Last modified: Sunday, September 9, 2007 3:54 AM PDT Local district beats the odds By Andy Gates - Argus Observer NYSSA - Don’t tell students in Nyssa they cannot overcome poverty, English language barriers, migratory challenges or homelessness, in order to achieve rigid academic standards and do well in school. These students are proving skeptics wrong. Nyssa’s three schools this year met federal and state standards for adequate yearly progress, or AYP. The federal No Child Left Behind Act requires states and their school districts meet AYP goals, so students will reach impressive academic standards by 2014. AYP standards increase annually, and as the bar continues to rise, some schools have consistently not made the grade. However that has not been the case in Nyssa. Nyssa schools have done well AYP-wise during the last five years — with two exceptions. During the 2002 to 2003 school year, the high school did not meet AYP goals, and during the 2004 to 2005 academic year, the middle school did not meet AYP benchmarks. Since then, it has been smooth sailing for the blue and white Bulldogs of Nyssa. The same cannot be said, however, for other school districts in Malheur County and throughout Oregon. One example comes from Ontario, where the middle school and high school have not met AYP for the last five years in a row. While the other Malheur County school districts of Vale and Adrian all met AYP goals this year, some nearby school districts in Idaho, like Fruitland, Payette and New Plymouth did not meet overall AYP goals last year. In Oregon, 74 percent of the state’s school districts met AYP, which was a 4 percent improvement from last year. Ontario School District officials have asserted “there are potentially problems with the (AYP) system.” A call to the Ontario School District office was not returned Friday. But, when it comes to the actual tests students take, which AYP is based on, important and necessary skills are drilled on the exam, Nyssa School District officials said. Sometimes a particular question on the state assessment tests can itself be questioned, Nyssa School District Superintendent Don Grotting said Friday. “But the actual content is good for all kids to know,” Grotting said. “There’s nothing on that test I would not want a child to know.” When Grotting began working with the Nyssa school system six to seven years ago, “our schools were failing,” he said. Nyssa’s population is estimated to be 65 percent Hispanic. Forty-five percent of the students in Nyssa have English as a second language issues, 70 to 80 percent of the children are living near the poverty line, 30 percent of the students are believed to be migratory and somewhere around 2 to 3 percent qualify as homeless. There are 348 students enrolled this year in the high school, 287 in the middle school and 585 in the elementary school, Grotting said. The school district receives $300,000 of federal Title I funding, which all goes to the elementary school. Title I funding has been reduced during the last three years, Grotting said. Two-thirds of the middle school is learning in 20-year-old modular facilities. The possibility of going out for a bond to provide “adequate facilities” is being explored by Nyssa school leaders. Grotting said new facilities could make a real difference in the future. “Just think what we could do in a better environment,” Grotting said. Not all students in Nyssa passed their state assessment tests, but enough did for the district and its schools to meet AYP standards. “We’ve got some areas we need to improve,” Grotting said, like the elementary school, which passed AYP, but still declined slightly from the previous year. While the focus can often center on AYP for a particular school district, Grotting said there other items that are important as well. “There’s some great things happening in schools that AYP doesn’t measure,” Grotting said. Grotting said AYP improvement is a continual process involving curriculum evaluation, scheduling and ascertaining if resources are being committed in the right areas. Also, accountability, and cooperation between everyone involved in a child’s education — from teachers, administrators and school boards, to students and parents — is key, he said. “The bottom line,” Grotting said, is “no excuses.” “Schools alone cannot do it,” Grotting said and there needs to be “some accountability from everyone.” Even though Nyssa School District officials say AYP success is not “rocket science,” they have implemented creative and compassionate programs that effectively bring parents into a child’s educational life. For example, there are student-led, parent-teacher conferences the first and third quarter of every year with a 99 percent participation rate — the district provides transportation, baby-sitting services and translators for parents so they can all participate. When parents cannot come to the school, meetings will be brought to their homes, Nyssa School District officials said. The school district completes the above initiatives, “to show we care about your children, and we need you to care about them also,” Grotting said. The school district Web site is also a testament to the Nyssa School District parent-involvement plan. For example, parents can use the Nyssa Library, if they do not have a computer, and learn how to access the Web to check their child’s class scores, progress and challenges in a timely manner. The Web site also has a Spanish-language option. There is more. Nyssa schools made it a priority to have small classes, extra tutorials, later sport practices and double bus runs, so students can stay later at school for extra help. A key scheduling change, from seven periods to eight in the high school, allows extra time for students to utilize tutoring, officials said, or to tack on electives, like an impressive array of college level classes. The students have three attempts to take the state assessment test for AYP and the state uses the best scores, Grotting confirmed. Nyssa’s school teachers do not wait for an autopsy report from the state stating the students did not make the grade. District leaders and teachers continually assess where students are at, throughout the three-point testing process. If students do not comprehend educational points, then teachers re-teach with different strategies and approaches so students can really learn, Grotting said. Students and teachers have instant feedback on the tests, so teachers can “dig in,” find trends and adjust teaching styles. There is “latitude,” Grotting said, to “making sure students know what they need to know to be successful on the test.” Students know about the goals they are trying to achieve on the state assessment tests, they are told to rest up and they get pumped up with juice and a snack. Their teachers tell them what scores they need and stress how important it is, Grotting said. “We have really great teachers who believe in kids and make kids believe in themselves,” Grotting said.