Like many other school districts throughout the state and across
the country, the Morgan Hill Unified School District is in Program
Improvement (PI) status this year.
Like many other school districts throughout the state and across the country, the Morgan Hill Unified School District is in Program Improvement (PI) status this year.
Program Improvement is a designation applied to individual schools and to entire districts when some portion of their students fail to perform at targeted levels on certain standardized tests over two consecutive years. The system of setting targets and testing students is a part of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), which is a program with a great name and a lot of internal flaws. Because of this, within a few years virtually every district in California is expected to be in Program Improvement, along with those in many other states.
One component of NCLB requires states to adopt performance standards in reading/language arts and mathematics which all students are expected to master. Levels of achievement are identified as Advanced, Proficient, Basic, Below Basic, and Far Below Basic. Each year, higher and higher percentages of a district’s population are expected to reach scores of Proficient or Advanced, with 100 percent expected to do so by 2013-14.
This, unfortunately, is not possible. The system does not recognize, for example, that districts receive new students every year with no English language fluency, and they are tested with the rest of the population, in English, after only one year. Similarly, there is no forgiveness for students whose parents are illiterate and who have absolutely no support at home, nor for students who are homeless, nor for those who have atrocious attendance records. Schools and districts which do not reach their goals fall into Program Improvement.
In addition, states such as California, which determined early on to set high standards, are penalized by the system. (Some states simply set the bar low so that it would be easy for students to achieve proficiency.) Believe me when I tell you that the standards are probably not what you remember learning in school.
You might be forgiven for thinking, on the basis of what I have written thus far, that we teachers are bitter about the demands of the system, and resistant to any expectations of accountability.
However, I know that I am not alone among my colleagues when I say that while I do not accept blame, I do accept responsibility.
Yes, I am unhappy that students who are English Language Learners are required to be taught and tested in English, even though language acquisition research suggests that this is harmful.
Yes, I am unhappy that we do not have free preschool for children whose families are unable to provide much in the way of early childhood education; walk into any kindergarten classroom and you can already see a divide between the advantaged and the disadvantaged.
Yes, I am unhappy that years of declining funding for education have led to deteriorating facilities and increasingly crowded classrooms.
Yes, I am unhappy when I hear would-be politicians suggest that all we need in education is a tighter belt. All of this gets in the way of leaving no child behind.
However, I accept that teachers and schools are the best hope these children have for success. And while NCLB is fundamentally flawed, it does offer us valuable data about our student population.
In Morgan Hill, while the majority of students score either Proficient or Advanced on the standardized tests, there are certain subgroups for whom this is not true: English Language Learners (ELL), Hispanics, socio-economically disadvantaged, special education, and in math only, African-Americans. Being a PI district does not mean we are providing a substandard program for our students. It does mean, though, that the majority of students in the identified subgroups are not succeeding through our program. We need to find ways to turn that around.
Across the district, teachers and administrators are seeking ways to do that.
At Sobrato, we are working in subject area teams to redesign our lessons to better reach those segments of the student population that are having the greatest difficulties. We are collecting data to measure the success or failure of our plans, and then sharing with our colleagues so that we can replicate whatever works for our students. In the process, we improve the quality of instruction for all students, and that is undeniably a good thing.
Jeanie Wallace teaches math and social studies at Ann Sobrato High School, has two children who attend schools in the district and is writing on behalf on the Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers.
