Gilroy
– For the next year, the state will keep a close eye on Glen
View Elementary School because test scores there are not steadily
increasing.
Sanctions are being imposed, meant to put the school on the path
to improvement. During the past three years
– in which Glen View received funds to better under-performing
schools – it only met state performance goals once, in 2002-03,
falling short in 2001-02 and last school year.
Gilroy – For the next year, the state will keep a close eye on Glen View Elementary School because test scores there are not steadily increasing.
Sanctions are being imposed, meant to put the school on the path to improvement. During the past three years – in which Glen View received funds to better under-performing schools – it only met state performance goals once, in 2002-03, falling short in 2001-02 and last school year. Sanctions are triggered for schools that receive the extra funding when they do not have two consecutive years of required growth.
The state sanctions are starting this week with Glen View conducting an in-depth review of its instructional program, curriculum, staff development and other areas. After the review, it will formulate a plan to improve.
Only one Gilroy public school has undergone state intervention: Brownell Academy Middle School.
“The whole process has changed, so it’s going to be a lot different from what Brownell went through,” Superintendent Edwin Diaz said. “They won’t have the external monitoring from the teams like Brownell did.”
After high-scoring years were followed by a period of declining scores, Brownell last year underwent monitoring by a team, with quarterly visits, and interviews.
Glen View’s sanctions will be less intensive.
“I think because of the number of schools that have been identified, they created different levels,” said Marilyn Ayala, Glen View principal.
The school first must review its programs and procedures to complete a survey, provided by the state, that focuses on nine areas.
“That goes to a team who evaluates it and finds areas where there’s room for improvement that would benefit our students,” Ayala said, “and then a plan is written.”
The evaluation team, instead of coming from outside the district as with Brownell, will be made up of teachers from each grade level and a district administrator.
“We must have the survey and evidence submitted by the 15th of this month, which is next Friday,” Ayala said.
School board trustees will see a plan of corrective action in November.
An outside firm must lead the team, develop the action and oversee its implementation, for which the state provides $75,000. Trustees at Thursday night’s meeting unanimously approved a contract for that amount with WestEd, an educational research firm that worked with Brownell Academy. Trustee Jim Rogers was absent.
Ayala said she notified parents of the sanctions this week. As for the staff, she says they are handling the news in a positive way.
Since the state created the Academic Performance Index in 1999, Glen View raised its score each year, until now. From a base score of 517, the school is now at 660. The state’s goal is to have all schools score above 800, with a perfect score being 1,000. When compared to schools across the state with similar populations, Glen View ranks in the 40th percentile.
It is the state’s targets for how much API scores will go up each year that trigger this form of intervention. Since Glen View began receiving funds for under-performing schools, it missed its target in 2001-02 by seven points, improving by three points. The next year, its score went up 52 points, beating its 10-point target. In 2003-04 scores released last month, Glen View dropped nine points when it was supposed to improve by seven.
Throughout the coming year, WestEd will visit Glen View three times to see that the plan is being implemented, and analyze student achievement. Ayala said the process mirrors what the school would be doing under the Accountability Plan. Sites are choosing assessments that will be used on a frequent basis to get feedback on performance.
“We actually would be making some of the very same decisions and in-depth analysis of student performance data,” Ayala said.
The federal government has its own form of sanctions, based on whether or not schools show Adequate Yearly Progress toward 100 percent student proficiency in English and math by 2014. The list of schools facing federal intervention, called Program Improvement, will be released next week. One Gilroy school – South Valley Middle School – is at risk of being on the list.
