Press release from Highline Public Schools:

Three Highline schools have won multiple 2012 Washington Achievement awards. The awards were announced Tuesday, April 2.

Aviation High School in Des Moines earned awards for overall excellence, math, and science.

Global Connections High School on the Tyee campus in SeaTac won for overall excellence, extended graduation rates and closing achievement gaps.

Health Sciences and Human Services High School (HS3) on the Evergreen campus in White Center won for overall excellence, extended graduation rate and high progress.

Single award winners were Marvista Elementary in Normandy Park, science; Gregory Heights Elementary in Burien, closing achievement gaps; and Southern Heights Elementary in Burien, high progress.

In the Tukwila district, Cascade View Elementary was honored for math.

Aviation, Global Connections, HS3, and Southern Heights also won 2011 Washington Achievement Awards.

The office of the state superintendent of public instruction issued a press release giving details about the awards:

A total of 381 schools (bit.ly/Z6ycWX) are receiving Washington Achievement Awards for 2012. Award-winning schools were notified today via email by State Superintendent Randy Dorn and State Board of Education Chair Jeff Vincent.

The Washington Achievement Awards (bit.ly/jrE77V), now in their fourth year, are sponsored by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Board of Education.

Award winners are selected using the state’s Achievement Index and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Flexibility Waiver (bit.ly/XGgkXz).

“We’re thrilled that the Achievement Awards have come to mean so much to schools and districts across the state,” Vincent said. “It’s important to us at the state level to ensure that our work benefits everyone, and the award and index do exactly that.”

Schools are being recognized for being top performers in seven categories:
Overall Excellence
Language Arts
Math
Science
Extended Graduation Rate (only awarded to high and comprehensive schools)
Closing Achievement Gaps
High Progress (Title I eligible or participating schools only)

This year the Washington Achievement Awards have been combined with the awards and accountability criteria in the ESEA Flexibility Waiver. The “High Progress” category replaces the “Improvement” category from previous years.

State Superintendent Dorn praised this new collaboration. “Schools and communities expect state and federal governments to work together on accountability,” he said. “We’re grateful that the Flexibility Waiver has given us a chance to align our accountability efforts with the federal government’s expectations. This will streamline both systems over time and provide a better picture of how our schools are doing.”

The award-winning schools will be honored during an award ceremony on April 30 at Kentwood High School in Covington, itself an award winner for “Math” and “Closing Achievement Gaps.”

About the awards

Washington’s School Achievement Index rates all schools according to specific outcomes and indicators from 2010 to 2012. The five outcomes are student performance in statewide assessments in reading, writing, math and science tests, as well as the school’s extended graduation rate, which includes those students who took longer than four years to graduate.

Those outcomes are each measured using four indicators:
achievement of students who are not from low-income families;
achievement of students who are from low-income families;
achievement of a school when compared to “peers” (schools with similar student characteristics, such as the percentage of students who have a disability, are learning English, are designated as gifted, come from low-income families, and are mobile); and
improvement in the achievement of all students combined from the previous year.

The average of the resulting 20 measures comprises the overall index.