aver- STAFF PHOTO BY JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN Christie Petersen, principal of Sunset Elementary School, read a story to some Head Start students on Thursday. Head start works to bridge the kindergarten gap By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN STAFF WRITER It took a few minutes for the 4-year- olds in the Head Start class to calm down, but once they did, they were eager to listen to Christie Petersen read them a story about pumpkins. Petersen, the principal of Herm- iston’s Sunset Elementary School, joined the class on Thursday as part of National Head Start Awareness month and National Principals’ Month. The early childhood program has imple- mented several new methods to bridge the gap between pre-K and kindergar- ten. That has included teaching kids social and emotional skills, and work- ing more closely with elementary schools to share tactics for how to help their students. As Petersen read to the students, she asked them questions to help them make connections to what they were reading. “Who here has been to the pump- kin patch?” asked Petersen, as many kids eagerly raised their hands. When she came across a new word, she asked them to repeat it. “Can you say ‘nutrients?’” she asked the kids, before bring- ing it up again later in the story. Head Start director Julie Sanders said there are some new programs to bridge the gap between pre-K and kindergar- ten students. “We try to share with kindergarten teachers what we’re doing to develop social and emotional skills,” she said. “It helps teachers help them more quickly.” Sanders said the goal is to create a climate to help students be able to learn, whether sending books home with them to build a home library, or having adults read to them through the SMART (Start Making a Reader Today) program. “At Head Start there are lots of kids who come from generational poverty or high risk factors. We try to give them skills to relate to peers and to adults,” Sanders said. Sanders said they’ve introduced an approach called “Conscious Discipline principles,” a social and emotional cur- riculum that’s being used across East- ern Oregon. “We try to use those principles in pre-K, in preparation for using them in kindergarten,” Sanders said. “And we try to help parents use those skills at home.” There are seven principles, includ- ing composure, which helps kids with anger management and delay of grati- fication; encouragement, which teaches pro-social skills and kindness; asser- tiveness, which teaches kids about bully prevention and healthy boundaries; and empathy, which helps kids understand others’ perspectives and regulate their own emotions. Petersen said she has noticed many of the kids who come to Sunset from a Head Start class have already devel- oped some of the skills and routines that they work on in kindergarten. She noted the importance of edu- cating parents as well as students — to understand the importance of reading to their children and developing rou- tines to prepare them for school. Petersen said it’s also important for Head Start and elementary schools to work together to bridge a very specific gap — language acquisition. “The four stages of language acqui- sition are listening, speaking, read- ing and writing,” she said, adding that while Head Start is heavily involved in the first two, elementary schools play a large part in the last two. NEW 2018 RAV4 LE 287 $ /MO Up to 36 months. On approved credit. $0 DOWN! Stk# 18h1027. New 2018 Toyota Rav4 LE. MSRP $27,544. Sale $26,365. $2400 Toyota Financial Service Rebate. GFV $14,598. 3 year/12k mile per year lease with $0 Down = $287/mo up to 36 months. On approved credit. Plus tax, title and $75 doc fee. See dealer for details. Offer expires 10/31/18. NEW 2018 HIGHLANDER LE 383 $ Up to 36 months. On approved credit. 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