River Oaks Elementary's unique success

On behalf of the River Oaks staff, I am writing in response to the article "Success Stories" by Jennifer Bonnett on Sept. 10.

We commend Ms. Bonnett's intentions to compliment River Oaks Elementary in the Galt Joint Union School District for its continued academic success as measured by the state's standardized tests. While the staff is very proud and honored to be recognized by the Lodi News-Sentinel, we would like to clarify the student demographics of River Oaks. We know the intention of this article was to highlight River Oaks for consistently scoring an API score over 800 for all subgroups.

When reading this article, however, one may interpret that the demographics of our school are favorable to high test scores and therefore the contributing factors to our success as a school.

The STAR testing scores are reported by significant subgroups. For the 2008 testing year, River Oaks was a significant subgroup for English Learners (ELs), Hispanics, whites and socioeconomically disadvantaged (SED). When considering the 391 second-fifth grade students tested, 18 percent were ELs, 38 percent Hispanic, 53 percent white and 43 percent SED. As duly noted by Ms. Bonnett, all of these subgroups have consistently scored an API over 800. When considering these subgroups, the teachers and support staff should be applauded for consistently meeting AYP targets and meeting the state's API goal of 800.

River Oaks is a high-achieving school due to the extraordinary instructional practices, collaboration and precise data analysis. Students receive great first teaching in the classrooms and there are strategic interventions in place for students not meeting grade level standards. Our highly trained staff meets the diverse needs of all learners. In grades K-1, our EL population is 37 percent and our SED population is 51 percent. Due to the school's exceptional English Language Development classes and Spanish Primary Language Instruction in grades K-3, we meet district goals for reclassifying ELs. Due to this reclassification process, our percentage of ELs significantly decreases as our students enter the intermediate grade levels.

We deeply thank you for sharing our success story and greatly appreciate your efforts to recognize this California Distinguished School.

Lois Yount
Principal
River Oaks Elementary
Galt