Washougal School District staff and leadership study the results from the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA) each year, and use the detailed information to track progress and make adjustments to how we teach students around core standards. In this year’s SBA data, there are some great things to share!
Washougal students are outperforming the state in 82% of the grade and subject areas tested.
Teacher collaboration is showing success. Thanks to the investments of local voters through our levies, and the federal ESSER funding, our teachers are using Professional Learning Community time each week to improve teaching and learning. Each Wednesday, students are released early to provide teachers with time to meet in Professional Learning Communities. Teachers use this time to review student assessment data, and answer four essential questions: What do we want students to know and be able to do, how will we know if they’ve learned it, what will we do for students who did not learn, and what do we do with those who have mastered it.
In addition, Washougal saw a year-to-year increase in 70% of the subjects and grades tested.
Some subject areas saw significant increases from year-to-year, with teachers working together to refine practices, and growing the number of students meeting standard.
There were still some areas, like 8th grade Math and English, and 10th grade Math and English where leadership identified year-to-year changes that went in the wrong direction. School leadership and teachers will work to study the outcome data and refine work to improve these scores in the coming year.
Overall, the district saw year-to-year increases when looking at our data from all grades, with growth in English, Math, and Science scores districtwide.
Visit the Washington State report card system for a full list of scores, and trends for Washougal and other school districts.