2015-16
Annual School Performance Report Clark Elementary School
Clark Elementary School
500 Second Avenue SE, Issaquah, WA 98027 (425) 837-6300 http://connect.issaquah. wednet.edu/elementary/ clark/default.aspx Principal Dr. Tod Wood
Welcome At Clark Elementary, we are fortunate to experience a warm, welcoming, and engaging community as a result of involved parents, community members, and a deeply invested staff. Together, we provide a highly enriched and purposeful learning environment that greatly enhances our students’ experiences. Our community is committed to working together in order to make a meaningful difference in the life of every child we serve.
Mission Clark Elementary believes in the potential of every student to achieve high levels of learning. We are committed to inspiring and supporting each individual in order to attain high levels of success.
Demographics Grades: K-5
Teacher Experience Enrollment: 613 94.8%
53.3%
Teachers with Master’s/Ph.D
Teacher’s with National Board Certification
7.3
2 Average Years Teaching Experience
OSPI Data 57.2%
21.2%
20.0%
10.9%
2.9% k
ac
Bl
0.3%
e
Am
District Report
8.6%
0%
c er ka ial ni ac nd las ve spa r a A l ti ti i / s ul cI an Na H M di cifi In a P an ric ian
As
In March 2014, the U.S. Department of Education declined to renew the state of Washington’s conditional Elementary and Secondary Education Act Flexibility Waiver for schools receiving Title I, Part A funds. This decision affects all schools in Washington State, which are now subject to the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Washington is the only state that has lost its waiver and must revert to NCLB standards and timelines of assessment. For schools and districts to be considered succeeding under NCLB, schools must meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standards. For schools to meet AYP, 100 percent of all students, regardless of special needs or English language mastery, must meet proficiency standards. Clark did not met AYP this year. For complete information about the Issaquah School District’s assessment data, highly qualified teachers, annual yearly progress, and state NAEP (of Educational Progress) results, please visit the state’s online district report card.
e at
te
hi
W
n
da
en Att
R ce
ee Fr
ed
uc
d
an
d Re
h
nc
Lu
For budget details and more go to www.issaquah.wednet.edu/district/annualcommunity-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.
Highlights Clark enjoys a very warm and friendly small-school atmosphere. Although we have more than doubled our size in the past few years, our school continues to embrace a family-like environment that has been an important part of Clark’s culture throughout the school’s long history. Clark kicks off each year with Shark Week, an opportunity for all students to engage in a review of school expectations for each common area of our building, including hallways, the lunchroom, bathrooms, the playground, and more! Our hope is that by including each student in this conversation we will all be better prepared to engage in successful behavior and choices each and every day throughout the year ahead. Students who exemplify our Clark Commitments (to be Safe, Kind, and Productive) are honored weekly as Clark Sharks of the Week. Classes who model excellence during our specialist periods are also recognized as our Library, Music, and PE Classes of the Week. Our Monday morning announcements welcome students back from the weekend, recognize our students and classes of the week, provide updates for any upcoming events or changes, and usually include a challenging brain teaser or special joke or riddle! Students at Clark have numerous opportunities to be involved in student leadership. These include participating as members of Student Council, planning school spirit days, leading community support activities, giving back to our community through service, and serving with our Green Team or as members of our School Crossing Guard.
We are proud of the strong partnership we share with our parents and community. Over 20 Costco volunteers provide one-on-one reading support to our students. VOICE mentors support our students each week. Parents are actively involved in the life of the school as they volunteer countless hours to support student learning. We are also fortunate to have a partnership with Issaquah High School students who provide one-to-one academic support for many of our Clark students. Issaquah High School students assist our teachers, support instruction, and mentor students as part of their high school course work or community service. Clark teachers and students are enthusiastically engaged in the integration of technology into all aspects of learning. All classrooms are equipped with laptop computers, document cameras, digital projectors, and ActivBoards. Teachers maintain classroom websites to facilitate communication with students and families. They also keep current on the use of the very latest technology through the Issaquah Technology Project (ITP) and other professional development opportunities. At our current location, Clark is fortunate to have a dedicated (and fully equipped!) Art Room and Cooking Lab that provides students with enriched learning experiences. Clark students also have the opportunity to be introduced to rhythm instruments, keyboards, recorders, guitars, and a variety of other musical tools as part of our rich music program.
Improving Student Achievement Clark has a focused goal of improving student achievement in mathematics. In addition to teacher training and implementation of our new math curriculum, we are specifically examining instructional practices that support student engagement throughout the entire learning process. All teachers will receive training throughout the year focusing on instructional math strategies as well as the components of our newly adopted math curriculum. Students are engaged in daily math workshop activities that include introductions to new academic learning, skill practice, and development of problem solving skills. Our teachers have spent the past year learning strategies for implementation of effective math workshop practices. As we move into full implementation of our new Eureka math curriculum, teachers will receive support through our Issaquah School District workshops and training, in addition to the ongoing support of our Instructional Coach at Clark. During the past years, teachers focused on problem solving, collected data to review student progress, and monitored and reflected on this growth throughout the school year. They also continued to refine their instructional practices for building student conceptual development, higherlevel thinking skills, and ongoing practice in computation. Many of our teachers are trained in GLAD, a student-centered, language-rich program designed to meet the varied needs of our students. With the support of our GLAD Building Leader, teachers use these classroom strategies
daily in order to better motivate and engage students.
Special Programs Clark hosts a district Science and Technology Magnet program, which is a 4th-5th grade multiage classroom with a focus on environmental science taught through a hands-on approach to learning. Clark also hosts the Issaquah Skills Enhancement Program (ISEP), a self-contained program for K-5 students with emotional and behavioral concerns.
Before/After School Our school district provides a tuition-based before and after school child care program at Clark called Shark Club. In addition, we offer a variety of extracurricular activities through PTA and teacher led clubs; Choir, Student Council, Homework Club, Cooking, Art Club, Safety Patrol, Math Club, Reading Club, After School Movies, and Lego Club are just a few of the many opportunities that were available to Clark students during the past school year!
What’s New We have enjoyed the opportunity to monitor the completion of the new Issaquah Middle School directly behind our campus during the past school year. We are now looking forward to the upcoming construction of our new Clark campus, scheduled for completion in time for occupancy during the fall of 2017!
Grade Level Total ELA
Assessment Two tests given to elementary school students—The Stanford 10 Achievement Test and the Measurement of Student Progress (MSP)—help indicate how well Issaquah students are learning.
74.7
68.2 58.5 47.4
Smarter Balanced Assessment The Smarter Balanced Assessment is a system of valid, reliable, and fair nextgeneration assessments aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English language arts/literacy (ELA/ literacy) and mathematics for grades 3-8 and 11. The system—which includes both summative assessments for accountability purposes and optional interim assessments for instructional use—will use computer adaptive testing technologies to provide meaningful feedback and actionable data that teachers and other educators can use to help students succeed. Smarter Balanced assessments will go beyond multiple-choice questions to include extended response and technology enhanced items, as well as performance tasks that allow students to demonstrate critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. Performance tasks challenge students to apply their knowledge and skills to respond to complex real-world problems. They can best be described as collections of questions and activities that are coherently
81.2
77.7
connected to a single theme or scenario. These activities are meant to measure capacities such as depth of understanding, writing and research skills, and complex analysis, which cannot be adequately assessed with traditional assessment questions. The performance tasks will be taken on a computer (but will not be computer adaptive) and will take one to two class periods to complete. Smarter Balanced capitalizes on the precision and efficiency of computer adaptive testing (CAT). This approach represents a significant improvement over traditional paper-andpencil assessments used in many states today, providing more accurate scores for all students across the full range of the achievement continuum.
e3
ad Gr
ct
i str
Di
e4
ad Gr
ct
i str
Di
e5
ad Gr
ct
i str
Di
Grade Level Total Math 77.4
76.8
74.4 68.2
58.5 47.4
e3
ad Gr
t
ric
st Di
e4
ad Gr
t
ric
st Di
e5
ad Gr
t
ric
st Di
MSP The MSP is an exam developed by and mandated by the state; it replaced the state’s original annual exam, the WASL, in spring 2010. Washington’s education reform efforts began in 1993 and involve annual state-specific tests for students in grades 3-8 in reading, writing, math, and science (MSP) and then again in grade 10 (High School Proficiency Exams in reading and writing and End of Course assessments in math and biology). MSP goes beyond multiple choice tests like the Stanford 10. The tests are much shorter than the WASL and include multiple-choice and short-answer questions. Four-point essay questions have been eliminated on reading, math and science tests. This change allows students to show they are able to solve the problems, while not being scored on their writing ability on the math, reading and science tests. Besides being a state test rather than a national assessment, MSP results are reported differently. Each student either “Meets Standard,” “Exceeds Standard,” or “Does Not Meet Standard” in each subject—reading, math, writing, science— and subjects tested vary among grade levels. MSP scores do not compare students to other students; instead they show the learning level of each student as compared to the state’s expectations for a well-taught student at that grade level.
MSP results help parents know how well each student is meeting learning targets, and the results help schools plan instruction and curriculum focused on these learning targets. Numbers represent percentage meeting or exceeding standard.
Grade 5 MSP-Science 84.5
78.8
e5
ad Gr
t
ric
st Di