Seven schools in San Benito County either made or remained on a
list of schools that failed to meet federal testing yardsticks for
two years in a row, joining more than 1,700 others statewide.
Hollister – Seven schools in San Benito County either made or remained on a list of schools that failed to meet federal testing yardsticks for two years in a row, joining more than 1,700 others statewide.
The seven schools, five of which are in the Hollister School District, have been identified as Program Improvement schools by the federal government because they failed to meet the standards, in terms of Adequate Yearly Progress, established by the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act.
Program Improvement schools will have to meet a number of federal requirements designed to improve academic performance and offer students an opportunity to attend other schools not identified for improvement. Schools face increasingly severe sanctions each consecutive year they fall short of federal standards. Other sanctions include restructuring or elimination of school personnel and state take-over.
All seven schools identified as being in Program Improvement must offer choice for their students to attend another school in the district that is not designated as being a Program Improvement school and must provide paid transportation. Schools such as Calaveras and R.O. Hardin, which are in year three of Program Improvement, must provide students with supplemental educational services from outside of the school and could face additional sanctions such as personnel elimination or internal reorganization. In year four of Program Improvement, schools face severe sanctions including having most of its staff and teachers replaced. In year five, schools face state take-over.
County Superintendent of Schools Tim Foley, who oversees all public schools in San Benito County, is concerned about the plight of the seven Program Improvement schools, but believes all schools are working to shed the label.
“We’re working hard to get all of our schools out of Program Improvement,” Foley said. “It’s a distraction from our hard work, but it does give us very clear target groups to focus on.”
Several school and district administrators are frustrated by the federal designation, which they claim only hinders their efforts to focus on teaching to state standards. Officials are further galled because they will be forced to meet additional federal requirements, such as hiring outside tutoring programs, without receiving additional funding, they said.
Hollister School District Director of Instruction Anita Franchi doesn’t believe Program Improvement status – and the additional requirements it carries with it – is beneficial to the five struggling schools in her district.
“The only good thing that it does is increase what our superintendent calls ‘positive anxiety,'” she said. “We now have additional requirements without added resources, in fact (these requirements) actually subtract from our available resources.”
Program Improvement schools are required to revise their educational plans, provide outside tutoring for students and outside training for teachers. Franchi thinks being forced to pay private organizations to provide the additional educational programs is a bad idea.
“We get the help (these private agencies) provide, whether or not they actually help,” she said. “And we’re making them rich, these outside programs cost five to six times as much as teachers.”
Hollister School District’s five Program Improvement schools are Calaveras, Gabilan Hills, R.O. Hardin, Marguerite Maze and Rancho San Justo. Calaveras and R.O. Hardin have failed to meet federal Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standards for five consecutive years.
The county’s other two program improvement schools are San Juan School and Spring Grove School – both of which have failed to AYP standards for six consecutive years. According the guidelines established by the No Child Left Behind Act, both schools could face elimination of the majority of their teachers and staff. Specific sanctions will be determined by the County Superintendent of Schools or the district board of trustees, and could be far less severe.
Although Spring Grove Principal and Superintendent Howard Chase is working hard to avoid such sanctions, he is more focused on educating students.
“(Those sanctions are) not even a remote possibility at this point,” Chase said. “We know we need to improve – our test scores show that we are in fact improving – and we’re working hard to make sure all students succeed.”
Chase, with the help of his teachers and staff, has developed a unique program to help struggling students, which he believes will improve test scores schoolwide. The program, called reading and math academy, provides separate classrooms for volunteer students, who are often struggling with basic skills. These classrooms are limited to 20 students each and benefit from up to four staff members at a time – two teachers and two aides, Chase said.
“Smaller class sizes and additional teachers are really advantageous for these students,” Instructional Aide Ruby Alvarez said. “We can really focus in on their individual needs.”
Brett Rowland covers education for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or [email protected].
