Reedsport High School students recently received their semester grades.  Reedsport Schools also received report cards, but from a different source, the Oregon Department of Education.  All schools in the state are given ratings: unacceptable, low, satisfactory, strong or exceptional.  This year, all schools in the Reedsport School District received an overall satisfactory grade.  Highland and W.F. Jewett remained at satisfactory from the past few years, but the high school rating changed.  Mr. Yecha, superintendent, said, “The report card model is based on an expectation of continual improvement.  We dropped from a strong rating [in the high school] for the last two years to a satisfactory rating this year.  The drop in overall rating is mostly due to assessment scores staying about the same last year as opposed to improving over the previous two years.  Smaller schools, due to sample size are more prone to swings in data.”
     Schools are also accountable to the federal government according to the No Child Left Behind Act.  They are identified as meeting or not meeting their AYP (adequate yearly progress).  All Reedsport Schools met this goal.  The schools also were given exceptional school characteristics ratings  due to their test participation rates.  Other positives were the  high percentages of highly qualified teachers, as defined by the government, and the fact that there were no expulsions due to weapons. The number of students meeting or exceeding standards in Reedsport schools was mostly above other  schools with comparable demographics and close to the state average.
    In the high school,  the drop out rate was 1.4% compared to 6.6% two years before.  However, attendance was down slightly.  Reading Knowledge and Skills as well as Math Problem Solving were up from previous years at 64% and 69% of students meeting or exceeding the standards, which was above the average of comparable schools, though Math Knowledge and Writing were not improved. 
   Though this year's scores were satisfactory, there is still plenty of room for improvement.  All the schools' improvement ratings  stayed about the same.  This means that the percentage of students meeting the standards on the Statewide Assessments  and attendance has remained at about the same level.    To help improve Mr. Yecha said, "I feel the district and myself can encourage that staff, students and community [to] embark on a comprehensive review of improvement strategies that will create more  learning options and alternatives, challenge all students, promote high expectations, provide remediation and make school more fun."