The Cascade School District (CSD) is celebrating an increase in math scores after deliberate efforts to help students and teachers bring up state test scores.
According to the state’s recent At-A-Glance reports, CSD saw 23% of 8th graders meeting grade level expectations for math in the ’22-’23 school year, compared to 16% the year before.
While this number was below the state average of 26%, district spokesperson Gregg Koskela said a gain of seven percentage points in one school year is still something to be proud of.
“We have taken strategic actions to improve previous gaps in mathematics, and we see that work paying off in these reports,” said Koskela.
He said those efforts included the recent hiring of math instructional coaches at the elementary schools, and the implementation last year of a new math curriculum.
The most significant growth was seen at Turner Elementary School where 35% of students met expectations, one point shy of the state average and up 11-points over the last school year.
Aumsville Elementary School was at 34%, one point over the last year, and Cloverdale Elementary School was at 51%, three points over the last year.
Koskela said the district hopes to take a similar approach to improve English test scores, with the district at 47% of third graders at grade level expectations. While this was above the state average of 40%, it was a decline from the previous year’s 50%.Koskela said a new English curriculum this year should help improve scores.
Koskela said the district was also pleased with the graduation-related statistics for Cascade High School, which were all above state averages. Among ninth graders, 92% were on track to graduate (84% statewide), 94% of 12th graders graduated on time (81% statewide) and 96% of students earned their diploma within five years (87% statewide).
Regular attendance was also above the state average, with 66% of students attending at least 90% of their enrolled school days, compared to 62% statewide. Koskela said this was a drop of 5% from the previous year and the district wants to make improvements to attendance.
Enrollment was at 2,648 students for ’22-’23, up from 2,537 the year before and up from pre-COVID enrollment of 2,371 students in the ’18-’19 school year. Koskela said this is a sign families want to live within the district and reaffirms their commitment to “personal relationships to deliver academic excellence.”
