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.
W N! !
$ 0 DOWN
Stk# 18h1010. New 2018 Toyota Highlander
LE. MSRP $38,414. Sale $35,949. $1000 Toyota
Financial Service Rebate. GFV $22,664. 3 year/12k
mile per year lease with $0 Down = $383/mo up to
36 months. On approved credit. Plus tax, title and
$75 doc fee. See dealer for details. Offer expires
10/31/18.
/MO
NEW 2018
CAMRY LE
292
$
ed credit.
Up to 36 months. On approved
$ DOW N! !
$0
Stk# 18h727. New 2018 Toyota Highlander r
LE. MSRP $27,244. Sale $25,468. $1500
Toyota Financial Service Rebate. GFV
$14,439. 3 year/12k mile per year lease
with $0 Down = $292/mo up to 36 months. .
On approved credit. Plus tax, title and
$75 doc fee. See dealer for details. Offer
expires 10/31/18.
/MO