The School Board adopted Resolution 17-13 which established performance targets and amended the targets with Resolution 19-08. The Performance Targets were:
Graduation Rate:
School Attendance:
Student Proficiency on Mandated Assessments:
Student Growth on Mandated Assessments:
Ninth Grade Success:
Dual-Credit Participation:
English Language Learner:
Equity:
The impact on students across the state and nation has been significant. We have been rife with anecdotal and observational information on the detrimental impacts on student learning. Just recently data are available to allow comparison of current student performance to pre-pandemic levels.
Much of the data we relied upon to measure our progress has been unavailable, and as of this report, some is still unavailable. This report will therefore only deal with the targeted area of student performance on mandated assessments.
The state sought and was granted a waiver from Federal testing requirements in the spring of 2020. The state sought and was denied a waiver from Federal testing requirements in the spring of 2021. The 2021 tests, a very abbreviated form of the SBAC, were administered in the fall of 2021. Fourth Graders took the third-grade assessment, fifth graders took the fourth-grade assessment, and so on. Because of the abbreviated nature of this test and the different timing of the test it is difficult to accurately compare results to pre-pandemic results.
In the spring of 2022, students took the SBAC during the typical assessment window. The SBAC was shortened from prior years and does not, therefore, provide us with "claim data" that allows us to compare more discrete areas of student performance. That said, the scores are purported to be broadly comparable to pre-pandemic assessments.
Student Performance in English Language Arts (ELA)
The table below shows the student performance trend over the last seven years. You can see that pre-pandemic our student performance was, in most cases, increasing year-over-year. Consistent with statewide data our students suffered a significant dip post-pandemic. Observationally we found the impact on our beginning and emerging readers to be most significant. They missed out on many of the very important foundational reading skills during remote and hybrid learning. Our schools "doubled down" on foundational skills during the 2021-2022 school year. As a result of those efforts, the decline in test results for our third grade was significantly less than experienced statewide (Woodland= 4.7% loss over 2019 results, Washington = 8% loss over 2019 results). In most other grades Woodland students had a learning loss similar to that experienced statewide. We have a great deal of work to rebuild performance. We must remember that our current second-grade class lost out on a significant portion of Kindergarten and First-Grade learning.
Student Performance in Mathematics
The table below shows the student performance trend over the last seven years. Nationwide, Mathematics performance saw the most significant declines. Woodland students' performance was no exception. You can see that pre-pandemic our student performance was, in most cases, increasing year-over-year. Consistent with statewide data our students suffered a significant dip post-pandemic. Similar to ELA, we have a great deal of work to rebuild mathematics performance. We must remember that our current second-grade class lost out on a significant portion of Kindergarten and First-Grade learning.
Because of the interrupted testing schedule, we do not have growth percentile data for the Spring 2022 tests. We anticipate those being available info the 2023 testing season.
Equity: Performance by Subgroups
It has been assumed that we would see a highly disproportionate impact from pandemic learning, largely based on family economics. The assumption was that students with families who had the economic ability to support learning with one or both parents working at home would see less significant loss than students whose parents were not as available to support learning. Interestingly, this assumption was supported by the SBAC data in ELA, but not in Math.
The data below are aggregated across grade levels and give us a picture of the significant opportunity gaps that exist.
ELA by Subgroup
You can see in the data below that there was variation in the amount of learning that was lost. The only subgroups that showed growth were Asian and Multi-racial students, both subgroups have a small number of students represented and with a smaller sample size, we expect greater variability.
Mathematics by Subgroup
You can see in the data below that there was variation in the amount of learning that was lost. Four subgroups showed growth over 2019: students with 504 accommodations, low-income students, students with Special Education Plans, and Asian Students. We were somewhat surprised by these subgroup data.
We still have significant work to do to close the opportunity gap.