Over 1,700 schools across the state were evaluated by the Arizona Department of Education, receiving report cards last week grading them from A-F. Though none of Camp Verde Unified School District’s three main schools received top marks, the district did see some small gains compared to last year.
Camp Verde Elementary School and Camp Verde High School both remained steady at C grades. But Camp Verde Middle School’s C grade for the 2017-2018 school year displays improvement compared to the previous year, when it got a D.
CVMS Principal Danny Howe, who also serves as Administrator-In-Charge for the whole of CVUSD, welcomed the improvement, but also downplayed the importance of these Department of Education grades in the administration’s view of educational achievement.
“I felt like we should have been that all along,” Howe said of CVMS’ C grade. “I was shocked by the D. We always want to do better. They come out with the grades, and then they don’t explain the algorithm that leads to the grades.”
“No matter what the grade is, we use that to help us,” Howe said. “We’re constantly looking for ways to improve. Even if we got an A, we’d look for ways of improvement.”
South Verde High School, CVUSD’s online learning academy, did receive that F, after not having had enough data to even be graded the previous year. SVHS administrators have spoken of the need to pull the school out of what they concede is a significant hole, and are optimistic by the signs of improvement they have seen this year. The school’s enrollment has increased compared to last year, though at a 36 average it still falls below the 40 needed for the school to break even financially.
“There’s just good momentum, there’s good things going on,” CVUSD Business Manager Steve Hicks said of SVHS. “We’ve got long ways to go and a lot of room for improvement. It seems like we’re improving.”
Mark Showers, who took over this year as new principal for CVHS, is hopeful that with new leadership the school can see better grades in the coming years.
“We have a C, so obviously we’re going to do what we can to improve that C,” Showers said. We’ve established a leadership team on the campus of the different department heads and we’re looking at the type of students we have coming into the school, at the classes and things that we offer, and of course how we can we can make the classes more rigorous and move students to a higher level. A lot of that depends on your community and the situation.”
Beaver Creek School has faced a more disappointing grade from the Department of Education evaluations. Whereas last year the Rimrock kindergarten-to-eighth grade school received a C grade, it was lowered this year to a D.
“Beaver Creek School District staff is disappointed to see that our letter grade has gone down from last year,” Superintendent Karin Ward wrote in an email. “Yet our scores have an upward trajectory over the last several years.”
Ward argued that the school’s downgrade was caused by a combination in changes to how the state assesses science test scores, and changes in curriculum over the past few years that the district believes will pay long-term dividends in improved proficiency and growth, but have not shown up yet in AZMerit testing.
“Although the Arizona testing and grading is important, it is only one snapshot of the school as a whole,” Ward wrote. She highlighted the district’s additional evaluation by Advance Education, an outside education-focused nonprofit that assesses schools, and accredited Beaver Creek School in 2015. “The accreditation shows that Beaver Creek School continues to move forward committed to helping each and every student who comes through the doors of the school.”
Jon Hecht can be reached at 634-8551, or email jhecht@larsonnewspapers.com
