All but one Yamhill Valley public school - Sheridan High - rated "satisfactory" or "outstanding" on report cards issued Tuesday by the state Department of Education.

Sheridan High received the lowest of three available marks - "in need of improvement." At the other end, McMinnville's Grandhaven Elementary, Sheridan's Japanese School and four Newberg elementary schools earned the top rating of "outstanding," as did Gaston Elementary and the K-12 Perrydale School.

All other Yamhill Valley schools rated "satisfactory" on the report cards, which have been revamped this year to reward schools for achievement growth and success at reaching students from subgroups that traditionally receive lower marks.

The Department of Education used one method of calculating the report cards for eight years. It changed its approach this year, in part, so the state reports would be more closely aligned with the federal government's Adequate Yearly Progress standards.

Before, the Oregon reports and their federal counterparts often conflicted, said Mike Loretz, assessment and federal programs director for the McMinnville School District.

A school that Oregon called "exceptional" or "strong" might have rated "not met" by federal standards. In essence, the two reports were measuring different things.

Now, a school can get credit for helping students show growth.

But the growth must be significant, Loretz said. A school won't get any credit if that growth isn't substantial enough.

In addition, a school's success or failure with its low-income, minority, special education and limited English students counts twice as much as its results with traditionally higher-scoring groups. Before, Oregon's report didn't show subgroups, although the federal report did.

"It's a great opportunity to increase a school's ratings if the subgroups show growth," Loretz said.

That meshes well with the goal of her district and most others, said McMinnville Superintendent Maryalice Russell.

"We want all students to move ahead," she said. "Our goal is to do everything in our power to get every student there. We have that responsibility."

The new Oregon report cards look at graduation rates for high schools, instead of dropout rates. For elementary schools, attendance and participation on state tests remain factors.

The cards also compare two years of data rather than four, as was the case previously. The agency wanted to put more emphasis on getting historically low-achieving groups of students to catch up, said Tony Alpert, director of accountability for the department.

Although some school officials say they miss the old five-level system, which labeled the top achieving schools "exceptional," most say the new system seems reasonable. "It makes sense and seems consistent with goals and values" of Oregon schools, Alpert said.

Oregon report cards for each school will be sent home to parents in a few weeks. The cards not only will show the "satisfactory" or "outstanding" mark the school received under the new system, but also the rating it would have received under the old.

In McMinnville's case, every school that received a rating would have been called "strong," the second-highest mark, under the old system. Neither the Media Arts and Communications Academy nor Sue Buel Elementary School would have been rated, because they are less than four years old.

With the new formula, which looks at two years of data, MACA got a rating of "satisfactory," as did McMinnville High School, both of McMinnville's middle schools and Columbus, Memorial, Newby and Wascher elementary schools. Grandhaven was rated "outstanding" and Buel went unrated, because it just opened last year.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.