Though the results of the California High School Exit Exam and
state standards tests released Monday showed students statewide are
improving across the board
– subgroups such as English Learners are still lagging
behind.
Gilroy – Though the results of the California High School Exit Exam and state standards tests released Monday showed students statewide are improving across the board – subgroups such as English Learners are still lagging behind.
EL students in the Gilroy Unified School District performed better than in years past on both the high school exit exam and California Standards Tests, but fell below state figures in most grade levels.
A second blow came Tuesday when the Center on Education Policy released a study, entitled States Try Harder Yet Gap Persists – High School Exit Exams 2005, indicating that EL students have yet to close in on their fluent English counterparts.
“I am seriously concerned that our achievement gap remains unacceptably wide,” said State Superintendent Jack O’Connell in a release. “Of particular concern are the overall results of … our English Learners and special education students. While they have made impressive gains, we must seek extraordinary progress for those students in order to close the achievement gap that persists for all the groups.”
In the past four years, EL students in GUSD have made significant strides in passing both the English Language Arts and math sections of the exit exam.
Districtwide in 2001, only 6 percent of EL students who took the test for the first time passed the math portion and just 18 percent passed the ELA segment. This year, 41 percent of GUSD’s EL students passed the math and 41 percent passed the ELA portions. While growth is apparent – one statistic remains clear: Less than half of all EL students are passing the high school exit exam.
When compared to all students throughout GUSD, 70 percent passed the math section and 78 percent passed the ELA portion, EL students lag about 30 percentage points behind English fluent students.
The class of 2006 is the first to have the pressure of passing the CAHSEE over their heads – their high school diplomas depend on it.
While more GUSD EL students passed the CAHSEE in 2005 than ever before – district officials are not satisfied and are exploring additional methods to help each student graduate.
“We’re in the process right now of bringing all the key players to the task,” said Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Jackie Horejs.
Mount Madonna Continuation High School Principal Sergio Montenegro and Gilroy High School Principal James Maxwell today will pool ideas and examine research with other members of ‘Team CAHSEE,’ a group of administrators and officials helping to design a plan for the year that will allow each student to pass, Horejs said.
“By the time school opens, we will be able to offer to parents of each entering 12th grader who hasn’t yet passed the CAHSEE a plan,” she said.
Some suggestions proposed in the Center on Education Policy’s study include putting more experienced teachers in classrooms of the subjects tested, offering additional staff support for remediation courses, copying the format and content students will be tested on and more professional development of teachers.
Currently, the state supports remediation strategies such as giving students practice tests and study guides. But GUSD officials are thinking beyond booklets and handouts.
According to Horejs, Saturday classes and afterschool tutoring ideas are being considered, though math and ELA intervention classes are already mandatory for seniors who have not passed each section.
“We need to know what specific area is keeping a student from passing … and provide targeted support,” Horejs said.
Individualized student achievement plans will be created for each student who still needs to pass the exam, Horejs said. Currently, there are about 80 seniors at GHS who have yet to pass – and more than a third are EL students.
Parent conferences will be held to ensure that they understand the importance of their child passing the exit exam.
“We’re looking very closely at involving parents to provide support,” Horejs said. “We’ve all got to be working in partnership.”
Critics of the exit exam argue that EL students are put an unfair advantage. The tests are taken in English and some say they do not truly measure an EL student’s competency of subject matter. Primary language support is offered to EL students in some classes, however, ultimately they must pass the exam written in English.
Though the exam is for graduating seniors, the focus on EL achievement is not just in high school.
Four years ago, GUSD teachers started receiving training on how to teach EL students. Horejs believes this training is helping EL students throughout the district improve.
In both middle school and high school, EL students considered at-risk attend double block periods in either the English Language Arts or math, Horejs said.
At Rucker Elementary School, where more than 35 percent of students are EL, English Language Development classes are held for 30 minutes each day to help students become fluent. An additional level of textbooks called English Now! have been ordered for classrooms with more advanced EL students, said Rucker Principal Steve Gilbert.
Rucker teachers are also encouraging students to talk more in class so they practice their vocabulary, he explained.
“The old classroom where you waited to be called on by the teacher – we’re trying to get rid of that,” Gilbert said. “Virtually every teacher in the district has been through training in Literacy Connection … where there’s a tremendous focus on how one learns a second language.”
