Burnett, Jackson and P.A. Walsh are considered ‘program
improvement’ campuses
Morgan Hill – What the staffs of Burnett Elementary, Jackson Elementary and P.A. Walsh Elementary schools want the community to understand is that their schools are academically strong despite federal sanctions recently issued.
The three schools in the Morgan Hill Unified School District were named “program improvement” schools by the California Department of Education as results from the 2005-06 testing released in late August.
Schools that receive Title I funds, federal money allocated to sites with a significant number of low-income students, and fail to meet adequate Yearly Progress for two consecutive years are labeled as Program Improvement.
Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers President Donna Foster told school trustees Sept. 12 that the schools’ scores as a whole, not just the subgroup scores, reveal they’re doing well academically.
“You have to put this in the proper perspective; for example, look at Jackson; this is not an under-performing school,” she said. “One very small component of their school didn’t meet the numbers. But these are all good schools, with good teachers, good staff.”
According to information from the state, for this school year, 639 California schools were newly identified for program improvement, while 104 came out of program improvement for a total of 2,215 schools statewide, which is approximately one in four schools.
Foster told school trustees that the local union and the California Federation of Teachers are advocating changes to the requirements levied by the federal “No Child Left Behind” legislation.
“We are continuing our political lobbying around this issue,” she said.
A change is necessary, she added, “Because we’re going to hit a statistical logjam here where none of us is able to meet that goal.”
The federal requirements ask for a certain percentage of students at each school to test at the “proficient” level, and the percentage will increase until, by the 2013-14 school year, 100 percent of students should test “proficient.”
MHUSD Director of Curriculum and Assessment Pat Blanar said for elementary and middle schools, 24.4 percent of students had to be proficient in English/language arts and 26.5 percent in math; the numbers will stay the same for next year, but for the 2007-08 school year, there’s a “huge jump,” she said, to 35.2 percent for English/language arts and to 37 percent for math.
“Every year after that it goes up,” she said.
MHUSD Superintendent Alan Nishino said the schools just had a few students that either didn’t test or didn’t score at the “basic” level on the test.
Burnett Elementary School missed the threshold in English\language arts for Hispanic students by five students and for socio-economically disadvantaged students by four students. Jackson Elementary School was short by two students in English/language arts for socio-economically disadvantaged students and for English learners by one student. Jackson Elementary also missed the threshold in mathematics for socio-economically disadvantaged students by four students and for English learners by one student. P. A. Walsh was short three students for English learners.
The scores that the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) was based on, the Academic Performance Index, showed good news for the district, despite the three schools being named program improvement.
Ten of 14 schools in the district made significant gains, reaching their school growth targets. Six of those schools made double digit growth: Barrett Elementary, 20 points; El Toro Elementary, 18 points; Los Paseos Elementary, 23 points; Nordstrom Elementary, 13 points; Paradise Valley Elementary, 22 points; and San Martin/Gwinn Elementary, 35 points.
Nishino said he and district officials are proud of the positive aspects the scores show and are pleased with the work of students and school teachers and staff. However, he said, there is work to be done at not only the three program improvement schools but also districtwide; there is always room for improvement, he added.
By law, the district must allow transfers from the schools in program improvement and pay for transportation if needed. MHUSD sent out letters to parents of students at Burnett, Jackson and P.A. Walsh. The district must also provide “technical assistance” to the schools and provide professional development for staff. The schools must revise their school plan within three months and must use 10 percent of their Title 1 funds for staff development.
