GILROY
– When stacked up against other schools in the state and
compared to schools just like them, Gilroy public schools still
fall behind the student achievement curve, freshly released test
data suggests. But for the second year in a row, schools
districtwide are closing the gap.
GILROY – When stacked up against other schools in the state and compared to schools just like them, Gilroy public schools still fall behind the student achievement curve, freshly released test data suggests. But for the second year in a row, schools districtwide are closing the gap.
On standardized tests taken two years ago, four Gilroy Unified School District schools ranked among the lowest 20 percent when compared to schools with similar characteristics. Based on tests taken last spring, only one GUSD school – Eliot Elementary – carries that albatross now.
No school in the district ranks higher than the 60th percentile when compared to all schools statewide.
The new data’s brightest spot is the leap all GUSD secondary schools took between 2001 and 2002 when compared against schools with similar characteristics. Gilroy High School and Brownell Middle School both jumped to, essentially, the 70th percentile when in the previous year they ranked in the 40th percentile.
The news is especially welcome at Brownell since it faces state sanctions for failing to meet improvement mandates two years in a row. On standardized exams, such as the Stanford Achievement Test, Brownell’s scores have dropped 13 points since 2000.
“If Brownell is in the top 70 percent of (similar) schools and it’s subject to sanctions, it doesn’t make much sense to me for the state to impose those sanctions,” Superintendent Edwin Diaz said.
Education consultants were supposed to visit Brownell in January to make recommendations for changing curriculum and potentially school management. Due to impending cuts in the state budget, those visits have yet to happen.
South Valley Middle School outranks 60 percent of schools just like it. Two years ago, it was one of the GUSD schools dwelling in the bottom 20 percent when compared to similar schools.
Schools are considered similar when they have equivalent percentages of disadvantaged children, English Language Learners and under-qualified teachers.
The data, released Thursday morning by the California Department of Education, confirms the GUSD’s beliefs that its staff development programs, newly purchased textbooks and intervention for below-grade-level students are paying dividends.
“We’ve been focused on implementing new teaching strategies and we can see them starting to pay off,” Diaz said. “Most of what we’re doing now is relatively new, so the benefits are still to come.”
The statewide and similar schools rankings are based on the results of standardized tests taken in spring 2002 by second- through 11th-graders. Raw scores from multiple tests are converted into a score ranging from 200 to 1,000 points, known as the Academic Performance Index (API).
The API was created after state lawmakers passed legislation in 1999 to hold schools accountable for and monitor more closely student achievement. Each fall, raw scores from the previous spring’s testing are released and new improvement goals are handed down by the state. During winter, the state releases its new rankings, as it did Thursday.
School board trustees will take a closer look at the rankings most likely at their next regular meeting March 6.
One thing they will notice is that improvement for elementary schools within the similar schools ranking has fallen off. Only one school, Las Animas, is ranked higher for 2002 than 2001. Other GUSD elementary schools either stayed the same or fell off one level.
“All that really tells us is that other schools are improving, too,” said Diaz. “I’m not discouraged if a school goes down a (similar schools) ranking, but improves their API (score).”
Raw API scores improved for all four schools that saw their similar schools ranking drop.
Since the API’s inception, the similar schools rankings have met with friction. Designed to cast a “level playing field” for all schools, the system is criticized for not taking crucial data, such as percentage of students with learning disabilities, into account.
Leaving out such data is especially damaging for Eliot Elementary School – the GUSD school that ranks lowest when compared to similar schools. Roughly 210 of Eliot’s 385 students are in the Slingerland program, which works with dyslexic children and kids with other language disabilities.
“Based on our demographics we’re getting compared to schools like Luigi Aprea,” Eliot Principal Diane Elia said. “It’s a real hot button issue for us because it isn’t a fair comparison.”
Luigi Aprea Elementary School is yearly the district’s top performing school. It does not house a Slingerland program.
It is unknown how Luigi Aprea students faired in the 2002 exams. The state never released the school’s scores because in two classes a writing exam was restarted after teachers read the wrong directions, inadvertently violating the state’s strict testing guidelines.
