LC ranks among top performers

A Texas-based education group has identified Lewis and Clark High School as one of the top 19 performing high schools in Washington.

The ranking is based on 10th-grade scores on the Washington Assessment for Student Learning in reading, math and writing from 2002, 2003 and 2004.

The nonprofit National Center for Educational Accountability, which is based in Austin, Texas, strives to promote higher student achievement.

This year, the NCEA collected data from 20 states and determined the top 19 performing high schools in each. Those schools were then asked if they’d be willing to be studied further, said Jimmy Nietzel, spokesman for the NCEA. Only seven willing schools will be studied.

Some schools don’t respond to the letters, he said.

“For a variety of reasons, some are willing to host us (like LC),” Nietzel said.

Nietzel said he couldn’t reveal the list of top-performing schools because the process of identifying seven willing schools has not yet been completed.

All day Wednesday and Thursday, an NCEA investigator met with school and district officials to explore why LC has been such a consistent high performer on the assessment test.

Lewis and Clark Principal Jon Swett has provided extensive documents to an NCEA researcher.

“When a school’s name emerges on one of our lists, it says very clearly the school has been able to achieve sustained high performance with their students across three years and across a variety of subjects,” Nietzel said. “They should be real proud.”

A story on LC should be posted on the NCEA site, www.nc4ea.org, by late spring.

Swett helped establish at the school an enrichment lab focused on math. Students who fall behind in math can opt for a math lab rather than an elective class. He also set up an after-school tutoring center that’s staffed by teachers.

Lewis and Clark also offers an extensive list of Advanced Placement classes.

Northwest Education, a magazine produced by the Northwest Regional Education Laboratory, profiled the high school in October. In 2003, Newsweek listed LC among the country’s top 4 percent – 631st in the country – of high schools based on student enrollment in AP classes. The top-ranked school in Washington was Bellevue High, at 13th in the Newsweek story.