GILROY
– The tutoring company of a former Gilroy High School
administrator could play a major role in Gilroy Unified School
District’s ongoing effort to improve test scores and help students
earn their diploma.
GILROY – The tutoring company of a former Gilroy High School administrator could play a major role in Gilroy Unified School District’s ongoing effort to improve test scores and help students earn their diploma.
David Payne, who was an assistant principal at GHS from 1987 to 1991, is in talks with district officials to provide tutoring services to GUSD students. The services could range from general math and literacy skill building to a program specifically designed to help students pass the California High School Exit Exam.
Payne’s company, Extreme Learning, Inc., is based in Morgan Hill. The company contracted with the school district there in February.
“The key difference (between regular intervention classes and specialized tutoring) is the degree of personalization we can provide to students,” Payne said. “And it’s my understanding that sometimes school district’s have trouble hiring teachers to do after school classes. It doesn’t always make financial sense for teachers to take on the extra workload for what they’ll get paid.”
GHS already provides a significant amount of after-school tutoring and regular day courses that build skills necessary to pass the exit exam. Contracting with Extreme Learning, which could happen within the next two weeks, could potentially expand those services in a cost effective way.
For instance, GUSD can forego any additional investment it would have to make in software programs related to assessing student skills and administering practice tests since Extreme Learning already owns licensing rights.
“When you contract with a private company you are adding to the district’s resources instead of subtracting from them,” Superintendent Edwin Diaz said. “For the same amount of money, we’re essentially bringing in another group of highly trained teachers as opposed to stretching our own.”
Despite the rough economy and subsequent budget cutting, intervention funding is one pot of money the state has yet to touch.
The state typically gives school districts $3.45 per student per hour to help fund intervention (remedial instruction and tutoring) programs. Still, school districts often must pull from other funding sources to cover standard operating costs and to provide the classroom materials and supplies.
“I think that’s a lesson we have to learn in public education,” Diaz said. “Even if we have the financial resources to provide new services, we still might have a limited amount of staff resources.”
School districts across California have been scurrying in recent years to improve student test scores since laws began requiring greater school accountability. For elementary through secondary education, schools are expected to improve each year on standardized tests.
The onus is taken one step further for high school students graduating in 2004 and beyond. These students must pass the California High School Exit Exam to receive a diploma.
“We opened in August and we already have more than 200 students,” Payne said. “We’re in a 5,000-square-foot facility, and we need to rent out twice as much space in the fall.”
Extreme Learning, which employees six full-time and 12 part-time teachers, will not move from its 155 E. Main St. suite. Instead the company will lease additional office space there.
Payne said his clientele runs the gamut of ages, ethnicities and socio-economic levels.
“I’ve been impressed by the number of parents who have come in here wanting to do something for their children’s education,” Payne said.
