By RAELYNN RICARTE
News staff writer

Three schools in Hood River County received at least one inadequate performance rating for 2008-09 under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Westside Elementary School failed to reach 60 percent proficiency in basic math and reading skills for low-income, Hispanic and disabled students.

Wy’east Elementary School did not meet the benchmark in math skills for disabled students.

Hood River Valley High School failed to get enough Hispanic, low-income and disabled students to achieve state standards.

The ratings for Hood River Middle School were satisfactory but the facility is still on the “troubled list” because of low marks last year.

Cascade Locks elementary and high schools both adequately met the learning needs of all student groups. Also adhering to the guidelines were Dos Mundos at Westside School, May Street Elementary School, Mid Valley Elementary School, Parkdale Elementary School and Pine Grove Elementary School.

The report of Oregon schools’ compliance with NCLB was released on Tuesday. The results were no surprise to Terri Vann, director of instruction and special programs for the Hood River County School District.

She said a preliminary report was issued this spring to show how schools were faring with NCLB requirements. She said administrators were allowed to review the data and suggest corrections if discrepancies were noted. For that reason, she said HRMS did not end up on the list of schools with lower ratings.

She will brief the school board on Wednesday about the NCLB report issued this week by Oregon State Schools Superintendent Susan Castillo. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the school administration building, 1020 Montello Ave.

Vann said the county has many impoverished families, which creates some instructional challenges for educators.

She said 50 percent of the student population is on the free or reduced lunch program. Because of high poverty levels, extra Title 1 federal funds are granted to Pine Grove, Parkdale and Mid Valley schools.

“I’m really, really impressed with the fact that, with the number of English as a Second Language and economically disadvantaged kids here, we did as well as we did,” said Vann.

She said the district is taking the need to improve its NCLB standards very seriously, and that the framework was put in place this spring to focus more attention on student groups that need to improve skills.

To create more collaboration time for teachers, the district has taken two full days of in-service for 2009-10 and divided them into two-hour early release days.

Added to the existing schedule, this will provide 12 early-release days for Learning Teams to network and share effective instructional practices.

Vann said the teams will also spend early-release time analyzing student work. She said educators will provide struggling students with extra support to help them overcome any learning hurdles.

The teams will write common assessments and work together to align curriculum. Their goal is to ensure that students are assessed on what they have been taught and that what they have been taught aligns with state standards.

This is the seventh year that every public school in America has been rated under the NCLB law. For schools that receive Title 1 funding, the ratings can drastically affect their financial status.

Title 1 schools that miss federal targets two years in a row must provide students with the opportunity to transfer — via free bus rides — to a high-performing school within the district. In addition, administrators must report to state overseers what they are doing to improve instructional practices.

Vann said HRVHS has failed to meet federal math and reading guidelines for Hispanic, poor and disabled students during the past four years. She said the school does not receive Title 1 money so is not subject to sanctions — but the district is still working to remedy the situation.

Under NCLB, targets ratchet up every few years, with 100 percent of minority, ESL, poor and disabled students required to pass basic math and reading tests in 2014.