GILROY
– Following the partial release of the federal report card for
public schools last month, several Gilroy schools are appealing to
the state to get the passing grade they think they deserve.
By Lori Stuenkel
GILROY – Following the partial release of the federal report card for public schools last month, several Gilroy schools are appealing to the state to get the passing grade they think they deserve.
Eight of the 14 schools in Gilroy failed to meet the first phase of standards for adequate yearly progress, or AYP.
Three of these failing schools are in the process of appealing to the state to change that status. Glen View Elementary School, Gilroy High School and Mt. Madonna High School each sent letters to the California Department of Education asking officials to re-evaluate their performance on standardized tests last year.
“Because of requirements for the state for things you can or cannot appeal, these are the only ones we can appeal,” said Jacki Horejs, assistant superintendent of educational services.
District officials looked carefully at each school that did not show adequate progress last year and will appeal the results for GHS and Mt. Madonna based on their participation rates and for Glen View because the state made an incorrect calculation on the percentage of students scoring at the required level of proficient or above, Horejs said.
Schools had until Friday to appeal their current AYP standing. At this point in the year, a school meets the AYP requirements by testing 95 percent of its students and having a certain amount of those students reach the “proficient” or “advanced” levels on the standardized tests.
Schools must demonstrate adequate yearly progress or they risk being placed in the federal government’s program improvement if they underperform two years in a row.
Program improvement is a five-year process to better a school’s instruction and increase standardized test scores. The process involves revising the school plan, using 10 percent of funds for staff development and offering parents the choice of sending their child to a higher-performing school. Continuing through the process, a school may have to replace school staff and eventually let the state take over. Schools exit the program when they meet adequate progress two years in a row.
Mt. Madonna High is trying to pass adequate yearly progress even though the participation rate – or the percent of the school’s students that completed standardized testing – is less than the required 95 percent.
“Our kids did well enough to have passed it, but we didn’t test enough of them,” Principal John Perales said.
Getting students at the continuation high school to attend class each day is always an issue, Perales said. A student must complete all sections of the state and federal tests to be counted in the participation rate. Testing is conducted over multiple days and students can make up testing they missed due to absence.
“Having these students (attend) who have, for years, missed a tremendous amount of school … you’re basically changing their culture when you say they have to come to class every day,” Perales said.
The school also sees a high turnover rate among transient and migrant students.
The school had only 77 percent of students complete the English-language arts portion of the testing and 82 percent finished the mathematics portion.
Perales expects that state education officials will, at the very least, read and consider Mt. Madonna’s case, although he could not speculate whether the school would be given a break.
The state might compare Mt. Madonna’s participation rates to those of other continuation high schools, recognize a trend of low participation and consider changing that requirement for continuation schools, Perales said.
“We’re going to appeal and see what happens,” he said.
He expects to learn the results of his appeal in about a month.
GHS will also appeal test participation rates. Principal Bob Bravo was unavailable by deadline but in the past has said that Academic Placement testing conflicted with the California high school exit exam, on which high schools’ AYP results are based.
The exit exam was administered during the same times as some Advanced Placement tests. The dates and times of AP tests are ironclad, and getting students to make up the standardized tests proved to be a difficult task last spring.
The school failed to meet participation rate requirements for the general student population as well as for two subgroups: Hispanic/Latino students and English learners. Subgroups must constitute at least 15 percent of a school’s total population and include at least 50 students.
Schoolwide participation was 92 percent for the English part of the test and 93 percent in math. The Hispanic subgroup had 93 percent of students complete the English portion, 94 percent the math, while 94 percent of English language learners completed both portions.
Glen View will appeal its adequate yearly progress standing because the state incorrectly calculated the percent of students rated at or above proficient, Horejs said.
The report says Glen View failed to meet AYP requirements because one subgroup underperformed on the English portion of testing, but it may be rounded down when it should have been rounded up. The report says the disabled student subgroup had 13.5 percent of students meeting the proficient or above standard. The required amount is 13.6 percent.
However, the report also says that eight of the 59 students in that subgroup were proficient or above. That would mean 13.559 percent of disabled students passed the English tests.
Glen View is currently the only school in GUSD involved in program improvement. If the state reverses Glen View’s rating so that the school passes AYP, the school will enter a “safe harbor” phase of program improvement and will not have to make new changes, Horejs said.
If the state does not give Glen View a passing grade, it will enter the third year of the program, suffering corrective action which could include new school staff, new curriculum or school restructuring.
