Notes from The Reach for ESF

Far be it for us to turn down an invitation to sample wines Thursday, so we accepted and joined supporters of local schools at The Reach for the Enumclaw Schools Foundation (ESF) at Sip City Wines in order to learn more about what the organization has been up to.

For those who aren't aware, ESF is a non-profit organization that is a philanthropic partner with the Enumclaw School District. Its fundraising efforts have benefitted Enumclaw schools in many ways, including:

• providing enrichment and innovation grants of up to $2,500 to district teachers to enhance student learning
• Supporting Josten's leadership training for high school students
• Co-sponsoring
• Funding scholarships for children to attend and giving them a good foundation to enter elementary school the followingyear

New -- or at least new to Patch -- was ESF's Springboard Curriculum, currently an accredited pre-AP English course made available to all middle school students to prepare them for high school success.

We asked Superintendent Mike Nelson more about the curriculum and he said the hope is, in part, to encourage students when they enter high school to pursue further advanced placement classes.

Those interested in hearing more might check out the next School Board workshop on Monday, November 7, he said.

Kudos to EMS!

Our chat segued into news this week that has been recognized as a School of Distinction by several educational organizations (read more).

Nelson said the award recognizes outstanding improvement over a course of several years (2006-2011) and is a reflection of all the hard work that teachers and staff have put in.

We just happened this week to have asked Terry Parker, the director of curriculum, instruction and assessment at the district, for more details about what we heard were Enumclaw's strongest across-the-board trend of improvement over the last eight years of standardized tests this year, and we have some specific highlights about Enumclaw Middle School to share:

• The 7th Grade Measurements of Student Progress (MSP) math scores were at 74%, which is the highest school score, and 17.1% above state average and the highest above state ever.
• The 8th Grade MSP reading scores were at 83.3%, which is the highest school score, and 14.7% above state average and the highest above state ever.
• The 8th Grade MSP science scores were at 76.7%, which is the highest school score, and 15.2% above the state average.
• The 8th Grade End-of-Course (EOC) Algebra 1 scores were at 68.1% on the high school level state graduation math requirement.
• The 8th Grade EOC Geometry scores were at 11/11 or 100% on high school level state graduation math requirement.

A Community Event

The wine tasting also gave us an opportunity to catch up with again. As the new director of , she chatted with us about the possibilities of social media as a means to help promote the organization's resources and work.

Johna Thomson, PTSO president at Thunder Mountain Middle School and Black Diamond resident talked with us more about the Black Diamond City Council races. Be sure to see the excellent coverage of those races on The Reporter.

And then we ran into Jim Barchek, who serves on the Board of Directors at ESF and also on the Library Board. He confirmed for us that long-time Enumclaw city librarian is planning to retire at the end of the year, which was mentioned at Wednesday's as well. We were sad to hear that but haven't been able to reach Baer yet.

More Information:

To get the latest news from the district, be sure to check out its website at enumclaw.wednet.edu and of course, tune into Patch.

To learn more about the ESF, write to enumclawschoolsfoundation@gmail.com or visit www.enumclawschoolsfoundation.org.