District assessment staff presented the Battle Ground School District’s annual assessment update to the board on Oct. 27, tying local test results to district strategic goals and highlighting areas for continued focus.

"We're going to drill down on three of the measurable objectives under high quality instruction," said David (identified at the meeting as executive director of school improvement), who opened the presentation and linked the reported measures to the district strategic plan.

Key figures presented to the board included Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA/WA‑CAST) summary rates and related metrics: district results reported on the public state scale (levels 2–4) were 71.1% for English language arts (ELA), 64.4% for math and 66.4% for science. The district's traditional level‑3‑and‑4 (college‑ready) comparisons showed improvement year‑over‑year in those higher bands, staff said.

Lacey Marcelic, district assessment coordinator, reported that spring 2025 state testing recorded 46 test incidents that led to 18 invalidations — a marked decrease from the prior year’s 137 incidents and 19 invalidations. "I believe this to be a connection to our safe and caring environment that the district has been building towards," David said.

Graduation and pathways: The district reported a preliminary four‑year graduation rate of 78.4% for 2024–25; presenters noted the figure is preliminary pending final state verification. Staff emphasized multiple pathways to graduation were growing: 692 students met a CTE (career‑and‑technical‑education) pathway in 2024–25, 183 twelfth‑grade students participated in Running Start (48 of whom earned an AA), and 70 students met graduation pathways through AP course credit. David said the district recorded an 8% increase in students meeting graduation pathways over the previous year.

Advanced Placement and world language testing: The district reported 639 AP test takers who combined to take 996 AP exams last year; 696 exams (roughly 70%) scored 3 or higher. World language testing served multilingual students: 140 students tested across 14 languages in 2024–25, with 132 students earning at least one credit, 77 earning four credits, and 66 students earning a Seal of Biliteracy.

Presenters also described kindergarten screening (WA‑Kids), which staff use to plan early interventions. David and Lacey cautioned that WA‑Kids measures readiness at the start of kindergarten and is descriptive of incoming readiness rather than instructional impact. They reported 62.8% of incoming kindergarteners met the district’s readiness threshold, and staff analyzed the cohort link to later third‑grade outcomes.

Board discussion: Directors asked staff to identify slides that best show progress against the district’s three strategic goals. Board members and presenters discussed interpretation of SBA trends — district results are similar to statewide performance and to other states using the Smarter Balanced suite, staff said — and the board urged continued focus on curriculum alignment, teacher collaboration (PLCs) and use of interim SBA assessments to increase student familiarity with the test.

Ending

The board asked to receive school improvement plans in coming weeks and scheduled follow‑up review work beginning in December. Staff said school improvement plan documents will include explicit notes about prior year goals and results to improve transparency for the board.