Cave Creek schools receive excelling grades

CAVE CREEK - Cave Creek Unified School District credits teacher efforts and community involvement for helping the district maintain top ratings for all its schools.

AZ Learns school ratings made public Wednesday labeled all eight district schools excelling for the second year in a row.

"We're very proud of everyone in the district that makes this happen," said Nedda Shafir, district spokeswoman.

AZ Learns rates schools based largely on student scores and progress on Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) reading, writing, and math tests. Ratings take into account whether schools make adequate yearly progress (AYP) and take into account the scores of English language learners.

In 2005, Cave Creek had three schools ranked as excelling. That number jumped to seven in 2006 and all eight in 2007. This year's high marks came despite the district losing its superintendent, three governing board members, and five of eight school principals in recent months.

Ann Furnish, the district's director of assessment and accountability, said schools improved because teachers have put more focus on data to find areas of improvement.

"Teachers overall are making a conscious effort of looking at their data and being very aware of which students need more support to get where they need to be," Furnish said.

All district teachers go through monthly job-embedded professional development, Shafir said.

The district also uses benchmark testing in reading, writing, and math three times per year to evaluate student progress.

"They address their needs accordingly to meet the needs of all their students," Furnish said.

Shafir highlighted the district's efforts to educate the child as a whole, not just to meet testing standards. The school offers International Baccalaureate classes, a Spanish immersion program and different arts programs.

Shafir also credited the community's focus on education as a reason for the district's high performing schools. The district's governing board down to its strong parent teacher organizations helped the district improve education.

Community partnerships with Soroptimist International Club of Saguaro Foothills, Kiwanis of Cave Creek, and with the Cave Creek Merchants Chamber of Commerce have helped the district hold numerous activities.

"They really rally around our kids whether they're sponsoring science fairs or music festivals," Shafir said. "All of those things contribute to student success."

Shafir said community members may tour any district school.

"We invite people to come to our schools and see what they're like," Shafir said. "We want to invite our community to come and see how learning takes place, what an incredible job our staff and students do everyday."