Brownell and South Valley middle schools remain in program
improvement
Gilroy – The majority of local schools met statewide targets and made substantial gains on the Academic Performance Index, but the outcome from the federal measuring stick isn’t nearly as cheery, according to results released by the state Thursday.
“I’m really excited about the API growth,” said South Valley Principal John Perales. “It’s awesome … AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) it’s a different story.”
Only two of the district’s 12 schools failed to make their 2005-06 API growth goal and most jumped by 20 points or more. Mt. Madonna High School, Gilroy’s continuation school, even managed to achieve a 113-point increase bringing its score to 700.
Nearly every site inched a bit closer to the statewide goal of 800. Luigi Aprea Elementary School, with a score of 862, is the only Gilroy site that has managed to meet and exceed that target.
But schools didn’t fare as well under federal guidelines with six failing to make Adequate Yearly Progress. Five of those sites, Eliot and Rucker elementary, Brownell and South Valley middle and Gilroy High schools, now must wear the undesirable Program Improvement tag.
If a Title I school – sites with a significant number of low-income students receive the federal funding – fails to meet AYP for two consecutive years they are labeled PI for two years. El Roble Elementary School is not yet considered a PI school because this is the first year it did not make AYP.
South Valley far exceeded its API growth target of seven, moving from 665 to 688, a 23-point gain. But because the middle school failed to meet one of the 19 AYP criteria, it entered its third year as a Program Improvement school.
Students met the math measurement this time around, the area they missed on last year’s test, but English language learners fell 1.7 percent short on the English section.
“I love my kids,” Perales said. “I hate that we have that PI label.”
Perales said he’s proud of his staff and they plan to celebrate their significant API gains. But they’re also ready to “roll up our sleeves and go to work.”
The middle school principal is optimistic about the future. He already has a plan in place that involves continued focused instruction.
Other sites with significant Hispanic populations, such as Eliot Elementary School, continue to struggle. The east side elementary school missed its API growth target, dropping by five points instead of making the six-point required gain.
Eliot also failed to make AYP and entered its first year in Program Improvement. Brownell Middle School entered its second year, while both Rucker Elementary and Gilroy High schools began their first year as PI sites.
Glen View Elementary School, which has a smaller English learner population than Eliot but at 50 percent is still substantial, managed to move up by 19 points, meeting both AYP and API targets.
“We’re definitely very pleased with our results,” said Glen View Principal Marilyn Ayala. “We moved 19 points which we’re very proud of and very pleased with our student progress overall.”
Ayala said she attributes much of the success to their targeted teaching practice, weekly collaboration and the extensive data analysis. Still, like every Gilroy school, minus Luigi Aprea, the school has yet to meet the statewide goal of 800.
“Of course we still have work to do and we’re well aware of that,” Ayala said. “So we definitely still have our work cut out for us but were moving in the right direction”
Gilroy High Principal James Maxwell was disappointed to learn that his school had not hit 700, which he called “kind of a milestone.”
Their improvement in math on the California Standards Test helped, giving them a 10-point gain on the API, Maxwell pointed out. But their English learners didn’t meet the math criteria, causing the school to not make AYP.
“That’s the next step,” Maxwell said. “We have to study exactly where that fall down was and we have to pinpoint it.”
Ascencion Solorsano Middle School staffers were happy to learn that their students met all state and federal requirements and exceeded their growth goal.
“We’re very happy,” Principal Sal Tomasello said. “Our target was one and to surpass that by 10 … we’re very excited.”
Tomasello attributes the school’s success to their gradual growth model. Solorsano opened four years ago with an enrollment of about 200 students and added more students and teachers annually. Last year an additional 13 staffers were added and this year 11 more are on campus.
“So we grew gradually and I think that has really helped in the development of this school,” Tomasello said. “And I think one of our main reasons for success is teacher collaboration.”
At Gilroy’s continuation school, teachers spent the day celebrating their remarkable progress. Mt. Madonna High School jumped from a 587 to 700, not too far behind the 122-point improvement achieved last year.
“I brought them in this morning,” said Principal Sergio Montenegro. “They were yelling and screaming.”
California students achieved an 11-point gain on the 2005-06 API score, moving to a statewide average of 720. In addition, the median score over the past three years for all schools increased growing from 710 in 2003 to 745.
Still, only 52 percent of schools statewide met their API growth targets this year, a drop from the 68 percent in 2004-05. API scores range from a low of 200 to a high of 1,000. A school’s annual growth target is 5 percent of the difference between its API base and the state goal of 800.
In addition, in order to meet their API target, subgroups such as English learners and low-income students, must show improvement on the standardized tests. The API and AYP are based on the results of state assessments released in August, including the Standardized Testing and Reporting program and California High School Exit Exam.
