Gilroy
– There should be such a sense of urgency with student test
scores that kids who are below standard get immediate help from
both teachers and parents, school board trustees and district
officials say. And, with any luck, pressing the issue will help
spark a lasting improvement in scores
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – There should be such a sense of urgency with student test scores that kids who are below standard get immediate help from both teachers and parents, school board trustees and district officials say. And, with any luck, pressing the issue will help spark a lasting improvement in scores.
The district has already laid out its plans for raising test scores and measuring accountability, using a more school- and grade level-based focus. During a board study session on this year’s Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) results Thursday, Trustee Tom Bundros asked that the approach to disappointing test scores be from an even more basic level, by sounding the alarm quickly and frequently when students are under-performing.
The big picture, Bundros said, is that the district has a large percentage of kids not proficient in language or math, according to the state tests.
“Why haven’t alarm bells been going off before this?” he asked, noting that students’ standards-based report cards should have indicated there was a problem before this fall.
Math scores at the middle and high schools has been a concern for a while, Superintendent Edwin Diaz said, as they’ve dropped for three years in a row at Gilroy High.
Gilroy Unified School District needs to put in place a system for constant feedback, Diaz said, which is what it’s trying to do through its Accountability Plan. Teachers and schools will be choosing how they’ll take a sort of academic snapshot of students on an almost weekly basis.
“If we were really data-driven, if we’re really data-focused, we have to have some systems to make those changes before the end of the year” and before the state releases test scores, Diaz said.
In English-language arts last school year, six of eight elementary schools – Rod Kelley and Antonio Del Buono excepted – had significant decreases at various grade levels. For example, 8 percent fewer third graders at Luigi Aprea – 48 percent total – met the standards last year than in the previous year.
At the middle school level, sixth graders did not improve language scores and students in grades seven and eight dropped their scores.
At the high school, language scores fell significantly. Ten percent fewer sophomores – 34 percent total – met the standards.
In math, it was more critical. Decreases were more widespread, with the number of eighth-graders scoring at the proficient level dropping 12 percentage points, and ninth-graders dropping 21 percentage points. Gifted students in grades eight to 11 saw the biggest math drops overall: 27 percentage points in eighth grade; 31 percentage points in ninth grade.
There should be more alarm bells going off, Diaz said.
“And action taken,” Bundros said. “We don’t just say, ‘Johnny doesn’t know his math tables.’ We do something.”
He and other trustees suggested urgency at the parent/student level, not just within the district.
If a student isn’t meeting standards, the parent should hear about it from the teacher right away, Bundros said.
Trustee Bob Kraemer suggested Saturday intervention classes for students who continue to under-perform.
Parents also should be getting a call about homework if it is under par, Trustee Dave McRae said, and could be invited in for a conference with literacy facilitators.
Diaz said it would be easiest to create a sense of urgency on a smaller scale, say, from kindergarten to second grade, so the district can really “create a culture” around raising the bar.
More attention should be placed inside the classroom, Bundros said, even if it means returning resource teachers – who demonstrate lessons, coach other teachers and sometimes work one-on-one with students – to a classroom. The district also plans to give teachers in each grade level a free half-day several times a semester, to look at their goals and pick out what’s working.
“Take advantage of that low-hanging fruit you’ve got today,” Bundros said.
Without time for collaboration, Diaz said, teachers won’t be able to fully address the holes in students’ learning. They need the time to look over and discuss data together. And without the teacher facilitators, he said, much of the staff development already completed would be a waste of money.
“I think you’re right: At a certain point, being out of the classroom, you’re not going to get the same result from kids,” Diaz said.
It will be the board’s job to look at each school’s plan for the year with more scrutiny than in past years. Trustees will be looking to ensure that schools identify specific places for improvement in reading, writing and math; plan which strategies they’ll use to address them; and choose how they will measure progress.
The board will go over those plans with school principals in the upcoming weeks.
