Local schools improve proficiency levels

Despite the financial struggles school districts are facing, students in Petaluma City Schools and the Old Adobe Union School District generally made great strides in the English and mathematics portions of the 2009 Standardized Testing and Reporting program.

“Just about every grade saw some improvements, and they were pretty dramatic in some areas,” said Ron Everett, PCS’ director of educational services in the areas of curriculum, assessment and accountability. “The fourth-, sixth- and seventh-graders showed dramatic growth, and so did the ninth-graders in some ways.”

“I’m actually very pleased with our scores,” said Old Adobe Superintendent Diane Zimmerman. “Scores generally were up across the state.”

More than 4.7 million public school students in grades 2 though 11 took the STAR tests in the spring, and the percentages of students reaching various proficiency levels was released last week.

In the Petaluma City Elementary Schools District, the portion of students scoring at the advanced or proficient level was higher than last year in four of the five grades tested in the English exam. The scores were (with 2008 figures listed in parentheses): second-graders 56 (49), third-graders 58 (44), fourth-graders 72 (57) fifth-graders 64 (65) and sixth-graders 72 (51).

Portions in the math exam were: second-graders 62 (59), third-graders 68 (55), fourth-graders 63 (64), fifth-graders 58 (57) and sixth-graders 72 (48).

“For some reason, on the English-Language Arts test, the fourth- and sixth-graders did better than fifth-graders, who were kind of flat, and many of our students didn’t do as well in the math test as on the English test,” Everett said. “This could be because we have used the same English program for a few years, while the math program is in transition.”

A new math program, Envision, will be implemented district-wide this school year.

In the Petaluma Joint Union High School District, the percentages of students reaching advanced or proficient status on the English exam were: seventh-graders 71 (64), eighth-graders 62 (61), ninth-graders 66 (59), 10th-graders 52 (45) and 11th-graders 48 (43). In Algebra I testing, the percentages were: seventh-graders 91 (83), eighth-graders 73 (72), ninth-graders 26 (28), 10th-graders 11 (8) and 11th-graders 4 (5).

“I’m pleased with what we’re seeing at the seventh-grade level, and across the board, we’ve really had a large improvement among the English-language learners, but for some reason, 10th- and 11th-graders are scoring below other grades, although they have shown growth in some areas. I will be trying to determine what this signifies, and what we can do about it,” Everett said.

In the Old Adobe Union School District, all grade levels either improved or stayed the same on the English and math tests. The percentages on the English exam were: second-graders 57 (48), third-graders 41 (41), fourth-graders 71 (67), fifth-graders 62 (55) and sixth-graders 68 (55). On the math test, the portions were: second-graders 72 (59), third-graders 60 (56), fourth-graders 67 (64), fifth-graders 48 (48) and sixth-graders 58 (55).

“One thing that’s made a huge difference in our English-Language Arts scores is the emphasis we’ve placed on writing,” Zimmerman said.

“Writing by Design,” a teacher-designed program used by the district, has helped students to accelerate the development of their writing ability, and provides regular assessments to track each child’s progress.

Typically, school districts discover whether or not they and their individual schools met federal Adequate Yearly Progress and state Academic Performance Index standards about two weeks after the STAR results are released. This year, however, the information will be delayed because the state is using a new format to establish AYP and API standards for special-education students.

Schools that receive federal funds are sanctioned if they fail to meet their academic targets for two straight years, and are given Program Improvement status.

During the first year, the school must, whenever possible, offer student transfers with free busing. In the second year, schools must offer free private tutoring to low-income students, and beginning in the third year, schools are required to consider options such as reopening as a charter school or replacing staff members.

Four PCS schools were under sanctions in 2008 for failing to meet their goals, and were given Program Improvement status. McDowell Elementary School was sanctioned for the fifth year, Petaluma Junior High School was sanctioned for the fourth year, and McKinley Elementary School and Kenilworth Junior High School were sanctioned for the third year.

All of these schools showed some significant improvement on the 2009 STAR tests, but it is unclear if they met their goals. McKinley and Petaluma Junior High met their AYP targets last year, and if they met their targets this year, they will move out of Program Improvement status, Everett said.

No Old Adobe school is being sanctioned, but the district as a whole could be given Program Improvement status, Zimmerman said.

“It will be close,” she said.

In the meantime, Zimmerman and Everett now plan to meet with other administrators and teachers in their districts to determine the reasons for variations in proficiency levels. They both heavily emphasize teamwork.

The PCS “Cycle of Inquiry,” a network of teachers and administrators from throughout the district, meets regularly to share ideas for improving students’ education.

“For the past three years, we’ve had an outside consultant working with us. We had to eliminate the consultant due to lack of funding, but the network will continue,” Everett said.

“Really, what makes a big difference is having schools aligned so that teachers work together from grade to grade,” Zimmerman said.

She feels that by keeping aligned, even the ambitious federal goal — for every school to achieve proficiency on every test in all subgroups by the 2013-2014 school year — is realistic.

“If we keep aligned, we’ll come pretty close, Zimmerman said.

She emphasized that a student’s education shouldn’t be focused entirely on test scores, though.

“I call that ‘drilling and killing.’ Learning should be enjoyable for students,” she said.

Everett feels that the federal goal will be very difficult to attain.

“On the one hand, our mandate is to ensure 100 proficiency. Certainly, all our students are capable and our teachers are able to bring them up to that level, but doing so in four years will be a big challenge. When the federal government reviews No Child Left Behind, I wonder if they will adjust this goal,” he said.

(Contact Dan Johnson at dan.johnson@arguscourier.com)