Following an in-depth community feedback process, the West Linn-Wilsonville School District submitted its Continuous Improvement Plan to the Oregon Department of Education on Dec. 6. The Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP) will be used to inform the district's Student Success Act grant application later this year. 

The district spent November engaging stakeholders through a variety of methods. The district engaged historically underserved populations through small focus groups, personal phone calls, targeted and facilitated surveys, surveys of 300 current high school students, large group surveys of West Linn-Wilsonville staff nad parents, and two community forums. The input was added to relevant data that the district previously collected, including West Linn-Wilsonville Education Association survey data, budget survey data, capital bond summit feedback data, high school study data, high school accreditation survey data, health/wellness curriculum input data, communication survey data, special education parent survey data, and more. 

To read the district's CIP, or to learn more about the Student Success Act and what it means for West Linn-Wilsonville, please READ MORE.

The presentations that Boones Ferry fifth-graders gave on Wednesday, Dec. 4 weren’t your typical class projects. The milestone was the culmination of weeks-long environmental science work for Boones Ferry fifth-graders, and a landmark occasion for the school’s local ecosystem.

Presenting to local stakeholders that included native plant specialists, ecologists, stormwater specialists, natural resource specialists, and maintenance engineers from the City of Wilsonville, students shared designs to improve the local bioswale and, in turn, the ecosystem that surrounds Boones Ferry Primary.

The innovative project started earlier in the school year when fifth-graders visited the district’s CREST Center (Center for Research in Environmental Science and Technology) to learn about local ecosystems and the importance of bioswales. Students learned that a bioswale is a channel created to convey stormwater runoff while removing debris and pollution from the environment. 

That learning continued during science lessons in the classroom and coalesced with Wednesday’s hands-on learning opportunity. Organized in table groups, students listened to guest speakers, who helped students in the design process for their bioswale improvements. [READ THE FULL STORY]