Annual School Report

Students and staff on the playground at Clark

Welcome:

Clark Elementary is home to a warm, welcoming, and engaging community as a result of involved parents, community members, and a deeply invested staff. Together, we provide a highly enriched and purposeful learning environment that greatly enhances our students’ experiences. Our community is committed to working together in order to make a meaningful difference in the life of every child we serve.

Principal 2022-23 School Year:

Christy Otley

2022-23 School Year

To review the Issaquah School District 2022-2023 budget details and more, please visit the annual district report. The Issaquah School District believes in seeking continual feedback from a broad and diverse range of constituents regarding their experiences with the District and their neighborhood schools. See theReports and Surveys Website for more information and survey results.

Demographic Data

Grades: K-5
Enrollment: 579

Data from the Office of the Superintendent of Instruction (OSPI)

State testing is required by Washington State (RCW 28A.230.095) and federal law. The federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), enacted in 1965, is the nation’s national education law and shows a longstanding commitment to equal opportunity for all students. On December 10, 2015 President Obama reauthorized ESEA as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). These state and federal laws result in elementary students being regularly tested by the State to assess their progress as they move through school. State tests at the elementary level which fulfill the federal Every Student Succeeds Act include the following:

Smarter Balanced Assessments (SBA):
- English Language Arts (ELA) (3-5)
- Math (3-5)
Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science (WCAS):
- Science test (5)

Teacher Experience Data

Highlights

Clark Elementary serves a vibrant and diverse community with a strong, committed staff and a dynamic approach to learning. We embrace our city’s community and strive to create strong partnerships between our school and families. These supportive relationships are the heart of our community.

Clark Elementary is committed to creating an inclusive and equitable community in which all individuals participate. We believe that diversity is essential to achieving educational and academic excellence and that students’ learning experiences are benefited by the diversity of the curriculum, faculty, and student body.

Our students strive to be safe, kind, and productive each day. We are committed to creating a safe and nurturing environment for students. At Clark, we actively cultivate respectful, supportive relationships among students, teachers, and parents. We encourage students to adopt a growth mindset that motivates them to set goals and work to achieve them.

We provide regular opportunities for students to experience leadership, service, and cooperation. Students learn the skills of collaboration, develop wider and richer relationships, and experience the many benefits of contributing to the well-being of others.

Clark benefits from strong community support. Parents are actively involved in the life of our school as they volunteer countless hours to support student learning, including our robust Art Docent program. We are fortunate to have partnerships with PTA, Issaquah Schools Foundation, Issaquah High School, VOICE, and volunteers from Costco. These partnerships provide school grants, mentoring for students, academic support, relationship building, and one-on-one reading interventions.

Our staff is committed to continual professional growth. As a staff, we have focused our learning on Universal Design for Instruction (UDL), classroom management strategies for diverse learners, culturally responsive teaching, multi-tiered systems of support, wellbeing, and the latest in instructional technology, including teaching and learning through virtual platforms and technology integration.

Additionally, our teachers engage in continuing education. Staff members have attended additional training in ways to support English Language Learners, differentiating instruction, new ways of delivering curriculum, technology platforms, and behavior and academic interventions.

What's New

Clark was able to maintain the incredible systems we have in place to support students including Clark coins and school-wide celebrations, competitions to help encourage and celebrate progress with i-Ready (reading and math), Great Kid celebrations with the principal, and others.

Clark Coins are used to reinforce positive behavior throughout the building. The coins tie in nicely with our School-Wide Expectations of Be Safe, Be Kind, and Be Productive. This year we have added golden Clark coins to encourage being safe. Staff and students are continually working hard to fill the puzzle to earn class rewards as well as whole school rewards. We have also implemented lunchtime Clark coins where kids can earn rewards such as free seating to help encourage and motivate students to follow expectations.

Improving Student Achievement

Clark has a focused goal of improving student achievement in math. This year Clark teachers are specifically examining instruction practices on both Tier 1 and Tier 2 levels. On a Tier 1 level, teachers are implementing curriculum maps that reflect the standards and specific needs of our students. All staff analyzed i-Ready data this winter to determine specific Tier 1 instructional goals. On a Tier 2 level, all teachers are continuing their focus on small group instruction, focusing on goal setting and growth mindset in math. The needs for small group instruction have been based on various assessments including numbers and operations common assessment i-Ready data and Eureka grade level assessments as well. All teachers received comprehensive training on the use and purpose of i-Ready as well as support in how to use it in targeted small groups. Every grade level team had individualized professional development on math instruction and design. Our Title services are now supporting math interventions as well as reading.

Special Programs

The curriculum at Clark Elementary School includes a variety of unique opportunities. These special programs add to the general programs found throughout the district. Examples of additional curriculum programming at Clark include the Science & Technology (“SciTech”) Magnet Program, and Second Step for Social Emotional Learning (including lessons on bullying prevention, problem solving strategies, and emotion regulation),, SAGE (Special Approach to Gifted Education), and the Learning Assistant Program (Title 1/LAP) for reading and math development. Our PTA supports an art docent program which delivers monthly art lessons to each class.

Before/After

Our school district has a tuition-based program at Clark called Shark Club (BASC: Before and After School Care). In addition, we typically offer a variety of extracurricular activities through PTA and teacher-led clubs. However, this year due to Covid, we were only able to offer choir. We are excited for next year so we can offer all of our activities to Clark students.

State Testing

Two tests given to elementary school students—The Smarter Balanced Assessment and the Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science help indicate how well Issaquah students are learning.

Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA)

The SBA consists of two parts: a computer adaptive test and a performance task. Writing is included at every grade level and students are asked to solve multi-step, real-world problems in math. Performance tasks ask students to determine an array of research, writing, and problem solving skills. The SBA results describe student achievement (how much students know at the end of the year).

The Grade Level Total ELA and Grade Level Total Math charts on the right-hand side of the page indicate the percent of students in third, fourth, and fifth grade who met or exceeded standard in ELA and Math on the SBA compared to the percent of students who met or exceeded standard in ELA and Math district-wide.

SBA English Language Arts (ELA) scores

SBA Math scores

Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science (WCAS)

The WCAS fulfills the federal requirement that students be tested in Science once at the elementary level. The WCAS measures the level of proficiency students have achieved (what students know and can do) based on the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The WCAS assesses all three dimensions of the learning standards (Science and Engineering Practices, Disciplinary Core Ideas, and Crosscutting Concepts). The numbers on the chart represent the percentage of students in grade 5 who met or exceeded standard on the NGSS compared to the percentage of students in grade 5 who met or exceeded standard district-wide.

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