Gilroy
– More than half of Gilroy schools failed to meet federal
student performance goals or improve their state-granted scores
this year, based on information released by the California
Department of Education Tuesday. The schools accountability report
comes on the heels of recently released test score
s that showed Gilroy student improvement is at a standstill.
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – More than half of Gilroy schools failed to meet federal student performance goals or improve their state-granted scores this year, based on information released by the California Department of Education Tuesday. The schools accountability report comes on the heels of recently released test scores that showed Gilroy student improvement is at a standstill.
Eight of Gilroy Unified School District schools failed to make “Adequate Yearly Progress” (AYP) toward the federal government’s No Child Left Behind Act target of having all students proficient in math and English by 2014. Six schools did meet this year’s requirements, as did the district as a whole.
“There’s good news and there’s some very, very disturbing news,” Superintendent Edwin Diaz said. “As a district, we met our AYP, which means as a district, we’re meeting subgroup and overall student performance goals. …
“What all this is based on is the California Standards Test, and no matter which system we’re looking at, the fact is that we only have 35 percent of students at proficient or advanced.”
This year, adequate progress means that at least 95 percent of students took required tests, with 12 percent of those proficient in English-language arts and 12.8 percent proficient in math, based on scores released earlier this month as part of the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program. Each student subgroup must meet these requirements as well, including low-income students and those whose first language is not English.
While the district made adequate progress, Diaz said, it is not improving at the rate it should be. Last year, seven schools didn’t make AYP.
GUSD’s lack of progress this year also is evident in state’s accountability measure, the Academic Performance Index (API), released Tuesday as well.
Six schools showed declining API scores from last year, while five schools improved their scores. All schools and districts are expected to improve each year.
“This is a huge concern, to have so many schools go down,” Diaz said. “We’re not used to seeing that.”
California assigns scores of 200 to 1,000 points to schools and districts based on how much they are improving. The target for schools is 800, which only Luigi Aprea has reached in this district.
Although the district’s overall API held steady at 683, there was little middle ground with individual schools’ dramatic ups and downs.
“At Gilroy High School and El Roble, you have two points (of improvement or decline),” Diaz said. “But everywhere else, you drop a lot, or you gain a lot, and that’s a disturbing trend.”
Last year, every school improved its API, most by more than 20 points.
API is unlike AYP because it judges schools based on improvement over last year’s scores, while AYP judges against a set benchmark.
“From a compliance standpoint, they’re both very important,” Diaz said.
Schools that have not made adequate progress two years in a row face sanctions – from allowing students to transfer, to a complete school take-over – if they fail again the following year. Although it appears as many as four GUSD schools could face sanctions in 2005, because they failed for the past two years, it was unclear whether that is really the case. The list of schools that will be placed under sanctions will be released next month and GUSD’s director of student assessment was out of the district and unavailable Tuesday.
The sanctions only apply to schools that receive Title I money because they have a high percentage of low-income students. Luigi Aprea is the only non-Title I GUSD school.
Schools statewide fared better in meeting adequate progress, but worse with the state’s measure. About one-third of state schools fell short of the federal goals, compared with 54 percent last year.
O’Connell said part of the improvement comes from more high schools meeting the requirement that 95 percent of students take the California High School Exit Exam. Gilroy High was one school that tested too few students last year, but made the mark this year.
On the API, schools statewide fell far short of last year’s record improvement. Slightly more than 60 percent of schools raised their API scores, compared to 90 percent in 2003.
“That’s keeping with the mixed test results that we announced a couple weeks ago that does show some slowing in the rate of improvement,” said Jack O’Connell, state superintendent of public instruction, when releasing the progress report Tuesday morning. “I still believe that overall, it’s encouraging that most of our schools are continuing to see improvement in students’ academic achievement.”
In GUSD, most schools that didn’t meet adequate progress failed on one of 21 criteria – usually, the proficiency level of English learners in English-language arts.
“They have to analyze why that happened and come up with a way to correct that,” Diaz said. “Frankly, we probably needed to do more of that last year.”
Diaz said the schools will have to dig deeper, looking at individual students’ results to see what English-learner-specific strategies should be emphasized, or put into practice if they’re not already used.
“This is just another indicator of the fact that we need to do something more dramatic or more intense in this area around the students who are below proficient and advanced,” Diaz said.
By the numbers – Who made it and who didn’t
6 Schools made AYP
8 Schools did not
5 Schools improved their API scores
6 Schools lowered their API scores
4 Schools could be sanctioned
2004 Accountability Progress Report
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) is the federal government’s accountability system. To make AYP, schools and districts must have a 95 percent participation rate and a minimum percentage of students proficient in subject matter, including subgroups.
Academic Performance Index (API) is the state’s accountability system. Schools are given a score from 200 to 1000 and must improve their score each year.
Made AYP? Why not? API Up/down from 03-04
GUSD Yes NA 683 same
Antonio Del Buono Yes NA 752 +25
El Roble No* proficiency: English learners 683 – 2
Eliot Yes NA 676 +8
Glen View Yes NA 651 – 9
Las Animas No* proficiency: English learners 639 – 9
Luigi Aprea Yes NA 829 -8**
Rod Kelley Yes NA 704 +18
Rucker No* proficiency: English learners 723 – 8
Ascencion Solorsano No proficiency: Latino; low-income; English learners 703 NA
Brownell Academy No proficiency: Low-income; English learners 704 +17
South Valley No* proficiency: Latino; Low-income; English learners 653 – 21
Gilroy High Yes NA 656 +2
Community Day No based on API: no valid score, too few students
Mt. Madonna No too few students tested; and low API score 468 NA
MACSA El Portal No based on API: score too low (must be 560) 501 – 9
* school also did not make Adequate Yearly Progress last year and could face sanctions if they fail next year
** if score is over 800, a decrease doesn’t count against a school
