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Idlewild Elementary principal outlines academic gaps, equity goals and intervention strategy
Summary
Idlewild Elementary Principal Sherry Warwick presented school data showing lower-than-state-average proficiency in third-grade ELA and math, outlined a three-part school action plan focused on academics, family engagement and social-emotional learning, and set growth targets for June 2025.
Idlewild Elementary Principal Sherry Warwick told the Clover Park School District board on Feb. 10 that the school has seen declines in state assessment proficiency since the COVID-19 pandemic and set specific growth goals for the 2024–25 school year.
"Our mission is to nurture inquiring, knowledgeable, and compassionate students who are ready to positively impact the world," Warwick said, introducing the school's International Baccalaureate program and the school's focus on equity and inclusion.
Warwick said Idlewild's third-grade students in 2024 scored about 10 percentage points lower than the state average in English language arts and about 13.9 percentage points lower in math on the Smarter Balanced Assessment. The school showed a 7 percentage-point third-grade growth from 2023 to 2024, and Warwick said the staff are targeting further gains through the school's annual action plan (SAP).
Idlewild's SAP emphasizes three strategic areas: academics, family engagement and social-emotional learning. Academic steps include professional development in balanced-math practices and joint grade-level professional learning communities and MTSS (multi-tiered systems of support) meetings to align tiered interventions with classroom instruction. Warwick said the school started balanced-math professional development this winter and highlighted number-sense work as a priority.
On family engagement, Warwick said the school aims to raise parent survey participation from 14% to 50% and described outreach events, open houses and advisory sessions intended to increase two-way communication. On social-emotional learning, the school is expanding restorative practices, Second Step and Character Strong curricula and is using community circles and staff morning meetings to support regulation and student voice.
Warwick also described demographic and program statistics: 57.3% of Idlewild students qualify as low income and nearly 18% are served in special education programs. She noted work to increase access to general-education settings for students in self-contained programs and to track time in general-education classrooms as part of inclusion efforts.
Board members who asked questions praised the school's inclusion work and sought clarifications about recruitment and outreach to better reflect district demographics. Warwick said Idlewild accepts open transfers when space allows and welcomed follow-up discussions on targeted recruitment.
Principal Warwick said staff will continue to monitor progress through benchmarks (Renaissance/STAR and core phonics assessments) and report growth metrics to the district as the SAP is implemented.
