The state is honoring Kalama Elementary School for closing achievement gaps and demonstrating achievement in specific areas during the 2022-2023 school year.
The acknowledgement comes as part of the Washington School Recognition Program, an initiative by the State Board of Education (SBE), the Educational Opportunity Gap Oversight and Accountability Committee (EOGOAC), and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI).
“I am very pleased to share that Kalama Elementary School is being recognized for closing gaps for one or more targeted support student groups and high growth in math proficiency rate, high ELA (English Language Arts) and Math SGPs (student growth percentiles) by one or more student groups…” wrote State Board of Education Executive Director Randy Spaulding, in an email to Kalama Elementary leadership. “Recognized schools like yours make great strides to improve outcomes for students by closing gaps and showing tremendous growth and achievement. This recognition is overdue, and we are thrilled to now be able to honor Washington schools like yours.”
Billina Dolezal, Kalama Elementary School principal, credited both students and staff for making positive strides in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our staff and students have really worked hard to come back from COVID learning loss,” she said. “Our teachers at Kalama Elementary work hard to get to know each individual student and their learning needs, and this recognition is a direct result of that.”
The state recognition includes detailed methodologies and definitions, which can be found on the SBE’s methodology webpage. An Excel spreadsheet listing all recognized schools and the specifics of their achievements is also available.
Program achievement banners will be delivered to the school later this summer.
Congratulations to Kalama Elementary School for this well-deserved recognition and for their inspiring work in supporting student success!
