School district meets ISTAT testing goals

For the first time since the start of testing to meet federal educational standards, students in Boundary County School District have met the state’s goals.

Students did so after scoring high enough on the Idaho Standards Achievement Tests, or ISATs, in 41 areas.

“It’s the first year the whole school district made AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress),” said school district curriculum director Jan Bayer. “I really feel our teachers have done a superb job focusing their instruction.”

“I’m so proud of the kids and staff for doing so well,” added superintendent Dr. Don Bartling.

Under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001,  Idaho is required to calculate and report the Adequate Yearly Progress of every school based on the ISAT. The ISAT is the statewide standardized test the measures student performance in reading, mathematics and language usage in third, eighth and 10th grades. Students also take the Science ISAT tests in fifth, seventh and 10th grades.

For 2007-2008, reading and math goals were not met by the entire district. That was not the case in 2008-2009.

“I really feel our teachers do a wonderful job and they care about the students,” Bayer said.

Bonners Ferry High School last year fell below state standards, but rebounded with 87 percent of the students meeting the goal. The state requires that 70 percent meet goals.

“The math program has worked collaboratively in seventh through 12th grades to align curriculum to Idaho standards and we have a phenomenal teaching staff,” she said.

Districtwide, 99 percent of the students took the ISATs last year. Seventy percent of students needed to meet the reading and math goals. More than 89 percent met the reading goal and nearly 82 percent met the math goal.

The school district must meet all goals for two years in a row for the state to remove the district from alert status. If goals are met two years in a row, the status is removed.

“And then we have to maintain,” Bayer said.