2018-19
Annual School Performance Report Pacific Cascade Middle School
Pacific Cascade Middle School
24635 SE Issaquah-Fall City Road, Issaquah, WA 98029 (425) 837-5900 https://www.issaquah.wednet.edu/pacificcascadems Principal Dana Bailey
Mission Connecting and preparing each student
Welcome Involved parents and community members enrich our school and make it a premier middle level learning institution. Thanks for making a difference!
Teacher Experience Teacher’s with
10
Teacher Experience data for the 2018-2019 National Board School Year 60.4% will be available via OSPI at a later date. Certification
12.6
For complete school data, please visit OSPI’s website Average Yearsat: Teaching washingtonstatereportcard.ospi.k12.wa.us Teachers with Master’s/Ph.D
Experience
OSPI Data State testing is required by state (RCW 28A.230.095) and federal law. The federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), enacted in 1965, is the nation’s national education law and shows a longstanding commitment to equal opportunity for all students. On December 10, 2015 President Obama reauthorized ESEA as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). These state and federal laws result in middle school students being regularly tested by the State to assess their progress as they move through school. State tests at the middle school level which fulfill the federal Every Student Succeeds Act include the following: •
Smarter Balanced Assessments (SBA): English Language Arts (ELA) and Math tests (6-8) Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science (WCAS): Science test (8)
•
District Report For budget details and more go to www.issaquah.wednet.edu/district/ annual-community-report/ The Issaquah School District believes in seeking continual feedback from a broad and diverse range of constituents regarding their experiences with the District and their neighborhood school. See the Community Polling Study site at www.issaquah.wednet.edu/district/polling for more information and survey results.
Demographics Grades: 6-8
Enrollment: 1,011 92.4%
55.9%
29.2%
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Highlights Pacific Cascade opened for grades 6-8 in the fall of 2010. Our academic program closely matched the offerings at the other middle schools. Our elective offerings centered in three areas; fine arts (music, graphic arts and drama), technology (video, digital photography, robotics, etc.) and fitness. These electives utilized to the fullest our fine facility. Additions to the elective offerings included Coding and Web Design, Principles of Flight, Inventors Lab and American Sign Language. Yearlong Spanish was offered for 8th grade students and completes one year of high school World Language Requirement. Our Lynx Life program (multi-aged advisory) met daily for 20 minutes and promoted the personal, social and academic development of our students. As the ISD launched PBSES in middle schools, we found this to be a prime opportunity to build in lessons, address concerns of a social nature and have students participate in the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. This year, all middle schools launched Social Emotional Learning lessons with Second Step. These lessons are taught in Lynx Life on Wednesdays. Issaquah School District middle school students took a required technology class, which met a high school technology graduation requirement. Previously, this was met with the Tech Smart class. This year, we expanded these opportunities to include the Computer Science Web Design, Video Productions and Digital Photography classes to meet this requirement.
Extra-Curricular Activities Pacific Cascade offers many co-curricular activities; Math Club, Art Club, Robotics Club, Chess Club, National Junior Honor Society, Scrapbooking Club, Board Game Club, Environment Club, Builders Club, Geography Bee, Jazz Band, Jazz Choir, Newspaper Club, and a full complement of competitive and intramural athletics. Many parent volunteers help to supervise these clubs, and this is an area we hope to grow in the coming years.
All students had one trimester of health at each grade level. Counselors taught weekly lessons in health classes on topics such as stress management, friendship skills, and suicide prevention. Our year-long Leadership class offered students in 7th or 8th grade an opportunity to develop leadership skills, take a lead role in public speaking during assemblies and provide services to our school community. Yearbook was another year-long class available to 7th and 8th grade students. Students in this class create a polished and professional yearbook each year. Students who show interest and leadership in Video Productions are eligible to apply for a year-long I-Lynx Leadership class which produces our morning announcements, school PSA videos, videos for assemblies and the end-of-year video. This year, Pacific Cascade 8th graders went to the Junior Achievement finance park. Our PTSA has funded three ‘reverse field trips’, where the presentation comes to PCMS! Our 7th graders participated in two Living Voices activities, one Within the Silence to deepen understanding of the Japanese Internment Camps and the second was Northwest Passage, to support the deep understanding of the history of our region. Our 7th grade science classes studied the solar system through the Pacific Science Center’s presentation of The Stars Among Us. This year our 6th grade science classes participated in the Carnivores workshops with the Woodland Park Zoo, culminating in a field trip to the zoo, with special zookeeper presentations!
Special Programs Pacific Cascade offers a continuum of class offerings. In the elective area we continue to strive to build new and interesting class offerings for students. Special education classes in math, reading and writing are offered throughout the day. Advance Language Arts classes are offered at each grade level, and students can accelerate in both Mathematics and Science.
Improving Student Achievement Two courses offered at Pacific Cascade are of interest to students who struggle with learning. Math 180 is offered in all grades, and is a year-long class that students take in addition to their regular math class. It provides systematic instruction in the missing or weak math concepts and students are gaining in confidence and skill. Read 180 is offered at all grades and provides systematic instruction to strengthen reading comprehension as well as confidence in reading aloud and confidence in reading textbooks for other classes. Our Learning Strategies program is open to all students. It is a class period to get and stay organized, a chance to get help from a teacher on class or homework, and a quiet place to get a head start on homework. All middle schools received an Issaquah Schools Foundation grant to open the library after school for drop-in student use. We also received Issaquah School Foundation grants to offer a comprehensive tutoring/homework completion class we call 7th period.
Assessment Two tests given to middle school students—The Smarter Balanced Assessment and the Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science—help indicate how well Issaquah students are learning.
WCAS The WCAS fulfills the federal requirement that students be tested in Science once at the middle school level. The WCAS measures the level of proficiency students have achieved (what students know and can do) based on the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The WCAS assesses all three dimensions of the learning standards (Science and Engineering Practices, Disciplinary Core Ideas, and Crosscutting Concepts). The numbers on the chart represent the percentage of students in grade 8 who met or exceeded standard on the NGSS compared to the percentage of students in grade 8 who met or exceeded standard districtwide.
Grade 8 WCAS-Science
The District’s mentoring program, VOICE, is wellrepresented here at Pacific Cascade. We have many volunteers who come during the school day into study skills classes to assist and support students.
82.7
78.0
What’s New Continued growth in the Highlands has our school at max capacity! Teachers are working together to meet the needs of all students.
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Smarter Balanced Assessment The SBA is a test that measures students’ progress toward College and Career readiness in ELA, literacy and math. The SBA consists of two parts: a computer adaptive test and a performance task. Writing is included at every grade level and students are asked to solve multi-step, real-world problems in math. Performance tasks ask students to determine an array of research, writing, and problem solving skills. The SBA results describe student achievement (how much students know at the end of the year). Results are reported in two ways: scaled scores and achievement levels. A scaled score is the student’s overall numerical score used to illustrate their current level of achievement. Based on their scaled scores, students fall into one of four categories of performance called achievement levels. Levels 3 and 4 represent Meeting or Exceeding Standard and an “adequate or thorough” understanding of the learning standards. Levels 1 and 2 represent Not Meeting Standard and reflect “minimal or partial” understanding of the learning standards. The Grade Level Total ELA and Grade Level Total Math charts on the right-hand side of the page indicate the percent of students in sixth, seventh, or eighth grade who met or exceeded standard in ELA and Math on the SBA compared to the percent of sixth, seventh, or eighth grade students who met or exceed standard districtwide.
Grade Level Total ELA 79.0
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Grade Level Total Math 81.2
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