Each year the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) grades every school in the state on its performance on AzMerit standardized testing. This year, Winslow’s Bonnie Brennan Elementary School received the ADE’s highest rating of “A.” This is the first Winslow school to receive that designation.
Winslow Unified School District Superintendent Cyndie Mattox explained, “The letter grades are given to schools with students in third through eleventh grade. So for us that is Bonnie Brennan, Washington Elementary, the junior high and high school. Students are tested in English Language Arts (ELA) and math. The schools are rated based on student proficiency in each of those subjects, as well as the growth shown by students over the course of the school year.”
Last year, according to Mattox, Bonnie Brennan was only a couple of percentage points away from being an “A” school. “This year,” she said, “they knew they could do it and they did. You can see how our ELA proficiency went up and that is impressive because for years, it was our math that was higher. So, we concentrated as a district on ELA and that has paid off. I think these teachers really just buckled down. They are really good about organizing their lessons and their content.”
Bonnie Brennan Principal Troy McReynolds added, “We are excited. A lot of people think it can’t be done because of the socio-economics of Winslow. The word here is intention. Our teachers teach intentionally. They focus and make education important to the kids. Our attendance went up and we really talked about how important this was.
The key here is to build relationships with the kids,” he said. “We have teachers in this building that do that so well. Their students love them so much that they will do just about anything for them, including buckle down to score higher and to show up for their education. We have great kids and we have really good parent involvement too.”
McReynolds concluded, “The reward for a thing well done is to have done it. Ralph Waldo Emerson said that and I repeat it all the time. We did it and now we have to do it again.”
The other schools in the district were also issued a letter grade. Winslow Junior High School experienced a jump in their designation over last year as well, with a “B.”
Mattox said, “The junior high being a “B” school is also impressive. Their math scores went up so much and their growth points also rose significantly. They have so much to be proud of. I will tell you that Deb (Principal Lopez) and her staff love what they do, and I believe that that spreads. They are all on the same page and the moral is amazing.”
Winslow High School received a rating of “C,” which was last year’s rating as well. However, according to Mattox, “They deserved a “B” rating.” She explained, “There was an important report that was not uploaded to Arizona Department of Education this last summer. We plan on appealing the designation because the report has been completed. The ADE may not accept the appeal because of their guidelines. If they do accept the appeal and all the hard work done by staff and students last year, including the report, they would be a “B” school.”
Washington Elementary, which services fifth and sixth grade students, was designated a “D” school. Mattox said, “We are very concerned by this, however, rest assured that our school has been actively working hard to address areas of improvement. We have reconfigured our learning practices and have made a strong commitment with big changes in the school.”
She continued, “We have always had ‘B,’ ‘C’, and even ‘D’ schools. We have been on what is called ‘improvement status’ where we would have specialists from the ADE come out. The Elevate program has really upped our game and affected us in great ways. They work for the ADE and are funded by grants so they don’t cost the district anything, but they are so helpful. They know what they’re doing with giving us feedback. Recently, they have met with students and teachers to get their opinions on the district. They offer teacher trainings. There is so much support and help available for us through Elevate.”
Elevate is a program by the ADE to help improve schools all over the state. “We were able to get the junior high and Washington Elementary involved in the program as well because we foresaw their scores. Sal Hernandez at Washington School, because he has already been a part of the Elevate program, has already started improving. He has already shown growth this school year over last. They already have improvement plans in place and under way. He has a great team of motivated young teachers that are working together to create their vision. They will not be a ‘D’ school next year. He will have a community meeting and will present to the board what his plans are. He is really being proactive.”
These letter ratings are based on standardized testing done in the spring semester each year. “We can’t wait to see what happens next year,” Mattox said.
