GILROY
– An outside consultant who orchestrated instructional reform in
Gilroy public schools will step aside and let the district itself,
with help from one of its retired principals, lead instructional
reform next school year.
GILROY – An outside consultant who orchestrated instructional reform in Gilroy public schools will step aside and let the district itself, with help from one of its retired principals, lead instructional reform next school year.
Gilroy Unified School District is entering a new phase of its bold three-year reform effort to get 90 percent of its students performing at grade level on state mandated exams. Starting next year, GUSD will receive funding from a Stupski Foundation grant without having to hire an outside consultant to oversee a host of staff development programs that fall under the reform effort’s umbrella.
The move toward greater self-oversight is a sign Gilroy reform efforts are on the right track, at least in the eyes of foundation officials. In 2000, 90 percent of Gilroy schools scored in the 600-point range or lower on the state’s Academic Performance Index. Based on the most recently released scores, 93 percent of GUSD schools now rank in the 600-point range and above.
API scores range from 200 to 1,000 points. The state’s goal is for all schools to score 800 on the API in roughly 10 years.
“The story of Gilroy is one we are sharing in lots of other (school districts) around the country,” said Jeff Nelsen of Focus on Results, the educational consulting firm that oversaw GUSD reform efforts. “The progress that’s been made here is fantastic – it is not typical. I work with (school districts) that have
enor-mous improve-ments to make in their test scores and I use Gilroy as an example to show those improve-ments can be done.”
Although several indicators suggest student performance in Gilroy is on an upswing, the district’s self-initiated goal of having 90 percent of its students performing at grade level is a ways off.
Based on 2002 test scores, about half of GUSD students are at grade level in math and reading. This year’s scores will be available in the fall.
The Stupski Foundation grants have ranged from $820,000 to $922,000. The funds were used to train principals and teacher leaders at each site in the latest methods for improving student achievement. The program will be expanded to include more teachers next year.
Former Antonio Del Buono Principal Pat Midtgaard, who retired at the end of this school year, will now fill Nelsen’s shoes in a part-time consulting role. She will, essentially, train principals and teachers on state-of-the-art instructional methods.
Midtgaard’s former school is perhaps the best example of student performance improvements in Gilroy. Antonio Del Buono’s API score jumped 60 points from scores released in 2001-02 to scores released in 2002-03.
Rucker Elementary School had the next highest improvement in GUSD with a 33-point jump.
