SANDPOINT — Several schools across Bonner County have been recognized as top performers and goal makers.

The lists came about as part of the state's new accountability system, which seeks to identify schools with low achievement that are in need of comprehensive support and improvement, as well as recognize schools for top performance and reaching goals. The data is based on ISAT scores, and statewide, 490 K-8 schools, 172 high schools, and 44 alternative schools were reviewed.

Top performers include schools where performance is in the 90th percentile among all schools on any indicator used in the composite score to identify schools for state assistance, according to a statement released by the State Department of Education last month.

As for the "goal makers," the state’s goal is to reduce by one-third the percentage of students who are not proficient, not graduating and not making progress toward English language proficiency. Schools that reached the interim target for 2018 were recognized.

Paul Anselmo, superintendent of the West Bonner County School District and principal of Priest Lake Elementary, which was among the schools noted for goal achievement in math and English Language Arts, credited the accomplishment to school staff.

"I am very proud of the staff at PLE," Anselmo said in an email to the Daily Bee. "They are hard working professionals who are always looking for ways to improve. Their work in our professional learning communities is geared towards improving student achievement and we are starting to see the results of their hard work. Our district as a whole has been working towards this through PLCs, and we are seeing results districtwide, too. There is no substitute for hard work and dedication to students, and this staff shows this each and every day."

In the Lake Pend Oreille School District, seven schools were recognized for goal achievement in English Language Arts, including Sandpoint High School, Clark Fork High School and Sandpoint Middle School, as well as Washington, Northside, Southside and Hope elementary schools. Washington, Northside and Hope were also recognized for goal achievement in math, and Sandpoint and Clark Fork high schools were recognized for graduation rate.

In the "top performer" lists, Washington and Northside were again recognized for English Language Arts achievement, as they both landed in the 95th percentile.

"(The state) recognized 47 schools out of 490 ... Washington Elementary and Northside were two of the highest performing schools in the state out of elementary and middle school, so that is fantastic," said LPOSD Superintendent Shawn Woodward.

The two schools, as well as Hope Elementary, were also named among the 44 top performing K-8 schools in the English Language Arts growth category.

No Bonner County schools were listed among the schools identified for comprehensive support and improvement. The last time the state rated schools in 2012, Lake Pend Oreille High School was identified as a school in need of improvement.

"We have been working very hard since then," said LPOHS Principal Geoff Penrose. "Our goal has always been that the next time the rating comes out, we would not be on that list."

Penrose said LPOHS staff had also been working hard to not be on the list of high schools with a graduation rate less than 67 percent. Penrose said the graduation rate three years ago was 50 percent, 57 percent the following year and 68 percent last year.

"We are very proud of that; we are very excited," Penrose said. "It’s a great benefit to my staff and the hard, hard work they have been doing for the last five years … especially when you consider you are taking students, every one of whom by definition is behind when they walk in, we are still getting 68 percent of them across the line in the state mandated four years."

Unfortunately, he said, the state used a three-year average, which landed them on the list with an average of just over 60 percent. While Penrose said he and his staff are "disappointed" by that, LPOHS was coincidentally named on one other list. LPOHS is one of the top performing alternative high schools in the state for graduation rate.

"Last year, we were the second highest graduation rate for any alternative school in the state," Penrose said. "And also we have a great number of advanced opportunities that other alternative schools simply don’t have. We have two CTE programs, which every other alternative school I’ve talked to are jealous of those, and we have more kids taking college classes than most alternative schools, so within our category, we are leaders in that way, too. And our attendance rate is better than most alternative schools."

While no Bonner County schools were identified on the list of those in need of comprehensive support and improvement, the state will provide coaching, professional development and other supports over the next three years to the 30 schools on the list to help elevate student performance in schools identified as underperforming or with low graduation rates by the state’s new accountability system. The state will also invest $6.3 million in improvement grants for underperforming schools that are part of the federal Title IA program.

“The system identifies those schools most at risk so we can direct resources there and partner with local school leadership teams to identify specific supports and plan to improve,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra said in the SDE statement. “We also want to highlight bright spots of performance on specific indicators to celebrate and to find places where strategies are yielding top performance in our schools.”

The identification marks the first of three phases of information to be released from the new accountability system. The accountability system, approved by the U.S. Department of Education, was developed by the State Department of Education and State Board of Education over the past several years working with stakeholder groups.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.