State Assistant Superintendent for School Improvement praises Walla Walla High School during visit

State Assistant Superintendent for School Improvement praises Walla Walla High School during visit

Erin Jones, Assistant Superintendent for School Improvement from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, visited Walla Walla Wednesday, May 18 to learn more about how Walla Walla High School is closing the achievement gap.

Earlier this school year, Walla Walla High School was named a recipient of the 2010 Washington Achievement Award for the Closing the Achievement Gap category. Walla Walla High School was one of only two high schools statewide recognized in this area.

"Our state is near the bottom in the nation for closing the achievement gap for students of color compared to their white and Asian counterparts," Jones said. "This is incredible for Walla Walla High School to be one of the few high schools in the state to close the achievement gap."

Jones met with students and visited classrooms during her day long visit. She also met with teachers who are leading the Response to Invention model on campus which focuses on providing the necessary support to meet each student's learning needs. To conclude her visit, she addressed the Walla Walla High School teaching staff to thank them for their hard work and commitment to help all students succeed.

"Teachers are working so hard and they often don't hear thank you from anyone, so my main purpose for coming to Walla Walla was to congratulate and thank them for all they are doing to support their students," Jones said. "I hope to inspire them to continue this work as it's critical to our nation, state and communities."

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Board of Education created the Washington Achievement Award to celebrate top-performing schools and to recognize achievement in multiple categories. 

This highly selective award is based on a school's performance on statewide assessments for the three previous years. This data is analyzed using the Washington Achievement Index which is approved by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Board of Education. The Washington Achievement Award is given to elementary, middle, high and comprehensive schools in seven different categories: overall excellence, language arts, math, science, extended graduation rate (high and comprehensive schools only), improvement and closing achievement gaps.

About Erin Jones: (Source - OSPI web site)
Erin Jones has been involved with education for the past 16 years as a volunteer, a private and public school teacher, a late night director and an instructional coach. She has worked with students from all-African American to highly diverse to predominantly Caucasian. Erin speaks four languages and was raised in the Netherlands, which gives her the ability to relate to a variety of audiences. Erin has experience in working with students from 5th grade through high school. Erin received state recognition as the most innovative foreign language teacher in 2006 and then national recognition as the Milken Educator for Washington State in 2007. Her particular passion is working with students in urban communities.

Erin was hired in 2008 as the Director for the Center for the Improvement of Student Learning, where her focus was on creating a repository of best-practices and building bridges between schools, families and communities. She also participated in Washington's 2008 achievement gap studies. Erin has recently been promoted to Assistant Superintendent of Student Achievement at the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. In this role, Erin is the point person at OSPI for the work around the achievement gap and dropout prevention in Washington state.

Erin is married to James Jones, who is working on his masters in teaching and plans to become an ELL teacher. She and James live in Lacey and have three teen-age children.