May 2012 Preliminary student assessment data was made available to school districts throughout the State on May 16th. 100% of Unalaska’s 10th grade students passed the Mathematics portion of the High School Graduation Qualifying Exam (HSGQE). The 10th grade class also achieved 97% proficiency in Reading and 93% proficiency in Writing on the HSGQE. All 11th and 12th grade students passed the HSGQE re-takes. 10th grade students who have not passed the HSGQE will have four more opportunities to re-take the exam prior to their graduation. Students in grades 3-10 completed the Standards Based Assessments (SBAs). These students achieved combined proficiency rates of 94.4% in Reading, 92% in Writing, and 91.6% in Mathematics. Students in grades 4, 8, and 10 also took the Science SBA and achieved proficiencies of 66.6%, 87.5% and 87.5% respectively. Once the data is entered into the Department of Education and Early Development’s (EED) Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) formula later this summer, it is likely that Unalaska’s scores will exceed the Annual Measurable Objectives (AMOs) for 2011-2012 of 88.58% for Language Arts and 83.05% for Mathematics. Schools must exceed the AMOs for all 31 sub-categories of students in order to qualify for AYP. EED is formally requesting flexibility from the federal Department of Education to “freeze” Alaska’s AMOs at the 2010-2011 level: 82.88% for language arts and 74.57% for math. If this request is denied, the AMOs will rise next year to 94.28% in language arts and 91.53% for math, and rise again for the 2013-2014 school year to 100% for both language arts and math. All of Unalaska’s students deserve to be congratulated for the determination and perseverance they exhibited during testing week. Teachers, principals, instructional aides and support staff are commended for the excellent on-going preparation provided to students in the weeks and months prior to the assessments and during that stressful week of testing. “Thank you!” to the parents, grandparents and other adults who provided encouragement and support to our young people as they prepared for, and completed, these important exams. It was clearly a “Blue Ribbon” effort on everyone’s part! This evening we bid farewell to our student representative, Bianca Barrera. Bianca’s exceptional intellect and insightful contributions have kept us all on our toes this year! Best of luck to you Bianca as you embark on your next adventure at Columbia University in the Fall!
John Conwell, Superintendent | 
