By Ruth Longoria
It’s not just bragging when parents and teachers of Mercer Island students say their young people are some of the brightest and best.
At a Chamber of Commerce luncheon Thursday at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Cyndy Simms, Mercer Island School District Superintendent provided an update of scholastic achievement as it relates to the No Child Left Behind law. Simms also talked of ways to increase the district’s already high level of excellence.
“There’s no doubt, our students do great and our teachers do a great job of preparing our kids,” Simms said to the group of about 35 Island parents, grandparents and Chamber members.
Simms backed up that statement with charts demonstrating recent progress of Island students as compared to state and national targets and expectations set up when President George W. Bush signed the federal No Child Left Behind law in 2002.
Simms also shared a brief history of previous similar educational endeavors initiated by former presidents Clinton, Bush Sr., and Reagan. The national effort to achieve higher standards in education began with President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty,” she said.
“A lot of people think this is a Bush thing, but it’s also a Clinton thing,” Simms said.
No Child Left Behind includes a list of mandates for student progress, as well as a requirement for qualified teachers in all classrooms. If — within a set amount of time — state and district progress fail to meet those goals, certain sanctions would be administered, including withholding of federal funding. And, for schools not meeting adequate yearly standards, parents have the option of moving their child to another school within the district.
Student progress is monitored through tests prepared by individual states. With the exception of one — Nebraska, whose education system prefers to forego the federal Title 1 funding rather than participate in the tests — each state creates its own standardized test, such as the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL). WASL tests are administered to students in grades four, seven and 10. Also monitored is the percentage of students graduating on time.
In 2003, Mercer Island High School had 16 students that did not graduate on time; however, its 95-plus percent graduation rate far exceeds the 66 percent state mandate.
As a whole, Mercer Island students are prepared well above state and federal expectations in reading and math, according to 2003-04 WASL tests scores. At the 10th-grade level, 90.1 percent of Island students reached the reading standard, compared to the state’s 48.6 target rate. And, in math, Islander sophomores’ 79.3 percent more than tripled the state’s 24.8 percent figure.
Fourth- and seventh-grade Island students achieved similar high scores.
Those percentages change somewhat when the students’ scores are divided into sub-groupings of special education, low-income and ethnicity. However, Mercer Island does not have a large segment of the population fitting into those categories. If there are fewer than 30 students in a sub-group, those students are lumped into the larger inclusive category.
The wisdom of WASL testing is a divisive subject in many districts, and some worry the determination to meet averages can be detrimental to individuality, or that test scores can provide fodder for racial stereotyping.
But, for many, the tests are a way to make sure that all children are getting the education they deserve, said Jeff Schultz, a 1970 graduate of Mercer Island High School, who attended Thursday’s luncheon.
“I wasn’t aware of the details of what we expect of all the students, but I was concerned about focusing on groups instead of individuals,” Schultz said.
During and after her talk, Simms answered questions from her audience.
“This helped, I learned a lot,” Schultz said. “We need high standards.”
Although she’s pleased by Island students’ high test scores, Simms isn’t ready to rest on academic accolades. Now, she and other district administrators are working to help students set higher goals for themselves and organizing a coalition to influence and energize state legislators concerning educational funding.
“We have so many kids who can blow the top off the charts but we want all of our kids to succeed,” Simms said.
“Do we know for sure what great means for Mercer Island?” she asked. “If Seattle had the same test scores they’d be saying, `Wow! Great!’ but, are we really a great school district?”
