Crestview Heights School ranked in the top third of the state's schools according to the Oregon Department of Education's annual report card for 2008-09.

The report card measures students' academic mastery through annual benchmark testing in reading and math in grades three through eight and 10th grade. Some grade levels are tested in science and writing, although the scores are used for assessment and do not count toward a school's overall rating.

"It's the result of a skilled and highly dedicated staff," said Crestview principal Mary Schaer of her schools outstanding rating.

Crestview received a satisfactory grade in the previous three years since it opened in 2005.

Schaer, who is in her second year as principal, says after reviewing data last year from comparable schools, she realized there was considerable room for improvement -- a point driven home by Crestview's failure in 2007-08 school year to meet Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) standards set by the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Tracking students with regular reading assessments and giving those falling behind additional reading time was key in bringing up scores, Schaer said.

In addition to continuing reading interventions, Crestview is working to improve writing scores by 40 percent and increase special education students' scores in math and reading by 20 percent.

No Child Left Behind gives schools until 2014 to have 100 percent of students meeting proficiency standards.

"You have to have a pretty large goal each year to meet that," Schaer said.

The 2008-09 report card includes two changes made by the state legislature to increase accountability of schools and ensure consistency in which schools are being identified as needing improvement: a growth model and simplified rating scale.

The new growth model measures student learning over time to demonstrate whether schools are helping students make progress toward meeting state achievement standards.

The new report card also simplifies school's overall rating to just three categories: outstanding, satisfactory and needs improvement. Previously, schools had been identified as exceptional, strong, satisfactory, low, or unacceptable.

The state takes into account attendance, percentage of students participating in testing, graduation rate and improvement along with test scores when determining a school's rating.

Students have the opportunity to take the Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (OAKS) three times throughout the school year, with the best of three score used in both the Oregon report card and the AYP report.

The Oregon report cards give educators a more detailed view of how well students are doing than the AYP report.

"This is much more thorough. All the same academic data is used for students, only this one is analyzed much more closely and is much more geared toward individual student growth," said Sandi Williams, LCSD curriculum, instruction and assessment administrator. "It's a much better depiction on how schools are really doing with students."

Lincoln County schools showed a marked improvement in the number of students meeting test standards compared to the previous year.

Eighty-four percent of third-graders passed the reading test, equaling the state average.

In math, third, four, fifth, sixth and seventh graders were either just slightly below the state average or, as in the case of grades three and four, exceeded it. Sixty-two percent of students in grade eight passed the exam, compared to 72 percent statewide. Forty-eight percent of 10th-graders passed, below the state average of 55 percent.

With the exception of eighth grade math, which fell by three percent, the number of students meeting benchmarks in reading and math climbed between one and seven percentage points across the board.

District officials attribute the continued increase in students meeting state standards to a focus on reading and math curriculum started three years. A strategy they say helps students do better in all their classes.

"If you can't read at grade level or do math at grade level, you're going to have a hard time passing social studies and science," said Joe Novello, federal programs administrator for the district.

Through a series of ongoing assessments, teachers can identify students' strengths and weaknesses and provide intervention for underperforming and students meeting or exceeding goals.

"It isn't just when the kid reaches the goal we're done with them," Novello said. "Every kid needs to grow, and every kid has a target that addresses where they're currently at and where the potential is for them to go."

Crestview Heights and Sam Case School in Newport received the outstanding rating for the first time. Isaac Newton Magnet School, also in Newport, has achieved a top rating for the past several years.

Taft High School dropped from a satisfactory rating in 2007-08 to needs improvement. Novello said he expects changes made last year in how Taft delivers instruction to pay off in big improvements in student benchmarking testing this year.

Ten Lincoln County schools received satisfactory ratings, including Waldport High School. Siletz Valley Early College Academy and Lincoln City Career Tech High School were not rated because their small student population size provides insufficient data for statistical analyses.

Just 34 percent of Oregon schools received an outstanding rating. Sixty-one percent received a satisfactory rating, and 5 percent ranked as needing improvement. A total of 117 schools did not receive a rating.

Ninety-eight percent of LCSD teachers met the educational and experience requirements to be rated as highly qualified, four points better than the state average.

When it comes to dollars reaching the classroom, the LCSD beat the state average by about $500 per student. A number Novello said he expects will increase despite budget cuts this year.

"I am thrilled with the direction in which our district is moving," said LCSD Superintendent Tom Rinearson. "Continuous improvement is our guiding philosophy, and we have improved significantly over last year's results.

All district schools have a school improvement plan posted on their websites showing how they intend to increase student performance. Parents should receive a copy of the school report card by the winter break. The district has posted a link to the report card on its website at www.lincoln.k12.or.us. Parents can look at their student's individual results on the OAKS testing by contacting school administrators.