Beachwood Elementary Takes On Challenges to Help Students Achieve

Education is ever-evolving, but at Beachwood Elementary School, everything, from the staff to the student body, can change on a daily basis.

In his State of the School address at Monday’s Clover Park School Board meeting, second-year principal Josh Zarling spoke frankly about his school’s successes and the challenges it faces, primarily due to slow growth in student achievement and the school’s location.

Beachwood, on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, has 433 students, including 14 English Language Learners and 19 in special education.

The school’s motto is “connecting, growing, learning and succeeding together,” but Zarling admits that achieving those things is not always easy on a military base, where enrollment is constantly changing.

“The dilemma is that we have a lot of students at Beachwood who weren’t here last year,” he said.

Among the school’s achievements, Beachwood made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), a measurement defined by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, last year; the school has what Zarling calls powerful teaching and learning practices and collaborative unit planning.

And, especially of note, he said, Beachwood has closed its achievement gap.

Among continually enrolled students (those in school from Oct. 1 to the date of state testing), the school’s white students are actually performing at a lower standard than its minorities, namely the African-American students.

“They’re all doing well,” Zarling clarified. “Otherwise they wouldn’t have made AYP.”

Zarling said that the staff has been working to learn methods for instruction of a growing number of autistic students and that 10 teachers are currently getting training.

Families on base have the choice to take their children with exceptional needs to Madigan Army Medical Center, so many of them attend nearby elementary schools, such as Beachwood and Evergreen.

“The impacts on education and behavior … Every student is very different,” he said.

Regarding the Measurements for Student Progress (MSP) state test results, Zarling said that while third-grade math scores are down from 2008-09, students are up in reading. At the fifth-grade level, math scores jumped a full 15 points in that same period, but reading declined a bit.

To boost scores, they have adjusted the time allowed for math to a 60-minute math block and 30 minutes for collaborative the “Walk to Math” program. The school is also now offering morning homework help.

Zarling said that he makes test scores available for the staff to see – he calls it being transparent with data – and has instituted peer observations for teachers during class.  

“It’s a scary thing, but they have really taken it on,” he said.

He also is working on a central database with every test score for every student, and based on what they have done so far, they were able to get a reading or math intervention for every student in need during the 2009-10 school year and are on track to do the same this year.

Zarling said that one challenge is that they have lost at least 20 students who were in the higher range of the MSP scores, and that when new students arrive, they basically have to say, “Welcome to Beachwood; come learn our expectations and our norms” – which may not be close to where they are academically.

“It’s very frustrating,” he said.

Asked how many students are currently enrolled that have been at Beachwood from kindergarten to fifth grade, he smiled ruefully before answering.

“One.”

His honesty clearly impressed school board members.

“I know that being a principal on a military post is doubly challenging,” said board member Carole Jacobs. “Educating students is one thing, but taking care of the whole child is another. What your staff does is incomprehensible, so thank you.”

During Superintendent Debbie LeBeau’s report, she mentioned that she has been in touch with the state legislature regarding the state matching funds for capital projects.

Prior to the meeting was a reception to honor the 12 Clover Park School District teachers who recently earned National Board certification.