State School Superintendent Randy Dorn calls the latest report on school performance “mixed,” and it’s also being reported that two local high schools failed to meet progress standards under No Child Left Behind. Dorn says that they expected the “mixed results” from the annual report, citing the impacts of continuing budget cuts to K-12 education, along with the implementation of new measurement standards. This is the first year of the grade 3-8 Measurement of Student Progress, and the High School Proficiency Exam. As the report comes out, it shows that Kelso High School and R. A. Long High School failed to hit Annual Yearly Progress benchmarks under NCLB. Kelso and R. A. Long each received a “5,” which is the lowest score possible under the NCLB measures. Both schools made improvements in reading and writing, but low scores in science and math brought the overall scores down. Administrators in both school districts say that they’re deeply concerned with the report, and are taking steps to improve test scores.
