In order to improve the graduation rate at Newberg High School the Newberg School District board of directors wants to better prepare middle school students. Both middle school principals and several members of their staffs told the board that data shows that well-prepared middle school students are much more likely to graduate from high school. Part of the problem has to do with the grading of the students’ work.

Among the students who failed to meet the state’s reading standards in eighth grade, 78 percent were receiving As and Bs, and 22 percent Cs. None of them had received Ds or Fs. In mathematics, 31 percent of students who didn’t meet state standards still received As and Bs, 30 percent received Cs and 39 percent only earned Ds or Fs.

“Grading became a topic of great interest to us,” Mountain View Middle School principal Wayne Strong told the board.

“We are inconsistent in regard to our grades,” Chehalem Valley Middle School principal Jon Franco said. “As all of you know, grading is a very polarizing subject.”

Grading, Strong continued, should reflect progress toward mastery of state standards and should be consistent among teachers of similar subjects. Extra credit, bonus work, and group work all have the potential to cloud the progress a student is making.

“We want to work toward meaningful ways of grading,” Strong said.

One of the interventions CVMS has developed is to provide some students with a double dosage of mathematics. The school targeted the population that was only slightly behind and by all accounts those students are performing much better this year, but it’s also a costly option, as it requires additional teacher time.

The group plans to study how effective some of the interventions schools use are in helping students progress toward mastery of a subject.
In other news, the board received a financial audit report from Tara Kamp of the firm of Pauly, Rogers and Co., which gave them a clean opinion, the best possible result.

The board also heard a presentation from teachers and students from Dundee Elementary School on the use of iPods in the classroom. “We found great success in intervention and enrichment,” principal Deborah Crueger said. Students demonstrated how they used the iPod’s tactile screen to trace letters and answer math problems. They also used a standard recording app to record themselves reading out loud. They could then listen to themselves and gauge how much progress they were making in reading over the course of a week.

In other business, the board:

• Approved the appointment of budget committee members for Zones 1, 5 and 6.
• Approved a comprehensive K-12 guidance and counseling program.
• Authorized the NHS cheerleading team to travel to Dallas, Texas, to attend the 2012 National Cheerleading Association competition in January.
• Created a district technology planning task force to draw a plan for the purchase of technology with money from the $27 million bond passed by voters in May.
• Voted in support of Oregon School Board Association Resolution 1 to amend the constitution to allow the OSBA legislative committee to override membership-approved legislative policies and priorities and Resolution 2 to amend the constitution to allow consecutive terms for the secretary/treasurer.
• Approved board policies regarding academic achievement, vandalism/ mischief/theft, an expanded options program, use of alcohol for cooking, reporting of suspected child abuse, public records, and public charter schools.

The board will meet next at 7 p.m. Jan. 10.

By Laurent Bonczijk, Newberg Graphic