Hetloff Middle School tells Clover Park board student voice drove new interventions amid lower-than-average test scores

Principal Cindy Adams presented Hetloff Middle School's annual report to the Clover Park School District board on Jan. 12, telling members that the school serves a predominantly low-income and multilingual population and has adopted a mix of instructional and social-emotional strategies to lift achievement.

Adams said 77.2% of students qualify for low-income supports, 25.3% are multilingual learners and 18.7% receive special education services. "At Hetloff, we believe that a strong educational foundation begins with shared values and collaborative beliefs," she said, and added that the school's growth targets include achieving "55% or greater student progress growth in both reading and math." She also reported that sixth- and eighth-grade proficiency on Smarter Balanced assessments did not meet the state average.

To address those gaps, Adams described steps teachers and staff have taken: implementing Building Thinking Classrooms in math, expanding peer-to-peer discussion, integrating STAR benchmark data with classroom assessments, and using PLCs (professional learning communities) to analyze data and refine instruction. She said the school leans on three strategic elements—academic achievement, family engagement and social-emotional learning—supported by multi-tier systems of support and universal design for learning.

Adams credited student input for shaping interventions. When asked by Director Gallagher what students requested, Adams said they asked for extra time with their teachers rather than after-school tutoring, which led to a shortened "Workshop Wednesday" dedicated to interventions, small-group work and extensions. "They wanted it from their teachers," Adams said of students' preference for in-class supports.

She highlighted student leadership and real-world learning through a student-created Snack Shack, which involved planning, budgeting and stakeholder engagement. Superintendent Banner praised the students' "perseverance" and the district video series that featured student work.

In questions from board members, Adams explained that staff are working to make classroom routines more consistent (for example, a common "first 15 minutes") and to provide wait-time and formative structures so multilingual learners can better formulate responses. When Director Kim asked about extracurricular participation, Adams estimated roughly 10% participation in after-school clubs for ML students and about 3–4% participation in sports for students receiving services, noting those figures as approximations.

The presentation concluded with the school's continuing goals to increase family engagement and student voice and to sustain growth in reading, math and science.