Contact: Lisa Shin & Chris Cargill
(206) 937-9691; (509) 570-2384
lshin@washingtonpolicy.org; ccargill@washingtonpolicy.org

Only two local schools received top ranking according to the new Washington State Achievement Index

SPOKANE — As students across Washington state head back to school over the coming weeks, the Washington State Board of Education is out with a new assessment of the quality of those schools.

Results for the 2013 Washington State School Achievement Index are now available. The index helps parents and the general public know how well schools are performing.

The six rankings used by the State Board of Education are Exemplary, Very Good, Good, Fair, Underperforming and Lowest 5%. Following Governor Inslee’s recommendation for letter grades for the 2,212 public schools, Washington Policy Center reports these at A, B, C, D, F and F-.

Overall, 14% of schools in the five major districts in and around Spokane finished in the top two categories. More than 40% finished no better than fair, according to the state.

According to the Achievement Index, the best and worst performing schools from each Spokane-area district are listed below. Two schools – Wilson Elementary and Chester Elementary – rated exemplary.

Fortunately for parents, school districts like Spokane Public Schools are moving additional resources into the classroom and giving children in struggling schools additional choices. Spokane recently became the first district in the state to become a charter school authorizer.

The State Board of Education has significantly changed how the Achievement Index ranks the state’s 2,212 public schools. The changes reflect the requirements of the U.S. Department of Education and anticipate the federal Smarter Balanced test to be taken by Washington students in 2015.

A look at the results for schools across the entire state show:

• Nearly half of public schools, 940 schools, or 42%, received a D ranking or lower
• 782 schools, 35%, received a B or C ranking
• Only 90 public schools, 4%, received an exemplary A ranking
• 400 schools, or 18%, were not rated.

Governor Jay Inslee has recommended “a system in which every school in the state receives a letter grade that’s accessible to parents.”

In creating the Achievement Index, the legislature provided: “The SBE [State board of Education] has responsibility for implementing a statewide accountability system that includes identification of successful schools and districts, those in need of assistance, and those in which state intervention measures are needed.”  

“A letter grading system gives parents and taxpayers a clear, understandable measure of each school’s performance in serving the learning needs of children. Educators give letter grades to students every day to assess academic progress through the year. In the same way, letter grades for schools would show policymakers and the public how well schools are performing,” says Liv Finne, Director for Education at the Washington Policy Center.

The 2013 Achievement Index, where you can look up the grade of every school in our state, and our Policy Note explaining its new methodology may be found here: www.washingtonpolicy.org/2012-13AchievementIndex. Washington Policy Center publishes the results of the Achievement Index each year; results from the three previous indexes can be found on its website.