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November 19th, 2009
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Three area districts fail to meet state-set academic goals
Lodi Unified School District met only 34 of its 46 goals set by the government, compared to 39 of 46 the year before. That's what figures released Tuesday in the state's annual Accountability Progress Report show.
The so-called Growth API rate reflects fewer goals being met in a district that had met all but one of the requirements in 2007.
Find your school's results
Superintendent Cathy Nichols-Washer said the bar is set at about 11 percent higher each year, so it becomes more difficult to reach the targets, especially if the target was not met the previous year.
"That would mean the growth needed would be more than 11 percent," she said.
Although they are not meeting the state-set goals, this year's report shows that Lodi's 21,087 tested students as a whole are improving. The districtwide Academic Performance Index (API) score — calculated differently than AYPs — rose slightly.
The No Child Left Behind Act requires schools and school districts to meet a variety of academic performance goals in order to reach its Academic Yearly Progress rate. None of the area's three largest districts met their AYP, although more schools locally met the threshold.
"We have a lot to celebrate and also many challenges to work on this year," said Nichols-Washer, who pointed to two schools — Lois E. Borchardt and Julia Morgan elementary schools — that exceeded the 800 AYP goal, with Tokay Colony and George Lincoln Mosher elementary schools extremely close to 800. "What is most exciting is the tremendous growth achieved by 14 sites."
Heritage Primary School went up by 63 points, Lakewood Elementary School by 42, Plaza Robles High School by 43, Delta Sierra Middle School by 43, Christa McAuliffe Middle School by 35, and Liberty High School by 83.
"Also, our schools that were in the 800s last year continue to show strong growth," said the superintendent.
Nichols-Washer commended the district's teachers, principals, support staff, students and parents for their focused efforts on instruction and learning. "Everyone worked extremely hard last year under very difficult circumstances to make sure that student needs were addressed," she said.
This year, there are plans already in place to address the specific needs of English-language learners. "We are also going to analyze our intervention programs for students reading below grade level (since) the data also shows that math at the middle and high school levels is an area that needs to be addressed," she said.
Contact reporter Jennifer Bonnett at jenniferb@lodinews.com.
What is the API?
API scores are released twice a year to rank schools and track growth at a statewide level. The first, released in the spring, is a base figure, while the ones released this week reveal if the school is improving and has met its growth targets. Those make up the AYP scores.Both are calculated by the California Department of Education and help determine how much state funding a campus can receive based on what goals each school has met.
Scores from the California Standards Tests, which are part of the STAR program, and the state-mandated high school exit exam figures are used to determine a school's Academic Performance Index, or API. Both CAHSEE and STAR results were released last month.
This year's growth rate was calculated from results of statewide testing in the spring. For more information about how figures are calculated, visit www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ar/.
News-Sentinel staff
Who's the best?
The state index ranges from 200 to 1,000 points, and although all schools would like to score at or above the 800-point benchmark, few Galt or Lodi schools have achieved that goal.Forty-two percent of all California schools are now at or above the overall statewide target API of 800, compared to 24 percent in Lodi Unified.
The district's schools with the highest APIS for 2009 are University Public and Elkhorn with scores of 939 and 981, respectively.
Galt elementary district shows progress
Students in the Galt Joint Union Elementary District met 23 of the 25 state-set goals.When it came to AYP scores, Lake Canyon and Valley Oaks elementary schools saw the largest gain, from 792 to 826 and 737 to 769, respectively.
Two schools, however, fell. River Oaks Elementary School — which scored at or above the statewide performance target of 800 in 2008 — fell 25 points, while McCaffrey Middle School dropped 37.
Galt Joint Union Elementary School Superintendent Karen Schauer chalks McCaffrey's drop up to changes during the 2008-09 school year, the first year two middle schools merged into one without sixth-grade students.
She is confident there will be improvement next year based upon increased attention to instructional quality and ongoing monitoring of individual and subgroup student performance.
She is proud that the district now has three schools — Lake Canyon, Marengo Ranch and River Oaks elementary schools — that have exceeded the state's target rate, but recognizes there is still work to be done in meeting the AYP target for students with disabilities.
"It truly takes a learning community to support all children learning, and we are taking bold steps to strengthen student achievement," Schauer said.
The district has already put into place efforts to specifically monitor and support the ongoing performance of every student and every subgroup, including students with disabilities, according to the superintendent.
Among those is the new Great First Teaching program, the district's major goal to strengthen student achievement through coaching, in-class instructional assistant support and on-going data use.
Galt high school district challenging state
Galt Joint Union High School District met 19 of its 22 government-set goals. However the last two years, the district had met all of them.The figures do not take into account scores from continuation schools, so Estrellita's past scores weren't calculated into the AYP.
This year, Galt High School's score went up by two points while Estrellita High School dropped 27. Last year, the continuation school tumbled close to 150 points in the annual progress report after making huge gains in 2007. Like Liberty High School in Lodi, however, the testing pool is quite small.
Audrey Kilpatrick, the district's interim superintendent, was still reviewing data Tuesday and plans to give a report to the board at the Oct. 13 meeting. At that time, she said, the district will address any specific target areas in need.
Meanwhile, the district plans to challenge the department of education's claim that it did not meet the AYP on English-language arts section. "We are in contact with them and hope to have this resolved by the board meeting," Kilpatrick added.
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Lodian wrote on Sep 22, 2009 11:15 AM:
Pat Maple wrote on Sep 21, 2009 3:38 PM:
dyan wrote on Sep 21, 2009 7:49 AM:
sven31 wrote on Sep 21, 2009 6:52 AM:
As I told you sometime ago, national board certification is only meaningful to those who attain it. So you know your subject matter. How are you on personal interactions with students, staff, parents, and administrators? What baggage are you bringing with you?
I've known several who have achieved this "lofty" goal, but everyone of them formed poor personal relationships with the groups listed above. Many had parent complaints made against them regarding the treatment of their children. One was a time bomb just waiting for the fuse to burn all the way down except we couldn't see the fuse.
Likewise, I've know teachers who have moved from public to private schools, most were quite good. A lot of them had similar issues.
Does national board certification equate to a good teaching-learning relationship? Not that often. Are they all bad? No, most are very good.
Why the caution? After doing this for many years, I've learned that what you buy (no matter what's on the sticker) is not always what you get. And it's very hard to return these items. "
Lodian wrote on Sep 20, 2009 6:23 PM:
http://www.lodinews.com/articles/2008/03/15/opinion/columnists/woznick_jane_080311.txt
. "
Lodian wrote on Sep 20, 2009 5:56 PM:
edumacation wrote on Sep 19, 2009 3:21 PM:
I have heard from Galt teachers that there is an unidentified weirdness in hiring. I know award winning teachers in other districts (Teacher of the year, Nationbal Board Certification etc). These teachers live in the Galt area and didn't mind the lower pay because of increased commute expenses. Guess what? These teachers could not break the "buddy-buddy" barrier set up by the personnel department. It is amazing to see teachers living in Galt and working for other districts with teaching awards. But they weren't good enough to work for Galt schools at less pay. Of course you know who was hired? A buddy of a friend of a family member. It sounds like LODI Unified? LOL. The teachers who were hired are strill trying to learn how to manage a classroom. But to them it does not matter. They have "pull" with their buddies in personnel or management.
It seems like a non-producrive use of taxpayer money. These higer paid Elk Grove Unified teachers would have been satisfied with lower pay at Galt. "
Pat Maple wrote on Sep 19, 2009 11:35 AM:
edumacation wrote on Sep 19, 2009 11:01 AM:
The NCLB prohibits districts from using unqualfied or non-fully credentialed teachers ESPECIALLY in schools under Program Improvement. The NCLB has been around for a LONG time and teachers, adminsitrators and Personnel admin KNOW the state credentialing requirements.
How did the district HIRE and mis- assign 100 teachers?
Lets blame the NCLB for hiring unqualified teachers!
As you said, its the personnel department and administrators who hire these unqualified teachers.
These teachers didn't sneak in and hire themselves, instead it was a conscious effort by the Superintendent to subvert the process. ALL teachers are really hired by the school board.
In the LUSD, Personnel Administration is only controlled by the Superintendent. In theory, they are supposed to be regulated by the Education Code.
Look at the Manteca USD. The same thing happened, only worse. Illegal promotions resulted in lawsuits. "
edumacation wrote on Sep 19, 2009 10:35 AM:
The district wins several times: The emergency/temporary credsential holder gets paid less, has virtually no employment rights (union etc) and serves essentially as a second class employee (like a personal servant to staff and administrators). This increases the effective "power base" of staff and administrators. If they need a stooge to vote a certain way---they have the votes. From the administrator point of view "why give up the control" you lose when hiring professionally certified teachers?
NCLB tried to stop this, but if you look at individual school SARC reports, you will see that MANY LUSD teachers are NOT QUALIFIED yet teach even in "Program Improvement" schools. Its about power and control, not educating students. "
edumacation wrote on Sep 19, 2009 10:03 AM:
A few years ago when emergency teaching credentials were commonplace, the CCTC conducted a study and found that there were teachers who actually retired after a career of many years under emergency credentials. The CCTC study found that all that was legally required was the local district and county Dept of Education would fill out a form stating that no qualified credentialed teacher could be located within the area. Of course this was not true. They would typically not attempt to recruit suitable candidates. Like you say, there are many ways that administrators and staff cheat the intent of the state regulations.
My idea is to require that the administrator sign under penalties of perjury, that every CREDENTIALED teacher in the area has been offered the position, and that they rejected the offer. That would put an immediate end to the "emergency" and "temporary" credentials. Often the person with this emergency credential is a friend, relative or is extremely compliant with management. "
Pat Maple wrote on Sep 19, 2009 6:45 AM:
Cogito wrote on Sep 19, 2009 12:24 AM:
edumacation wrote on Sep 18, 2009 8:35 PM:
Multiple subject teachers have built in loopholes---which are many,and the single subject teachers have a maze of games they can play to "prove" they are "highly qualified".
The NCLB failed in this regard. If we want EXCELLENT teachers we must demand it without a myriad of lame excuses.
Require, at the minimum, that a REAL MAJOR in a subject be required to teach ANY single subject class in the subject.
You get excellence in education by starting with teacher qualifications!
Let the PE teachers teach PE, not courses requiring specialized knowledge.
Would you want a licensed vocational nurse to do cancer surgery?
We are paying for the best, and should have the best teachers, not pretenders and fakes with "credentials". "
Pat Maple wrote on Sep 18, 2009 5:54 PM:
Lodian wrote on Sep 18, 2009 2:31 PM:
Lodian wrote on Sep 18, 2009 2:29 PM:
Cogito wrote on Sep 18, 2009 2:23 PM:
Lodian wrote on Sep 18, 2009 10:23 AM:
" oh really? invited bryan: "I encourage you to stop in at ANY LUSD elementary school and observe randomly a k-6 class"
He/she will never do this. He/she has stated previously how math makes him/her break out in hives and get the heebie jeebies. Bryan is allergic to learning. "
Bob: You're right. He/she does not value education and stated that math is a waste of time. So, why is this person even joining in on the conversation about education? "
dyan wrote on Sep 18, 2009 9:39 AM:
But as long as educator bureaucrats insist that "all kids can learn" and that there is no difference in IQ, the results will always be failure in the end, as it has been for decades. "
Bob Hussein Loblaw wrote on Sep 18, 2009 8:35 AM:
He/she will never do this. He/she has stated previously how math makes him/her break out in hives and get the heebie jeebies. Bryan is allergic to learning. "
Lodian wrote on Sep 17, 2009 11:57 PM:
" Why is it always "Bush's" education reform policy?
FYI, Bush was the president. "
Lodian wrote on Sep 17, 2009 11:55 PM:
" Wow! What a surprise. "
Lou: We're all still waiting for that BIG LUSD SURPRISE you promised us a couple of weeks ago now. Have you failed? "
Lodian wrote on Sep 17, 2009 11:54 PM:
" edumacation lived up to her handle by saying: "Liberals say that intelligence is classist and "holds kids down"
What a ridiculous statement. What "liberals" said this? "
I think she makes most of this stuff up as she goes along. lol "
oh really? wrote on Sep 17, 2009 10:51 PM:
edumacation wrote on Sep 17, 2009 9:05 PM:
Thje ETS SAT scores were the highest from the late 1950's to the late 1960's. At that time, educators gave up the will to achieve. The SAT has been dumb downed so many times that some universities no longer rely on it. It was not unusual to have public school students with extremely high scores. The students parents and teachers worked for a common goal. NO MORE EXCUSES.
Then came the whiners for concensus and team learning for all subjects. Add PC groud think and no more intelligence testing and voikls here we are in a GULAG of edumacational stupidity.
"I done gradumacated at the head of my class and I am still trying to pass the CAHSEE." "
edumacation wrote on Sep 17, 2009 8:11 PM:
* Lets quantify this! From LUSD statistics, please tell what percentage of ELL's achieve the ninetieth percentile ranking in ANY category at any grade (non-GATE).
* Within the LUSD, Asians as a group, typically outperform ALL other groups at the highest percentile rankings!
* Progressive liberals can't answer that question and still keep within boundaries of PC "teacher talk".
* Ask any LUSD Asian-American parent and they will agree more than disagree with my statements. Liberals are not "politically correct enough" on the rainbow gradient from the Reverend Jackson on one end to Objectivists on the other end.
If you think I have no experience teaching in public schools you are mistaken.
* It must be EXCITING to have high achieving and well behaved students. You must have enjoyable parent teacher conferences when you teach your parents how to coach their children to learn algebra content standards!
From your description perhaps you are either a Cougar or a Seahawk! How exciting! "
dyan wrote on Sep 17, 2009 7:33 PM:
oh really wrote on Sep 17, 2009 7:05 PM:
I agree that there are many items in public education that need work, but please allow our minds to realize this is a work in progress and progress is being made. "
edumacation wrote on Sep 17, 2009 4:38 PM:
I agree and I submit that lack of parental motivation and LAZINESS are the PRIME reasons they refuse to learn. The people just don't get it!
Instead we have parents and second generation Mexican-Americans sitting at home watching Novellas on TV and waiting for life to "happen" to them.
They will wait a long time. We have recent immigrants from Asia (parents and children) who excel in our schools. You don't hear them whining and complaining. The irony is that Mexicans and Americans share the same alphabet and the two languages have many cognates and use phonemes in constructing the vocabulary. Other English language learners are not so lucky (especially immigrants from asia).
The Chinese have thousands of characters and they learn English and are in the highest percentile ratings on our standardized tests. Why is this?
Or should I ask "Why don't other non-asian immigrants do as well?"
Many believe that immigrants from Asia are serious about learning and COMPETING in their new homeland. "
Pat Maple wrote on Sep 17, 2009 2:04 PM:
NCLB...ahhh...some good some bad. If it were actually adhered to and the sanctions were actually applied...but they are often NOT. There is nothing wrong with challenging everyone...but don't teach to the test.
I believe also in the GATE programs and the track system at the HS level. However, where I think we mostly fail is at the parent level. The parents need to be more involved and vocal for the needs of their children.
What I found after 14 years on school boards is that ESL and ELL programs are mostly a failure because the student goes home to a family that does not speak English and the student becomes the family interpreter/spokesperson.
Instead of teaching English to only the student...I believe the parents should also be required to take classes to learn English (free as an incentive) or pay a fee for their child to take courses in English, much like they are charging students fees for Art, Band, Sports and other classes. "
dyan wrote on Sep 17, 2009 1:53 PM:
Cogito wrote on Sep 17, 2009 1:45 PM:
Cogito wrote on Sep 17, 2009 1:45 PM:
edumacation wrote on Sep 17, 2009 12:57 PM:
"...many students and parents don't give a crap.."
I would add that these same individuals demand to have high grades regardless of how poorly these students score. "
Contrapasso wrote on Sep 17, 2009 12:11 PM:
NCLB is a failure. When I started teaching 12 years ago, most of the students could write sentences and even read at grade level (gasp!) That's because they were in classes with other students of their skill and ability. Now, because of NCLB, the "ONE SIZE FITS ALL" educrats have deemed the tracking system discriminatory. Therefore, we are stuck with 40 kids in high school English classes with skill levels ranging from 3rd grade readers to genius level.
The result? EVERY CHILD LEFT BEHIND! "
Lodian wrote on Sep 17, 2009 11:26 AM:
Cogito wrote on Sep 17, 2009 7:46 AM:
dyan wrote on Sep 17, 2009 6:43 AM:
Lee wrote on Sep 16, 2009 11:55 PM:
Giovanina wrote on Sep 16, 2009 10:38 PM:
The real reason is the state government was taken over by liberals a long time ago, and they made California an impossible state for businesses and, now, the middle class.
So the businesses continued to leave the state along with people that would work. So we keep getting a higher percentage of the population on goverment programs, including prison. It is getting to be there won't be anyone left to tax accept the politicians, prisoners, and illegal aliens. "
jeff wrote on Sep 16, 2009 9:41 PM:
jeff wrote on Sep 16, 2009 9:39 PM:
Yes I do know that Ted was intimately involved with sponsoring Bush's proposal. I was, and am, disappointed that he was so involved, and that it did get so much support in general. But the basis for the whole plan was modeled after Bush's first Education Secretary, Rod Paige's, work in Houston. It turned out later that a lot of the data from houston had been cooked up. But in a "bi-partisan" world, that didn't matter I guess. "
Bob Hussein Loblaw wrote on Sep 16, 2009 9:33 PM:
NCLB sets broad, unrealistic benchmarks for states. To add insult to injury, the Bush administration funded NCLB at a fraction of what the law called for, thus ensuring its failure.
According to NCLB, ALL students must be proficient in reading and math by 2014. So, according to this law, all students will be passing for the first time in recorded history. Uh huh, that's realistic.... Bad law. "
Cogito wrote on Sep 16, 2009 9:19 PM:
Cogito wrote on Sep 16, 2009 9:13 PM:
Cogito wrote on Sep 16, 2009 9:09 PM:
Gator wrote on Sep 16, 2009 8:52 PM:
A??…No Dodge Ball, Tag isn’t fair, Lets play soccer but don’t keep score.
Learn how to loose if you don’t you will never know how it is to be a winner. Go back to using A,B,C,D,and F on report cards and use the Evil
red pencil…Are liberals to blame, beyond a doubt.. Every thing has to be
fair. Got to protect their little self esteem , Horse ????…Life is tough
as a lot of people have found out and being a cream puff all through school
will do you little good later on in life. If what I have written isn’t the case
then why was the “ Dangerous Book for Boys” brought out and it turns out to Be a runaway best seller…The biggest joke in LUSD is the desire to close Elkhorn the school with the highest test scores !!! Jealousy just plain out And out Jealousy.. Remember “the Only Easy Day was yesterday” and
“It pays to be a winner”… "
uncle stinky wrote on Sep 16, 2009 7:24 PM:
jeff wrote on Sep 16, 2009 7:19 PM:
edumacation wrote on Sep 16, 2009 6:57 PM:
My references were appended to each objective. Most were directly related to legal requirements of the CDE in teacher preparation programs. Look them up.
Try an experiment?
1) Administer an IQ test to a person in one of the protected groups (ask your site administrator first---so you won't get in trouble). The phrase "IQ test" is a pejorative among California public school teachers.
2) Ask ANY elementary school physical education teacher about competitive sports. Now ask them to explain their "cooperative games" for this age group. Lastly, ask them about the results of their annual physical fitness assessments from the state of California. Are our children physically healthy according to the state standards? Why not? They will give you the answers you don't want to hear. They can blame it on poor diet, overweight, etc. A good percentage of elementary kids are in TERRIBLE physical shape. One reason is that COMPETITION is discouraged.
The LUSD has poor scores in academics AND physical health. Leading LUSD elementary PE teachers hand out buttons that say~
"NO COMPETITION" WHY? "
jbhiker wrote on Sep 16, 2009 5:31 PM:
uncle stinky wrote on Sep 16, 2009 5:22 PM:
jeff wrote on Sep 16, 2009 5:18 PM:
dogs4you wrote on Sep 16, 2009 4:50 PM:
edumacation wrote on Sep 16, 2009 4:46 PM:
There is NO inherent difference between huamns, we are ALL the SAME. CDE
Competition is the cause of failure in our society. CDE
Self-esteem is more important than academics. CDE
The reason we have so many prople in prison is BECAUSE most have not graduated from high school. No evidence.
If we give EVERYONE a HS diploma whether they earned it or not, that will decrease the inmate population. CDE and other edumacrats.
White people ALWAYS have an advantage over others without realizing it. This is due to the "invisible knapsack" they carry that gives them benefits for being white. SEED from "fearless leader" number two at the LUSD.
GATE programs are unfair to students from poor families (there is no evidence---but that is the dogma) LUSD
Intelligence tests are inherently unfair to several classes of people including African-Americans. These people are usually one SD below most other ethnic groups. So lets don't make them feel bad by testing them.
- California and Federal court decisions. "
Bob Hussein Loblaw wrote on Sep 16, 2009 4:04 PM:
What a ridiculous statement. What "liberals" said this? "
edumacation wrote on Sep 16, 2009 2:08 PM:
How are students and parents evaluated about THEIR responsibilities? We can't ask that question beacause it is not politically correct.
Many students and parents have the mistaken belief that children are educated via osmosis. You place kids in a building for so many hours per day, and when they return home they are educated merely because they were educated.
When kids can't speak without using slang, its tellng that many of their parents sound the same. examples: "He/She goes" instead of "He/she said".
It's time to hold students and parents accountable.
Is it helpful to evaluate a teacher mainly because of the inate brain limits of their students?
Oh I forgot, there is NO such thing as intelligence. Liberals say that intelligence is classist and "holds kids down". Yeah right!
Teachers should not have to suffer the consequences of slow or lazy students or parents.
We need to stop wasting money trying to channel every student into college, when many seniors can't read or write---in any language. "
jeff wrote on Sep 16, 2009 1:13 PM:
Cogito wrote on Sep 16, 2009 12:55 PM:
Bob Hussein Loblaw wrote on Sep 16, 2009 12:51 PM:
If California used to be in the top 5, then state education was working at some point.
What was the point when things changed? Many point to Prop 13, when the education funding stream was destroyed.
You get what you pay for.... "
jeff wrote on Sep 16, 2009 11:58 AM:
I agree, Gio, Bush's education reform is not working.
Remember, experts have been saying for years now, the by 2014, nearly, if not all, 100% of the nation's schools will "fail". "
Bob Hussein Loblaw wrote on Sep 16, 2009 10:55 AM:
Remember, Bush's NCLB legislation dictates that ALL students (100%) MUST be proficient in reading and math by 2014, a pipe dream at best since the law was never adequately funded. "
Lou wrote on Sep 16, 2009 10:15 AM:
Giovanina wrote on Sep 16, 2009 6:55 AM:
2nd Stop passing on students that can't read.
3rd Enforce all the Ed codes
4th Mandatory uniform policy
It is about time these kids understand why they are at school. Still, too many think they are there to hang out with friends, and have a fashion show.
Immediately the libs will whine about the freedoms of the students, but those students are there on taxpayer money, and we taxpayers expect then to follow all the rules and get a proper education. Many kids are really still fighting all that. Maybe referrals should come with a monetary penalty for wasted state time. Then it will sink in.
At this point, nanny state education isn't working, and never has. California used to be in the top 5. Now in the bottom 3. The proof hurts. "
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