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San Pedro Valley schools make the grade
Thelma Grimes
San Pedro Valley News-Sun
San Pedro Valley public and charter schools are making the grade, according to labels issued by the Arizona Department of Education.
Last Wednesday, the department of education released the 2006 report cards for all public and charter schools, and all valley schools have been deemed performing or above.
Schools statewide are labeled annually, based on test scores, student improvement, attendance and dropout rates.
Using these criteria in a mathematical formula, the State Board of Education determines whether a school is under performing, performing, performing plus, highly performing or excelling.
For the second year in a row, Benson High School has been deemed highly performing.
In an academic assembly last Wednesday, Principal Bryan Bullington applauded the students' efforts and said that no other 2A school in the state has received the next to highest mark two years in a row.
Last year the high school was the only 2A school to receive a highly performing label.
Of a possible 21 points, Bullington said the high school earned 19.1, up from 13.1 points in 2003.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. David Woodall said the high school has enough points to be an excelling school, but they don't have enough students excelling on the AIMS (Arizona's Instrument for Measuring Standards) test.
Woodall said if a higher percentage take the test and excel, the school would likely receive the highest mark.
As an incentive, Bullington told the junior class that if they were willing to retake the state administered test this week, and if they receive excelling grades, they would receive a pass for a personal day off.
Woodall said they want to not only be deemed an academically excelling school, but they also want the students to do well, because excelling on all three portions of AIMS, which includes reading, writing and math, means scholarships.
Students who excel in all three portions of the test receive a tuition waiver to attend any Arizona University, which includes the University of Arizona, Northern Arizona University or Arizona State University.
Woodall said the tuition waiver is good for all four years as long as the student maintains a 3.0 grade-point average. That is worth up to $20,800 in a free education, he said.
The Benson Elementary School was labeled performing plus.
The Department of Education said performing plus is an informal recognition of schools that have shown improvement or have sufficient students demonstrating proficiency to earn a highly performing or excelling profile, but do not have a sufficient number of students exceeding the standard.
The San Pedro Valley High School, a charter school under the Benson School District, received a performing mark for the second year in a row.
Both the high school and elementary school in the St. David School District continue to do well receiving highly performing grades.
Kate Mueller, superintendent of St. David Schools, said they are pleased with the above average grades.
"We are now a highly performing school district," she said. "This is the first time both the elementary and the high school have been labeled highly performing and we are very excited. Now, we will continue to raise the bar in the classroom and hopefully that will translate into higher scores on AIMS and we can become an excelling school district."
Pomerene Elementary School is also highly performing. The kindergarten through eighth grade school was deemed performing last year.
The charter schools Visions Unlimited Academy in Pomerene and the New West Charter Schools in J-Six also received performing marks, staying the same as last year.
The department of education released performance reports for 1,965 schools. Of those, 123 were deemed under performing, 609 performing, 670 performing plus, 235 are highly performing and 320 are excelling.
San Pedro Valley News-Sun
San Pedro Valley public and charter schools are making the grade, according to labels issued by the Arizona Department of Education.
Last Wednesday, the department of education released the 2006 report cards for all public and charter schools, and all valley schools have been deemed performing or above.
Schools statewide are labeled annually, based on test scores, student improvement, attendance and dropout rates.
Using these criteria in a mathematical formula, the State Board of Education determines whether a school is under performing, performing, performing plus, highly performing or excelling.
For the second year in a row, Benson High School has been deemed highly performing.
In an academic assembly last Wednesday, Principal Bryan Bullington applauded the students' efforts and said that no other 2A school in the state has received the next to highest mark two years in a row.
Last year the high school was the only 2A school to receive a highly performing label.
Of a possible 21 points, Bullington said the high school earned 19.1, up from 13.1 points in 2003.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. David Woodall said the high school has enough points to be an excelling school, but they don't have enough students excelling on the AIMS (Arizona's Instrument for Measuring Standards) test.
Woodall said if a higher percentage take the test and excel, the school would likely receive the highest mark.
As an incentive, Bullington told the junior class that if they were willing to retake the state administered test this week, and if they receive excelling grades, they would receive a pass for a personal day off.
Woodall said they want to not only be deemed an academically excelling school, but they also want the students to do well, because excelling on all three portions of AIMS, which includes reading, writing and math, means scholarships.
Students who excel in all three portions of the test receive a tuition waiver to attend any Arizona University, which includes the University of Arizona, Northern Arizona University or Arizona State University.
Woodall said the tuition waiver is good for all four years as long as the student maintains a 3.0 grade-point average. That is worth up to $20,800 in a free education, he said.
The Benson Elementary School was labeled performing plus.
The Department of Education said performing plus is an informal recognition of schools that have shown improvement or have sufficient students demonstrating proficiency to earn a highly performing or excelling profile, but do not have a sufficient number of students exceeding the standard.
The San Pedro Valley High School, a charter school under the Benson School District, received a performing mark for the second year in a row.
Both the high school and elementary school in the St. David School District continue to do well receiving highly performing grades.
Kate Mueller, superintendent of St. David Schools, said they are pleased with the above average grades.
"We are now a highly performing school district," she said. "This is the first time both the elementary and the high school have been labeled highly performing and we are very excited. Now, we will continue to raise the bar in the classroom and hopefully that will translate into higher scores on AIMS and we can become an excelling school district."
Pomerene Elementary School is also highly performing. The kindergarten through eighth grade school was deemed performing last year.
The charter schools Visions Unlimited Academy in Pomerene and the New West Charter Schools in J-Six also received performing marks, staying the same as last year.
The department of education released performance reports for 1,965 schools. Of those, 123 were deemed under performing, 609 performing, 670 performing plus, 235 are highly performing and 320 are excelling.
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