District achievement in reading and mathematics was flat
compared to last year, but glaring differences persist among
different schools and ethnic groups, according to state data.
Gilroy – District achievement in reading and mathematics was flat compared to last year, but glaring differences persist among different schools and ethnic groups, according to state data.
California Standards Test results show that nearly 40 percent of Gilroy Unified School District students who took the state standardized test in May 2007 were proficient or advanced in English language arts and math. However, white students far outstripped their Hispanic counterparts in both sections, with about double the amount of whites proficient or advanced as Hispanics. Similarly, performance at schools with the highest Hispanic populations paled in comparison to those with lower Hispanic populations. These differences among ethnic groups, as with district scores, were typical for the state.
“We’ve got a lot of opportunities here and there’s a lot of great things going on, but there are also challenges,” said assistant superintendent of educational services Basha Millhollen.
The district board of trustees has listed closing the achievement gap – or the performance differences among ethnic groups – as something it wants to do.
However, since the first standards test in 2002, the district’s white population has consistently seen 30 percent more students score proficient or advanced on the English exam than the Hispanic population. Similarly, the white population that scored proficient or advanced on the math exam is about 20 percent larger than the Hispanic population.
The data suggests “there might be some programmatic gaps that would impact student achievement,” Millhollen said.
Statewide, 20 percent more whites outscored Hispanics on both exams during the past six years, according to state data. Whites outscored their Hispanic counterparts even when socioeconomic status is taken into account.
Closing the achievement gap “continues to be problematic for many districts,” trustee Pat Midtgaard said. “I know we’re not alone in that.”
Though the district has not managed to close the gap in the six years since the test’s inception, it has managed to raise the achievement of both groups. The populations of both whites and Hispanics that scored proficient or advanced grew about 10 percentage points on both the English and math exams during the six years. The district is not sacrificing the rigorous courses needed to raise the scores of high achieving students just to bring up the low-achieving students, Millhollen said.
“If you’re all about remediation and fixing things that are broken, how can you set your sites on where you want to go,” she said.
District schools also experienced a wide range of scores, with differences topping 40 percentage points.
Luigi Aprea Elementary School led all schools in performance, with about 63 percent of its students proficient or advanced on the English exam and 71 percent in math. Eliot Elementary School was the lowest performing school, with only 22 percent of students proficient or advanced on the English exam and 37 percent in math.
Eliot is in its first year of program improvement – a federal designation that it has not met testing expectations – and could be in its second year when school starts due to the low scores. New principals will lead both Eliot and Luigi Aprea when school starts Aug. 23.
Ascencion Solorsano led middle schools with 50 percent of students scoring proficient or advanced on the English exam and 51 percent in math. South Valley Middle School, now in its third year of program improvement, saw only 36 percent of students scoring proficient or advanced on the English exam and 32 percent in math.
The low test scores at some schools and low scores among Hispanics and English-language learners intersect, according to state data. Both Eliot and South Valley have higher than average percentages of Hispanics, at 93 and 82 percent respectively, while both Luigi Aprea and Solorsano have lower percentages of Hispanics, 39 and 65 percent respectively.
However, “you can’t actually attribute it to ethnicity in this community,” Millhollen said. “We have a lot of established (Hispanic) families that are performing quite well. We have to disaggregate the Hispanic population as well.”
In particular, a large number of English-language learners at the school can negatively impact test scores, she said.
Eliot has 67 percent English learners and South Valley has 28 percent, compared to 13 percent at Luigi Aprea and 18 percent at Solorsano.
Another factor contributing to low scores could be the high turnover in administrators, trustee Denise Apuzzo said.
“It was a very turmoil-filled year for the district,” she said. “Obviously I’m disappointed there wasn’t more growth. I hope this year is a better year.”
District staff will pore over the data to identify correlations that might lend insight on how to avoid low achievement and cultivate high performance, said Millhollen. In addition, the district should use self-assessment measures to generate data during the year between state tests and help drive the spread of effective teaching and administrative techniques.
While putting these measures in place will take time, district staff that predate Millhollen – who started this summer – have laid a foundation that should help foster increased achievement in the near future, she said.
“I maintain that this district has a lot of incredibly strong structures in place to get the job done,” she said. “They tilled the soil. They planted the seed. They nurtured the sapling. It’s almost a full tree that I can get shade from. I just need to nurture it more.”
