School district rated 'needs improvement'

Siloam Springs School District as a whole and the six schools within it were rated needs improvement by the Arkansas Department of Education for the 2013-2014 school year.

The district is in good company. Of the 257 districts in the state, 250 were categorized as needs improvement, while only seven were categorized as achieving. None were labeled exemplary, needs improvement focus or priority -- the other categories in the state's school evaluation system.

Of the 1,066 individual schools in the state, there was one exemplary school, 67 achieving schools, 877 needs improvement schools, 85 focus schools and 37 priority schools, according to data presented by curriculum coordinator Kelly Svebek during the district's annual report to the public.

The 30-page report includes information about the school's accreditation, improvement plan, federal programs, state categorical funds and budgets and school improvement status. Information about the school's progress toward accomplishing goals and specific examples of initiatives for correcting deficiencies and improving student achievement was also included.

Svebek presented the annual report along with Superintendent Ken Ramey, federal programs coordinator Kristi Wiggins, and curriculum coordinator Connie Matchell during the November school board meeting.

The school rating system was developed as part of the waiver for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, more commonly known as No Child Left Behind.

Instead of requiring all schools to score 100 percent proficient on standardized tests by 2014, schools are expected to close the gap between 2011 scores and 100 percent by half in six years. Each school has an individual Annual Measurable Objective it is required to meet. Under the accountability system, sub-populations of disadvantaged students are no longer tracked separately. They are lumped into one group called the Targeted Achievement Gap Group.

The school district fell short of its Annual Measurable Objectives for both the general population of students and TAGG students in literacy and math performance and growth.

Individual schools within the district faced the same problems. Southside Elementary and the Intermediate School failed to meet AMO's for both populations in literacy and math performance and growth.

Northside Elementary School and Allen Elementary School were not included in the report because students in kindergarten through second grade aren't tested for the purpose of measuring the schools.

Middle School students met their goals in literacy performance and TAGG students met their targets in literacy growth, which was a real reason to celebrate, Svebek said.

Despite being categorized as a needs-improvement school, the Middle School was recently recognized for being in the top 20 percent of schools in the state and awarded $27,662 from the Arkansas School Recognition and Reward Program.

The High School met goals for graduation rate of both TAGG students and the general population. It also met literacy achievement targets for both populations of students.

The high school was named one of the top 10 in the state in Algebra I, a gatekeeper for many students, Svebek said.

The annual report to the public included a detailed plan to improve the school's academic growth under the ESEA flexibility waiver. The three-page document includes plans for professional development, community service, parent engagement, curriculum alignment, tutoring intervention, health and wellness improvement and facilitating second language acquisition.

Two pages of the report outline what the school is already doing to improve academics. Strategies include the Leader in Me character building program, technology integration and teacher training in the science behind teaching students with dyslexia.

Information about other test scores and statistics on student demographics were also part of the report.

The high school's average ACT scores were 21, higher than the state average of 20.1 and equal to the national average, the annual report to the public states.

Statistics in the report show that 59 percent of students are white, 28 percent are Hispanic, 6 percent are Native American and 7 percent are either Asian, black or two or more races.

Forty-six percent of Siloam Spring students receive free meals -- the figure schools use to measure poverty. Twelve percent receive reduced price meals and 42 percent pay full price for meals.

The district's categorical budget projects it will receive $1.72 million in federal allocations during the 2014-2015 school year and $1.86 million in state allocations.

In addition to Common Core State Standards, the state is implementing new science and social studies standards.

Science frameworks are expected to be released at the end of the 2014-2015 school year. They will be implemented in kindergarten through fourth grade in the 2016-2017 school year, followed by fifth through eighth grade in the 2017-2018 school year and nine through 12 in the 2018-2019 school year.

Social studies frameworks will be released at the beginning of the second semester of this year and implemented in the fall of 2015.

A complete copy of the district's annual report to the public is available on the school website, www.siloamschools.com.

General News on 12/17/2014