Monitoring Report - Results

Code: R-3

Title: Mastery of Standards

Status: Active

Adopted: October 28, 2025

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Mastery of Standards 

Dr. Kristi Dominguez, Superintendent 

Contents

• Policy & Interpretation
• Reasonable Progress Guidance
• Key Findings & How to Read This Report
• Indicator 1.1: Top Performing District
• Indicator 1.2: Closing Achievement Gaps
• Indicator 1.3: Sustained Academic Growth
• Conclusion

Results Policy 3 (R-3)

We will increase the number of students making adequate progress toward, meeting, or exceeding grade level expectations and standards in all classes – specifically in the areas of literacy, mathematics, and science.

Interpretation:

The Superintendent interprets this policy to mean that the district will ensure continuous academic growth in literacy, mathematics, and science, meeting or surpassing comparable districts, closing achievement gaps, and demonstrating cohort growth over time.

Indicators:

1. Top Performing District

Student achievement in the district will meet or surpass the majority of our ten comparable district’s performance as measured by state assessments and other available data. Our comparable districts are determined by looking at OSPI enrollment data (Total student enrollment, percent low-income, percent special education, percent non-white) for all Washington districts and finding the ten districts that are most closely aligned to Ferndale’s numbers.

2. Closing Achievement Gaps

The district will make continuous progress in eliminating disparities among student sub-groups.

3. Sustained Academic Growth

Grade-level cohorts will show continuous improvement over time.

Reasonable Progress Guidance

In the Coherent Governance model, each Results Policy is monitored through a clear interpretation, measurable indicators, and evidence of performance. The Board then determines whether the district is:

• Making Reasonable Progress: performance meets or exceeds the Superintendent’s interpretation of the policy and indicators. 
• Making Reasonable Progress with Exceptions: performance meets most indicators, but one or more areas require additional attention or improvement.
• Not Making Reasonable Progress: performance does not meet the Superintendent’s interpretation or shows insufficient progress toward the Results policy.

How to interpret this report

Under the Coherent Governance model, the Board’s role is to determine whether the evidence in this report demonstrates reasonable progress toward the Results Policy. The Superintendent’s role is to provide a clear interpretation of what the policy means, identify measurable indicators, and present evidence of performance.

For the purposes of this report: Reasonable progress means sustained or improving performance over time in literacy, mathematics and science, as measured by the indicators in this report, demonstrating that student learning continues to move in the desired direction.

This definition recognizes that:

• Sustained high performance, where the district continues to meet or surpass the majority of comparable districts, represents reasonable progress, even if year-to-year fluctuations occur.
• Continuous improvement remains the goal, but short-term variation is expected and does not by itself indicate lack of progress.
• Context matters: comparisons to state and comparable districts, subgroup performance, and cohort growth over time are all considered when determining reasonable progress.

The board should evaluate the district’s performance based on the weight of evidence across all indicators, rather than on any single data point or year-to-year change.

Key Findings & How to Read This Report

This report summarizes Ferndale’s progress toward R-3: Mastery of Standards, focusing on student growth and achievement in literacy, mathematics, and science. It is intended to help readers understand both what the data show and how to interpret progress within the district’s context. The Lens for This Report Ferndale measures success through growth, not only proficiency. State assessments such as Smarter Balanced (ELA and Math) and WCAS (Science) provide annual snapshots, while i-Ready offers ongoing measures of individual student progress. Together, these tools capture where students start, how far they grow, and how equitably that growth occurs. Readers should view the data through a growth-focused lens, recognizing that progress is reflected in steady improvement, sustained rankings among comparative districts, and the narrowing of opportunity gaps rather than short-term fluctuations in proficiency rates.

Key Findings

• Steady Growth: Students continue to make consistent academic progress across subjects.
• Equity Gains: Achievement gaps are narrowing, particularly for Low-Income and Multilingual Learners.
• Cohort Strength: Literacy and science cohorts are improving faster than state averages.
• Math Focus: Mathematics remains a key improvement area, but local growth trends are positive.

About Comparisons

To provide meaningful context, this report uses ten comparable districts selected through OSPI data on enrollment, percent non-white, percent low-income, and percent special education. These districts most closely resemble Ferndale’s demographics and serve as fair benchmarks for progress. Details and the current list appear later in this report under Indicator 1.1 - Top Performing District.

How to Navigate This Report

Each indicator section includes a short narrative, key charts, and concise captions summarizing the main takeaway. Readers are encouraged to focus on direction of change, cohort trends, and relative placement among comparable districts. When viewed through this lens, Ferndale’s story is one of steady growth, increasing equity, and progress toward mastery of standards.

Indicator 1.1: Top Performing District 

Indicator 1.1

We will know we are making reasonable progress when student achievement in the district meets or surpasses the majority of our ten comparable district’s performance as measured by state assessments and other available data.

Determination: Making reasonable progress.  

Comparative District Context

Ferndale uses a group of ten comparable districts to provide fair and meaningful benchmarks for performance. These districts are selected using OSPI Report Card data based on four factors: (1) total student enrollment, (2) percent non-white, (3) percent low-income, and (4) percent receiving special education services. Districts with profiles most closely aligned to Ferndale are included to ensure comparisons account for differences in size, demographics, and community context.

For Fall 2025, the comparison group includes West Valley (Yakima), Sedro-Woolley, Shelton, Bremerton, Selah, Kelso, Walla Walla, Yelm, Cheney, and North Kitsap. North Kitsap replaced Omak in this year’s list, slightly raising the benchmark due to its consistently higher state-assessment results.

This method ensures that Ferndale’s relative performance is judged alongside peers with similar conditions, avoiding misleading contrasts with much larger or affluent districts. For more detail, please refer to the Comparative District Methodology and Table: Comparative District Calculations files.

Performance Summary

Ferndale’s results across literacy, math, and science have remained stable relative to its peers. Although minor rank shifts occurred following North Kitsap’s inclusion, Ferndale continues to perform above the majority of comparable districts in all three content areas. Year-to-year rank changes primarily reflect small fluctuations in proficiency rates and adjustments to the comparison group.

ELA: Ferndale ranks 4th among 10 comparison districts, holding steady at 44% proficiency.

Math: Ferndale remains 4th, with 34% proficiency and stable results over time.

Science: Ferndale ranks 4th, following peers’ gains, yet remains a top performer in the group.