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City Beat
WG schools earn good grades on state test
WGHS is one of two district high schools to qualify with 18-point gain
By Kate Carter
All seven public schools in Willow Glen qualified to receive state award money for surpassing their targeted improvement goals on the state's standardized test. Of the six high schools in the San Jose Unified School District, Willow Glen High School was one of only two to qualify for the awards.
The state Department of Education released the 1999-2000 Academic Performance Index Growth Report on Oct. 4, detailing California public schools' results on the Stanford 9 test administered last spring, and comparing those results to the test administered in the spring of 1999.
Aaron Buchanan, the district's director of education accountability, said that standardized testing results are valuable only when compared to previous years' results.
"Just looking at the API without looking at improvement from year to year wouldn't make sense," he said.
Schools are eligible for the state's three monetary incentives if the school's average test score is at or above the target score and if the scores for students who are state designated as socioeconomically disadvantaged or of a significant ethnic subgroup also reach the target. To have a significant group of ethnic students or socioeconomically disadvantaged students, a school must have either 5 percent, or 30 students, or a total of 100 students in one of those groups. Students are double-counted if they fall in both the socioeconomic subgroup and an ethnic subgroup. Willow Glen schools met both their schoolwide and subgroup goals.
Willow Glen High School made an 18-point improvement over last year with its 2000 score of 610. Its improvement target was 10 points, the second-highest target in the six-high school district.
Willow Glen High School Principal Pat Day said that what was significant about his students' improvement was that students, designated as socioeconomically disadvantaged and Hispanic/Latino by the state, improved as much as or more than caucasian students.
"The goal is to close the gap, to bring everybody up," he said. "We're closing the gap."
About 40 percent of Willow Glen High's students are deemed socioeconomically disadvantaged, a designation based on whether they get a free or reduced-price lunch, or their parents have high school diplomas. Fifty-five percent of the school's students are in the Hispanic/Latino subgroup and 30 percent are in the caucasian subgroup.
In addition to improving in the Stanford 9, more Willow Glen High students are attending school regularly and taking SAT and Advanced Placement tests, Day said.
"We've got more [seniors] in AP Government than in regular Government," Day said.
Willow Glen Middle School also closed the gap between the performance of less affluent students and their more affluent classmates, and students of color and their white classmates.
"That's where we put our efforts last year, to closing that gap," said Principal Lois Allen.
By scoring 631, Willow Glen Middle students improved 11 points over last year, and overshot their target by two points. More than 40 percent of the school's students are socioeconomically disadvantaged, 57 percent are Hispanic or Latino and 28 percent are caucasian.
Booksin, Gardner, River Glen, Schallenberger and Willow Glen Elementary Schools all scored at least 26 points more than their designated target scores. Only two elementary schools in San Jose Unified School District did not reach their targets.
Willow Glen's elementary schools also all met the targets for each of their student subgroups.
The Stanford 9 test was first implemented in 1999 as a part of California's Standard Testing and Reporting program. Test scores range from a low of 200 and a high of 1000.
Improvement targets were calculated for each school as 5 percent of the difference between the statewide performance target of 800 and the school's 1999 average score. Schools with a 1999 score between 781 and 799 were targeted to improve one point, and schools with scores of 800 or more had to maintain scores of at least 800.
Seventy-one percent of California schools with a performance rating met their targets, and 67 percent are eligible for awards, according to the Education Department.
The state will award $150 per student and will split $350 million between qualifying schools and employees to eligible schools after Jan. 1, 2001. Another $100 million award, based on school rankings among their 100 most similar schools, will be distributed to certificated staff in qualifying schools next year.
Day said that, while the money is nice, the real goal is to help students achieve and prepare for a better future.
"All our students are preparing to go to college," he said. "You've got to come to school to be successful."
Allen agreed. "We have to help students understand how important middle school is for their future," she said. "Middle school is the basis for that self-sufficiency in high school. It's not a gift that's given to you when you walk in the door. You have to practice it."
She said that a variety of programs offered at Willow Glen Middle have contributed to their students' improvement, as well as encouraging students to take the test seriously.
Day said that what has made the difference in student achievement at Willow Glen High is making parents aware of their children's attendance and academic performance, and giving teachers real information about how their kids are doing and goals for which they can strive.
"It's working," he said. "We're going to keep doing what we're doing." Day said he supports standardized testing because it gives real data on how students are performing and provides a way to compare that performance.
"We've got a long way to," Day said. "We're not at the top in most things, but our improvement is at the top, or close."
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
