I was doing a little research about Gilroy High School, and
found my way to greatschools.net. This is a site packed with
information about schools all over the country.
I was doing a little research about Gilroy High School, and found my way to greatschools.net. This is a site packed with information about schools all over the country. While there, I looked at the achievement records of all the schools in Gilroy.
That site led me to check up on the progress at El Portal Leadership Academy. I was just thinking last week that I haven’t read too much about the school of late. I took a look at the test results of the El Portal from last year, and they are dismal. I am wondering how in good conscience the Board of Education can continue to support this school.
I almost didn’t write this column. Last year, I got a letter from a parent of an El Portal student, chiding me for “kicking them when they were down.” I took that to heart. I have no personal vendetta against the school. There are some very dedicated people working at El Portal, and I am certain that their hearts are in the right place. But they are failing the students, it is that simple. The school, on GUSD imposed probation, did worse last year than the year before. No measurable progress has been made, in fact the reverse is true. If the test scores were as abysmal at any other school in Gilroy, heads would roll. But this being a charter school, under the auspices of MACSA and not the district, the bleeding is allowed to continue.
What bothered me as I read the school’s report was that I was totally caught off guard. I assumed that progress was being made at the school. This pathetic performance on the California Standards testing prompted me to look through the archives of the Dispatch. Since last spring, only a handful of articles have been written about the school, so it was fairly easy to catch up on all of them. I read some quotes in The Dispatch archives that I find very perplexing.
From The Dispatch August 13: “I think they’ve made a lot of progress in solidifying their program and improving their staff,” said School Board Trustee Jaime Rosso, who is the district liaison for El Portal. “I’m very hopeful that all their students will continue to show progress and improvement in their schoolwork.”
Now this sounds benign enough, just the kind of thing a Trustee should say about a school. Unfortunately, there is no real evidence of any progress or improvement.
I also don’t know the value of “solidifying” a program that is obviously not coming close to meeting state standards.
Two days later, on August 15, in an article about GUSD progress: “Charter school El Portal also showed a significant decrease in students scoring at proficient or above in English. In 2002, 14 percent of the students reached that level, while in 2003, only 5 percent did. The math scores did not change. ‘To have a more accurate assessment we measure our progress student by student,’ said Noemi Garcia Reyes, principal of El Portal. With only 77 students taking the test, and some students leaving the school as new ones came in, the difference does not necessarily reflect how the school as a whole is progressing,’ Reyes said.”
Huh? Standardized testing is done for each student individually. Testing is by nature an assessment tool. If any reader can decipher that response from Ms. Reyes, please drop me a line.
There are many pieces to this puzzle, and many questions remain. The sad truth is that MACSA should get out of the education business because they are failing to adequately educate the students in their charge. They are now failing hundreds of students at two schools in Gilroy and San Jose. GUSD should no longer allow MACSA to come into our middle schools to recruit students. If they do, I would like equal time to address the students and parents about academic achievement at El Portal.
I realize that this sounds harsh. I am thinking about those students, those juniors at El Portal. Three years ago, they were promised an education that would prepare them to succeed in the UC system. Today, MACSA is hoping that they will be able to pass the CAHSEE and apply to college. The goals which MACSA had for El Portal were lofty to be sure, but they aimed high. Now, they are aiming low and at severe risk of graduating students who could not even fill out a college application.
The initial bleeding has now become hemorrhaging. Will GUSD be brave and compassionate enough to pull the plug?
