Morton, Onalaska Removed From List of Lowest Achieving School Districts

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OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Three of Washington's eight lowest achieving school districts have shown enough improvement to earn their way off a statewide list.

The State Board of Education announced on Tuesday that the Morton, Onalaska and Renton school districts are no longer on "required action status."



All three have been on the list since it was established in 2011 and got extra money and help to improve their schools and close achievement gaps between students in different minority and economic groups.

Students at Onalaska Middle School and Renton's Lakeridge Elementary improved reading and math scores on statewide tests by about 30 percentage points. Morton Junior-Senior High School students improved their scores by about 15 percentage points. All three schools made a variety of changes to improve student learning.

Five other Washington school districts remain on the "required action" list: Marysville, Soap Lake, Tacoma, Yakima and Wellpinit.