WASL Comparisons

Name and Address of School:

Yelm High School

Principal Greg Rayl
360 458 7777

1315 Yelm Ave. W Yelm 98597
Yelm School District

Name of Counselor Leading the Initiative: Staci Dilg

Enrollment: 1,447 (Rural Alternative School)

School Demographics:

Male	52.3 %
Female	47.7
African American:	2.0%
Caucasian/Non-Hispanic:	87.7%
American Indian	2.8%
Hispanic:	3.6%
Asian:	3.9%
Free/Reduced Lunch	31.3%
Dropout Rate	2.2%
Graduation Rate	76.6%

2003-04 WASL Results (Administration Info)

Grade Level	Reading	Math	Writing	Science
10th Grade	62.0%	32.4%	64.8%	19.9%

I reviewed the WASL Scores for the Yelm High School. It appears that the Math and Science scores are low. I pulled up the trend plots for both sections.

The Yelm High School is indicated by the light blue trend line. The scores for Math are slightly higher than the overall District Score but lower than the state scores. The scores for Science are similar; slightly higher than the district's score but lower than the state's score.

I completed a comparison of all students, low income students, and ethnic comparisons, and discovered that there was not enough information to determine differences between ethnic comparisons. Although it does seem apparent that there are significant differences with low income students. Only 19.6% of the 31% of low income Yelm High School Students met the standards. The chart below indicates that 80.4% of the low income students did not meet the standard and 55.4% were well below the standard in Math. These statistics are good data that could help in developing a School Improvement Plan.

Math - Grade 10

	Number Tested	309
	Percent Who Met Standard	32.4%
	Level 4 : above standard	14.0%
	Level 3 : met standard	18.4%
	Percent Not Meeting Standard	67.6%
	Level 2 : below standard	24.0%
	Level 1 : well below standard	39.9%
	Not Tested	3.7%
	Number Not Tested	12
	Absent	6
	Refused	2
	Other	4
	Percent Meeting (Excluding Not Tested)	33.7%
	Percent Taking WAAS

Science - Grade 10

	Number Tested	306
	Percent Who Met Standard	19.9%
	Level 4 : above standard	0.3%
	Level 3 : met standard	19.6%
	Percent Not Meeting Standard	80.1%
	Level 2 : below standard	21.8%
	Level 1 : well below standard	53.6%
	Not Tested	4.7%
	Number Not Tested	15
	Absent	9
	Refused	3
	Other	3
	Percent Meeting (Excluding Not Tested)	20.9%
	Percent Taking WAAS	1.2%

I decided to investigate what school improvements that Yelm High School are targeting this year to see if I was on track. This is what Yelm High School is working on:

SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PLAN
The School Improvement Team continues to
focus on refining the consistency of the
school discipline process, the attendance
appeals process and realignment of curriculum
to the Washington State Essential
Academic Learning Requirements and grade
level expectations. The SITE Team assisted
teacher-study teams in working to support
students with their four-year program at YHS
and in devising programs which help the
ninth-grade students to be more successful in
their first year of high school.

This plan didn't seem too in-line with my findings so I decided to check the School Boards Goals to see if they were linked to the data. One of their goals for 2005-6 is to actually develop school improvement plans using diagnostic tools. I would guess that this means interpreting and disaggregating the data from OSPI. They also did indicate a need for AYP in Math to meet or exceed WA state's Uniform Bar Goals for Math.

2) School Improvement Plans – Focus on School Improvement Plans (SIPs) in all schools with a focus on using diagnostic tools and intervention programs as part of our effort to increase student learning and enhance instructional practice.

3) Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) – Meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and meet or exceed the WA State’s Uniform Bar Goals in Math 2005-06:

	Grade 4	Grade 7	Grade 10
Math	47.28	37.98	43.60

After finding these goals, I felt that my findings were probably indicative of further review. Hopefully as they begin to study how to improve the Math/Science scores they will look at how to improve the low income student scores.