Connecting test scores with curriculum Connecting test scores with curriculum (November 04, 2005)

Trustees review what school sites are doing to help low performing students
by Rebecca Guyon

Principals and teachers from Hearst Elementary, Pleasanton Middle, Amador Valley High and Foothill High Schools gave an in-depth overview of what is being done at each school level to support English learning, special education and at-risk students during the Oct. 25 Board of Trustees meeting.

"We are bringing this to the board because there have been questions about what the school sites specifically do with their data, how they work with students and what it looks like in the classroom," said Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Cindy Galbo. During the Sept. 27 and Oct. 11 board meetings, trustees reviewed the latest standardized test and Academic Performance Index scores for the district, as well as the scores for subgroups within each school. Representatives from the school sites were asked to report to the trustees how they are using this data to address areas where students are not succeeding.

Hearst gave an overview of the work being done at the elementary school level to target students who are not reaching basic standards and give them extra support. At the beginning of the school year, teachers are given the data on how well each student in their class performed the previous year. Based on that information, the teacher develops an individualized action plan for the three students who posted the lowest scores. The idea is that by focusing on three specific students, the student will get the extra help he needs to move from the below basic to the basic level. This is not to say other students in the class will be ignored, Hearst Principal Michael Kufal assured the trustees, and in fact, the hope is that the process will also improve the teacher's skills and ultimately help all the students in the class.

Pleasanton Middle School chose to focus on the resources they are providing for economically disadvantaged students since they are one of three Title 1 schools in the district. Title 1 is a federal program that allocates funds to schools so they can provide additional academic support for economically disadvantaged students. Principal John Whitney said the Title 1 funds have gone to offering additional counseling and family outreach for at-risk and EL students, as well as additional bilingual courses, tutoring and a community liaison for the Spanish-speaking community. Math teacher Debbie Mintz also gave an overview of the school's math program, highlighting innovations in getting information to students, such as posting classroom notes online, offering an extra period of math for students who are struggling in the topic and offering math tutoring at all hours of the school day.

Programs for EL students were the focus of the Amador presentation with John Benbenek and Francisco Lopez, two teachers who work with EL students at the school, leading the discussion.

"At Amador, the EL population has grown over the years to 4.8 percent of the total school population," Benbenek said. "Of that number, 85-95 percent of the students are Spanish-speaking."

To address this growing population, the school recently started a new program, putting the most at-risk EL students in an extended class period with a bilingual teacher. Lopez was hired by the district this year to teach that class, and so far has seen success. Of the 20 students in the class, he has an average attendance of 18 students each day, a sign of progress, Lopez said, considering most of these students rarely attended class in the past. Lopez has even started going to other classes in which the students need a translator, specifically biology, even though he is not credentialed in the subject.

Foothill highlighted the work it is doing with special education students. The school offers four full-day special education classes with five full-time teachers. The challenge of special education is that the teachers have to be experts in all subjects and at all grade levels since they teach a spectrum of students, said Foothill Principal Kevin Johnson. To bridge this gap, an algebra teacher at Foothill is now collaborating with the special education teachers to improve math classes for the special education students. This will not only help current students, but also help the special education teachers when they teach math in future courses. The change was made after reviewing the low algebra scores posted by special education students in the last round of standardized tests.

This was the first time the Trustees reviewed the "nuts and bolts" of how schools are addressing subgroup needs, according to Trustee Pat Kernan who, along with his fellow Trustees, said it was helpful to see how data is used to improve curriculum.

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