Morgan Hill Unified School District has entered its first year
of Program Improvement status under the No Child Left Behind Act,
according to state data released today.
Morgan Hill Unified School District has entered its first year of Program Improvement status under the No Child Left Behind Act, according to state data.
The district joins 12 Santa Clara County districts and 300 districts statewide in the Program Improvement ranks.
This means district officials will notify parents of the targets missed, according to assessment coordinator Esther Corral-Carlson. The district is expected to meet 38 Adequate Yearly Progress criteria. The graduation rate and the Academic Performance Index are two. Each of the district’s nine subgroups are expected to have a 95 percent participation rate, which they met for both English and math. Where the district lacked was in the proficiency rates: 45 percent of the students in each subgroup were expected to score proficient or better in English and math. Four of the subgroups – Hispanic and Latino students, English language learners, economically disadvantaged students, and special education students – did not meet the mark in either subject. African-American students were not proficient in math, either.
“We recognize that English learners have the double task of learning English and learning the subject matter concurrently,” Corral-Carlson said. “It can take at least five years for English learners to catch up to native speakers in the academic aspects of the new language.”
Program Improvement is a designation of 2001’s No Child Left Behind Act denoting a Title I school – one that receives federal money – that has failed to make enough academic progress in math and English for two consecutive years. Because the act’s goal is to have all students scoring proficiently by 2014, schools are measured not only as a whole but by subgroups as well. A school that scored below the goal in English or math in any subgroup for two years in the Adequate Yearly Progress report (AYP), the federal system to hold schools and districts accountable, is given the Program Improvement designation.
As a school or district continues through the program, additional options become available to parents and school officials, from the ability for the parent to transfer their student to a non-Program Improvement school to offering supplemental education services to the standard curriculum, according to the state. Only Title I schools or districts, or those that receive federal money, are identified as Program Improvement or not.
In addition to notifying parents of the lacking areas, the district will also revise its educational plan to target these missed areas, Corral-Carlson said.
Interim Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Michael Johnson said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon, “We recognize that it takes focused and intentional actions to make continuous growth.”
Eight of the district’s schools, including both middle schools and both high schools, are not Title I and therefore will not be named Program Improvement.
Just two of Morgan Hill’s seven low-income schools have not yet landed in Program Improvement status under the federal accountability system. Barrett Elementary School and Central Continuation High School have again met all criteria, with high marks in English, math, API, and, for Central, high graduation rates. Also, because it is an alternative school, Central had different criteria, Corral-Carlson said.
But, Jackson will enter its fourth year in Program Improvement status, since it takes two years of meeting the goal to be removed from it. If scores don’t improve next year, Year Five Program Improvement would bring big change to the school. Options for the district would include a restructure, replacing staff and closing the school to reopen it as a charter school, Corral-Carlson said.
As for the Academic Performance Index, the state’s measurement of progress that is released at the same time as the federal Adequate Yearly Progress measure, the district as a whole saw no increase or decrease in its score from last year’s base of 767 to this year, according to the data.
Barrett stayed above the target 800 by one point, scoring 801 on the Academic Performance Index. Central jumped 22 points to 556.
“We are thrilled that our API has increased 88 points over the last two years,” Central Principal Irene Macias-Morriss said. “This is a testament to the diligence of the staff in identifying and meeting each student’s needs. Our students are eager to learn, want to be successful and earn their diploma.”
Barrett is one of five district schools to meet the 800 state goal. The others are Charter School of Morgan Hill with 881; Los Paseos Elementary School with 808; Nordstrom Elementary School with 871; and Paradise Valley Elementary School with 870.
P.A. Walsh Elementary School made a 20-point growth this year to 731 and will therefore again be in Year Three Program Improvement status instead of advancing to Year Four. Burnett Elementary School, which closed in June, did not meet its goal this year and would have been in its fourth year as a Program Improvement school. Burnett students now attend Walsh.
Jackson Elementary School made double-digit improvements with a 794, just six points shy of the 800 mark.
None of the district’s five secondary schools have yet made the 800 mark. The high schools, Ann Sobrato and Live Oak, both made 8-point progress, with Sobrato scoring a 770 and Live Oak scoring 719. Scores at both middle schools dropped, though. Lewis Britton Middle School scored 755, an 18-point drop. Martin Murphy Middle School scored 743, a 16-point drop. Central High School had a 22-point score increase to 556.
Scores:
Score Growth Met all targets?
MHUSD 767 0 No
Barrett ES 801 -1 No
Burnett ES 723 -6 No
Charter School 881 33 Yes
El Toro ES 763 2 No
Jackson ES 794 17 No
Los Paseos ES 808 -34 No
Nordstrom ES 871 2 No
P.A. Walsh ES 731 20 Yes
Paradise Valley ES 870 50 Yes
San Martin ES 768 -5 No
Britton MS 755 -18 No
Martin Murphy MS 743 -16 No
Ann Sobrato HS 770 8 No
Live Oak HS 719 8 No
Central HS 556 22 n/a
AYP: By the Numbers
29: Targets met, of 38
5: Schools met all targets
4: Program Improvement schools
