Three Baker County schools rated as ‘outstanding’ in 2008-09 report

PORTLAND — State Schools Superintendent Susan Castillo released the latest batch of report cards for Oregon schools, with 95 percent rated ‘‘satisfactory’’ or ‘‘outstanding.’’

The other 5 percent were deemed in need of improvement, mostly because of poor test scores.

In the Baker School District, Brooklyn and Haines elementary schools joined 34 percent of the state’s 1,171 schools to earn the top designation. The Burnt River School District at Unity and Pine-Eagle Elementary at Halfway also were rated among the best in the state. Pine-Eagle High School was not rated because of its small size.

The rating system has been modified from the five designations used over the past 10 years to the three included on this year’s report cards.

Baker High School, Baker Middle School, North Baker and South Baker received “satisfactory” ratings on the report card, joining 61 percent of Oregon schools, or 711 of the 1,171 statewide. Keating Elementary was not rated because of its size and the district’s Baker Web Academy received no rating because it has not yet operated for two years.

The Baker School District’s 2009-10 report card will reflect the district’s reorganization, in which North Baker Elementary was closed. Brooklyn Elementary has been reorganized this year to serve students in kindergarten through Grade 3 and South Baker serves students in Grades 4-6.

Huntington and Powder Valley Schools at North Powder also were rated “satisfactory.” The elementary and high school populations were considered together at those schools as they were at Burnt River.

The 61 schools rated as needing improvement won’t face sanctions from the state. A 2007 state law requires the Oregon Department of Education to impose ‘‘an accountability system of progressive interventions’’ for such schools, but that system is still being developed, said Jake Weigler, communications director for the agency.

The only consequence a school faces for its poor 2008-09 rating is that a copy of the report card will be sent to parents.

In contrast, under federal ratings, schools that serve a large percentage of low-income students must offer transfers or tutoring if they consistently fail to meet performance targets.

The Department of Education, which graded public schools using a single method for a decade, changed its approach this year. Schools now get credit for helping students show growth, and a school’s success or failure with its low-income, minority, special education and limited English students counts twice as much as its results with traditionally higher-scoring groups.

The agency wanted to be more fair to schools and put more emphasis on getting historically low-achieving groups of students to catch up, said Tony Alpert, director of accountability for the department.

The new rating system also aligns the state rating more closely with federal No Child Left Behind ratings, according to the state department.

In the past a school could have been rated “strong” or “exceptional” while not meeting adequate yearly progress (AYP) on the federal report. That will not be possible under the new system, which places limits on report card ratings based on  AYP designations.

The Baker School District and Powder Valley Schools did not meet the requirements of AYP, according to their 2008-09 report cards. In the Baker School District, Baker Middle School and South Baker Elementary failed to meet requirements in specific categories of the report resulting in a “not met” designation for the entire district.

South Baker Elementary fell below standards in the area of English, language arts and reading for specific student groups. Baker Middle School and Powder Valley did not meet standards for students with disabilities.

More information about school and district report cards can be found at: www.ode.state.or.us/data/reportcard/reports.aspx

Chris Collins of the Baker City Herald contributed to this report.