Mission

To encourage our students to be responsible global citizens, the Challenger Secondary Schools will apply telecommunications, connect with local agencies and community resources, involve community members, establish business and media links as resources and expand collaborative projects. We will do this by:

• Respecting diversity to provide choices and opportunities for learning, encouraging multi-age communication and cross-culture experiences, building strong relationships and celebrating differences.
• Providing safe academic exploration to support innovative curricula; teaching to a variety of learning styles; recognizing multiple intelligences; accommodating all student needs and interests; and collaborating with students,parents and teachers to achieve success on state assessments.
• Personalizing the learning environment to maintain a small group atmosphere, empowering students to achieve academic self efficacy, and offering a variety of educational opportunities to promote thinking skills that are outcome driven, individualized, developmentally appropriate, student centered and authentically assessed.

Raising Expectations and Standards

In 2006-2007, our school showed strong gains in student achievement. Math scores jumped 16 points and reading scores increased 13 points on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL).

Our strategic plan calls for all tenth graders to focus on mathematics, writing, reading and science to enable them to pass the WASL.

Parent and Community Involvement in Learning

The CSS Site Council takes an active role in school decision making. In addition, our school provides ample opportunity for parents and community members to support the school in the form of clubs, chaperones, and instructional aides.

What Makes Us Special

Challenger continues to expand learning opportunities for students such as the Online Academy. Our students enjoy a small group atmosphere and an individualized academic plan.

• Challenger expects students to take responsibility to raise their skills and understanding to achieve higher levels of mathematics, writing, and reading. Through scholarships and recognition, we honor students dedicated to improving those skills.
• We are expanding the variety of programs and times to attend those programs to meet individual student needs of the students.

Community Connections

Challenger continues to assist families with support of local food banks and food drives. We also provide holiday meals and gifts for over 20 families.

Online Academy

This is a program that allows students to do coursework with teachers online, while conversing with instructors in person or through e-mail and phone calls. The program will offer courses that equal the rigor and standards of classroom courses. While this program is new, it is expected to be a popular one with students.

WASL

We’re proud of our students’ achievement, especially in reading and writing. In 2008, 83 percent of 10th graders met standard on the WASL reading test and 93 percent met standard on the WASL writing test.

At the same time, we know we have work to do in math and science. Among 10th graders, 37 percent met standard in math and 12 percent met standard in science. We are providing increased training to teachers to help them reach struggling students in math and science.

Adequate Yearly Progress

Challenger did not meet adequate yearly progress, as defined by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Of the 36 areas measured, the school met all but two of the required benchmarks. Our WASL improvement has been the greatest in the district since 2004.

Bethel School District

Bethel School District serves about 17,500 students in 17 elementary schools, five junior highs (with another opening its doors in 2010), three comprehensive high schools, one alternative junior high/high school, and an online academy. The district has won national awards in technology and communications, as well as state awards in professional development, energy conservation, and the arts. In addition, five district teachers have earned "Washington State teacher of the Year" in the last 25 years - more than any district in the state.

The Bethel School District covers 202-square miles in south Pierce County. The area is one of the fastest growing in the Puget Sound region. In 2006, district voters passed both a four-year levy for operations and a $175 million bond to build new schools. As part of the first phase of the bond, two elementary schools and one junior high (temporarily housing Spanaway Lake High School) were opened in September 2009.

In 2007-2008, the district’s budget was $158 million, about 80 percent of which went to salaries and benefits. About 1,050 certificated staff and about 1,000 classified (support) staff work for the district. Tom Seigel joined the district in 2001 as superintendent. He previously worked in Boulder, CO as a superintendent. Prior to his work in public education, Seigel served in the U.S. Navy for 25 years, completing his military career as a Commander.