Mt. Angel: Challenges – And more change

Mount Angel School District has three schools serving elementary, middle and high school students. Superintendent Troy Stoops says sweeping changes on the horizon.

1. The district is hiring a project manager and an architect who will be the guiding forces for the bond oversight committee. They $10.4 million bond was approved by voters in November.

2. The district will be implementing a new teacher and principal evaluation model.

3. The state requires a new state testing program this year. Developed by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, the new tests, per SBAC’s website, are “a system of valid, reliable, and fair next-generation assessments aligned to the Common Core State Standards.”

“Traditionally, students have had the opportunity each year to take each test up to three times to pass,” Stoops said. “Next year you get one chance in each subject area to be tested on the new curriculum.”

4. The school district is “right in the thick of” adopting and implementing the new, statewide Common Core curriculum standards, which must be implemented by the end of this year. Next year staff and students will be assessed on the new curriculum in the new way.

“We’re putting a pretty hefty evaluation process in place while they’re also in the process of adopting new standards and implementing them in the classrooms,” Stoops said. “You have to find the time and the funds, because it requires training; it requires practice…”

5. Significant resources will be needed to implement new graduation requirements.

“We’re seeing increasing levels of students who are more at risk and need more help,” Stoops said. “This creates the need to provide interventions to help those kids meet those new graduation requirements. Whenever you have a large number of students in their senior year needing to meet those areas, the necessary remediation, interventions and time require a lot of resources that a lot of districts are having a hard time coming up with,” Stoops said.