Submitted by John Arbeeny.
Lakewood CARES is providing an academic-based response to schools highlighted in the Clover Park School District (CPSD) “#SuperSchoolShoutOut“articles in The Suburban Times. This is data you will not find elsewhere in CPSD community relations pieces, School Board meeting agendas or monthly “Inside Schools”. This week’s CPSD “beaming with pride” article covers Dower Elementary which was featured in a Suburban Times article on 13 January 2025:
This CPSD article is devoid of any actual academic-related information. Can you tell by reading it how things are academically at Dower? No, I didn’t think so. I commend teacher Liz Fassnacht and fifth- grader Austin Rice for their effort and interests. However this CPSD community relations article is anecdotal at best and deceptive at worst. Don’t be fooled by what you see in these CPSD articles; be wary of what you don’t see: academic performance. These CPSD articles are an attempt to control parents and tax payers who would revolt if they knew the truth. Everything is not wonderful academically district wide and certainly not at Dower which has been in a downward academic trajectory for nine years.
Dower’s statewide academic ranking in 2016 was 49.7 percentile, about average. Compare that to the 2024 academic ranking of 16.5 percentile, well below average; 83.5 % of Washington’s elementary schools outperform Dower academically. That is a drop of 67% in just nine years. Dower is now academically ranked 11th out of 16 CPSD elementary schools. Only the elementary schools of Tyee Park (#16 at 5.1 percentile), Lakeview Hope Academy (#15 at 6.2 percentile), Park Lodge (#14 at 7.9 percentile) Four Heroes (#13 at 9.6 percentile) Tillicum (#12 at 10.9 percentile) are ranked lower academically than Dower. Compare Dower’s academic ranking of 16.5 percentile with the average ranking for all CPSD elementary schools at 32.9 percentile. This has been a long-term trend back to 2016 with virtually no academic improvement. This Schooldigger.com graph displays Dower’s academic rankings since 2016 to present:
Dower Elementary School Academic Ranking
https://www.schooldigger.com/go/WA/schools/0141000252/school.aspx
The Office of the Superintendent for Public Instruction (OSPI) data shown below on the next two slides of its “Report Card” website go into further detail about Dower academics and related factors:
Dower Elementary School academic performance, student population
NOTE: “Students on Track for College-level Learning Without Needing Remedial Classes Spring 2024” is the equivalent of previous “Students Meeting State Standards”. This is a misleading, confusing, unnecessary OSPI-directed name change especially at elementary and middle school level.
In 2024 the average percentage of Park Lodge students meeting State standards in ELA (28.9%), math (29.6%) and science (50%) is 36.3%: 63.8% of Dower students don’t meet these State standards. In 2018/19 the percentage of Dower students meeting State standards in ELA was (50.7%), math (47.3%) and science (43.5%) for an average of 47.2%. That gives you some idea of significant decline of Park Lodge’s academic performance over the last six years. What students fail to learn in elementary school follows them and negatively compounds upon itself into middle school, high school, after graduation and into adult life.
Dower Elementary School attendance, teachers
Dower’s regular attendance is 69.8%, only slightly better than the CPSD average attendance of 65.7%. This appears to be a common theme across the District: low attendance equals low academic performance. It also effectively lowers the teacher-to-student ratio when so many seats are empty in class. You can’t learn if you don’t attend class.
Dower’s class size is about one teacher to 14.6 students (1:14.6) which is about the CPSD average ratio of 1:15. It was not that long ago when teacher-student ratios were between 1:20 -1:30. Despite this ratio reduction we are seeing lower academic achievement. This may be the result of the education industry’s shift away from the classical liberal arts education model towards the child-centered “whole child” indoctrination model which appears far less efficient academically but does result in a lot more teachers and staff employed.
In 2019/20 the Dower expenditure per student was $17,976. By 2022/23 (latest figures) it had ballooned to $22,671 in just four years. That’s an annual increase of about 6%. Yet despite that increase in spending there is little to show for it in academic proficiency. This is a phenomenon seen across the CPSD: higher spending, lower academic achievement. Yet CPSD goes to the legislature each year with its hand out for more funding. It’s hard to plead “poverty” when in 2023 Clover Park reported 356 employees making more than $100,000 per year; the average CPSD employee salary was $73,142 (excluding benefits) in a city where the per capita income is $40,711. One has to wonder if there ever will be enough funding to satisfy educators when it is clear that academic performance is not contingent on more money (more than a college education), people (low teacher-student ratios) or “stuff” (new buildings, technology, programs) but rather on how the education industry operates systemically.
https://openpayrolls.com/rank/highest-paid-employees/washington-clover-park
To rephrase Parkinson’s Law: “Spending (like time) expands so as to fill the funds (and time) available for its completion”. Perhaps the Washington Education Association (WEA) and Clover Park Education Association (CPEA) teacher unions, with CPSD School Board approval, have had a role in elevating costs, as Washington is now the fourth highest state for teacher salaries ($86,804) behind California, New York and Massachusetts. Washington is also #1 nationwide for school administration salaries ($148,750). Combine high teacher and administrator salaries, low teacher-student ratios and high expenditure per student and you have a recipe for costs spiraling upwards at the same time academic achievement is spiraling downwards.
The Office of the Superintendent for Public Instruction (OSPI) data shown below on their “Report Card” website goes into further detail about Dower Student Growth Percentile (SGP):
Dower Elementary School “Student Growth Percentile” (SGP)
Dower’s Student Growth Percentile (SGP) is a mixed bag. In 2018/19 Dower’s SGP in ELA was 53 percentile and in math 59 percentile. In 2023/24, just six years later, it had declined to ELA at 37 percentile and math at 39 percentile. The State median SGP score is 50 percentile. Thus the 2018/19 SGP signified that Dower was a bit above the median and making progress academically, while the 2023/24 SGP indicated that Dower was steadily losing ground academically. On the plus side, minorities’ growth generally outperformed in English and math, which brings into question the CPSD often-mentioned “disparities” between racial and ethnic groups. From the look of Dower’s 2023/24 SGP data it would appear that Whites are the ones with an educational disparity. I wonder what the CPSD School Board and Superintendent plan to do to rectify this disparity?
https://reportcard.ospi.k12.wa.us/ReportCard/ViewSchoolOrDistrict/102234
SGP is based upon a school’s relative academic growth compared to peer-group schools statewide. However, SGP has its limitations. Although it is the metric preferred by teachers and CPSD administration SGP doesn’t tell you anything about academic proficiency, start-or-end points with which most parents and tax payers are interested. It appears that teachers and administrators are the primary beneficiaries of SGP, not students or parents. Indeed OSPI seems to have downgraded the importance of SGP by removing it from their Report Card front page and recently announcing:
“It is at the discretion of Washington school districts whether or not to distribute student growth reports to families and students. OSPI recognizes that the model is complex, and, given other competing initiatives, investing the necessary time and energy into training on SGPs may be a lower priority.”
Have you ever seen your children’s or their school’s SGP on a report card? CPSD’s lack of transparency on academic performance in these CPSD community relations puff pieces has systemic impacts, especially on parents. They have been lulled into apathy with respect to the school’s and District’s academic performance. Why fret? Everything is fine; only it isn’t! Then when parents don’t get involved the District blames them for lack of involvement: a self-fulfilling prophecy!
If you have a student who attends Dower, or any other CPSD school, and want a change in academic performance, then you’re going to have to get involved! You deserve more in return for your hard-earned tax dollars. It’s the future of your children! Find out how your school is performing academically and what it is going to take to improve that performance.
School Board members are your elected representatives, not just rubber stamps for hired CPSD employees. Contact them and hold them accountable. Wondering who your CPSD Board representative is? Try contacting the Board’s President, Alyssa Anderson Pearson, via email form at:
https://www.cloverpark.k12.wa.us/cms/One.aspx?portalId=236158&pageId=61380455
I’m sure she’ll welcome the opportunity to answer all your questions.
CPSD should be embarrassed. I looked into CPSD staff/teachers salaries several years ago, as well as Lakewood city staff salaries – and was surprised by the numbers. Specifically with CPSD where is the accountability? I understand the need to pay for good teachers, but good teachers in theory should be able to increase the ability of students to thrive. What are we paying for if not for that outcome?
Performance of students should come into play when determining these salaries. Most jobs works this way, if you don’t have the data to back up the work you are doing and the value you are adding, that salary bump is not coming your way. I almost want to go to work for CPSD now, honestly. Seems like a good gig, no accountability with a six figure paycheck.
In any other “business” the entire Board and Superintendent/CEO would have been fired…long ago. Throwing money at problems doesn’t solve them nor does making excuses. Indeed “It’s nice work if you can get it”. They even wrote a song about it (I’m dating myself)!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB1MxIZrmCk
Lenghty but great article. Im dissappointed that its taken this long for some/certain CPSD board members to finally retire who shouldve retired probably decades ago. And it hasnt been until recently that meeting agendas, minutes and the actual meetings have been transparently available and open to the public. Prior to covid, a LOT of district business, school closures/relocations, capital facility decisions were made and implemented inside of a silo.
Dower and Lochburn are the last schools in the district that have seen little to no whole capital renovations in 30 years now – at least! Its actually longer than that. They both receive a lot of lower income students or students where the student is the primary bilingual speaker in the household. The district’s teacher recruitment-retention rate is never reported at the district meetings let alone market salary surveys that compare the competitiveness in recruiting quality teachers. So yeah, the district has a lot of challenges and i think it partly starts with district board that reflects who the community is.