GILROY
– Mt. Madonna Continuation High School Principal John Perales
may be bald by the end of the week. So may a handful of the
school’s teachers who accepted a challenge from their 140
students.
GILROY – Mt. Madonna Continuation High School Principal John Perales may be bald by the end of the week. So may a handful of the school’s teachers who accepted a challenge from their 140 students.
If students come to school for standardized testing and get the attendance rate required by the state, they can shave the heads of Perales and four male teachers in a post-testing celebration Friday.
“It’s a motivator,” Perales said. “We’ve contacted parents; we’ve sent letters home; we’ve done everything we possibly can to put the word out of how important it is that they show up for testing.”
Public schools across the state are gearing up for national and state tests that assess individual students and determine future school rankings.
Getting the 95 percent participation required by the federal government under No Child Left Behind has proven difficult for many schools – particularly high schools, as is the case in Gilroy. But this year, things are looking up as Gilroy High School, which was within a hair’s breadth of meeting the 95 percent last year, looks to make the grade this year. Meanwhile, Mt. Madonna’s gimmicks seem to be paying off.
The school hosted potluck lunches during the first two days of testing last week and will partner with the city for a barbecue Wednesday, but the big shindig will be Thursday and Friday. Thanks to a partnership with the City of Gilroy, Gilroy Rotary and the Gilroy Gang Task Force, students will attend a carnival and potluck, complete with a fun jump, whipped cream pie toss, raffle prize and, maybe, haircuts.
“We’ve got to meet this goal, that’s got to be a connection for us,” Perales said.
Last year, Mt. Madonna had 76.7 percent participation for the English-language arts test and 82.1 percent for the math, well below the 95 percent required of the general population and each ethnic or socioeconomic subgroup.
So far this year, attendance is at 97 percent for the English-language arts portion of the California Assessment Test (CAT/6) and 93 percent for the math portion. There are still make-up days this week.
“It’s going to be very close,” Perales said.
If a school fails to improve its attendance, it also fails to show ”adequate yearly progress.” If Mt. Madonna or GHS do not get 95 percent this year, they could enter ”program improvement,” a seven-year series of school sanctions.
Before the first day of testing last week, Perales got on the school’s intercom to explain to students that testing is important not only so the school can meet its mandated goals, but so students and teachers know the level of each student. He again encouraged students after attendance the first few days of testing was noticeably high.
The school continues to be aggressive in pursuing habitual truants. Because it is a program with many students who have struggled or considered dropping out, the school must battle behaviors that sometimes have existed for years.
“Dealing with those types of patterns in attendance and then trying to get focused in seven days, it’s been tough,” Perales said. “But overall, our attendance has gone through the roof this year.”
In fact, Mt. Madonna’s attendance rate this year was 92.09 percent, up from 88.33 percent last year. In comparison, GHS students attended 92.58 percent of school days this year, compared with 92.86 last year.
Because of that, students have a lot of rewards coming, Perales said.
“That’s very good for a continuation program,” Perales said. “We’ve done some things here at the school – the majority of it has just been awareness: calling home, sending letters, having conferences with students and parents about the importance of attendance.”
At a recent meeting for continuation high school principals, Perales said, the subject of attendance gimmicks such as these came up.
Some had reservations, as did Perales himself, about rewarding students for something they already should be doing. Perales said he still is not sure what he thinks of the strategy.
“We deal with a special population, and we have to think out of the box in order to accomplish some of the things we want to,” he said. “I really feel that the back side of things is that we’re sending a message that this is a big deal. … I guess if we get 95 percent – which I think we will – I guess that it works.
“We’re going to pull out all the stops and make sure that we make that goal.”
GHS isn’t using similar tactics – just yet.
The school hasn’t used any new strategies this year but continued to offer free breakfast before school as it has in the past. Principal Bob Bravo said it appeared fewer students were actually eating free breakfast this year, but attendance seems to be improved.
“For some of the exams, the attendance was better than others” because tests are given on certain days, Bravo said. “On a couple of tests, we were able to go over 95 right off the bat, but on some of them we were at 93 or 92 (percent).”
GHS students began their testing last week and are finishing with make-ups today.
The school was within sight of meeting the participation rate last year: 91.6 percent of students took the English part of the exam and 93.1 percent took the math. The Hispanic/Latino and English learner subgroups had lower attendance than their counterparts.
Students who missed the regular testing days last week are being called out of class for make-ups, Bravo said.
