City Beat

Willow Glen improves scores on SAT 9 test

Second year that high school earns monetary award

By Moryt Milo

The 2001 Academic Performance Index Report, released Oct. 15 by the California Department of Education, shows Willow Glen High School exceeding its academic growth targets for the second consecutive year. It is the only high school in the San Jose Unified School District eligible two years in a row for the state's monetary awards.

Willow Glen High School Principal Patrick Day said, "It's pretty exciting. It shows we are doing the job."

Day said the latest API results confirm the school's decision to develop customized programs, targeting low-performing students in ninth and 10th grade, is working.

Willow Glen High School's goal is to reach an API index of 800, a statewide performance target established by the California Board of Education.

When the API baselines were established statewide in 1999, Willow Glen High School was given an academic baseline performance index of 592. This number is an aggregate number based on the performance of how Willow Glen High students perform in grades nine through 11 on the Stanford 9 test, a statewide standardized test administered every spring.

Each year every school in California is required to meet a target growth number set by the California Board of Education. If they succeed, they are eligible for monetary awards.

For the past two years Willow Glen High School has achieved and exceeded its target growth rate goals, jumping 18 points in 2000 and 21 points in 2001--when only 10 points of improvement were required each year.

In 2000, Willow Glen High School's API index hit 610, and on the current 2001 API Report the score was 631.

"We have seen dramatic increases on math scores and grades," Day said, and he credited the results to the guided studies program implemented three years ago.

But he also said there is a "danger" in just looking at the aggregate numbers. He challenges the assumption that if one school scores higher then another, that school must be better.

"You have to dig much deeper and compare the API over the last two years," Day said. "You have to ask, 'Did they go up? Did they stay the same? What are their subgroups doing?'"

At Willow Glen High School there are three significant subgroups identified by the department of education: Hispanic/Latino, White (not of Hispanic origin) and socio-economically disadvantaged--youth who receive free or reduced lunches and who have one or more parents who did not graduate from high school.

In each subgroup the aggregate score had to move up by eight points to meet the target growth numbers. At Willow Glen High School all subgroups exceeded their targets. In the Hispanic/Latino subgroup the numbers went from 516 in 2000 to 538 in 2001. In the White subgroup the number went from 721 in 2000 to 754 in 2001, and in the socio-economically disadvantaged subgroup it went from 506 in 2000 to 518 in 2001. The high school shined in each group, scoring 22 points higher in the Hispanic/Latino group, 33 points higher in the white subgroup and 12 points higher in the socio-economically disadvantaged group.

"Another thing that makes me very proud of these numbers is at Willow Glen High School we have more English language learners students than any other high school in the San Jose Unified District," Day said. "The test is given in English, and these numbers don't show that at all. But the Hispanic subgroup increased by 22 points."

Day said the school's decision to hire a math resource teacher, with the help of desegregation funds, who provided individualized attention in math to low-performing ninth graders and some 10th graders made a significant difference in test scores.

The students were pulled out of basic skills class--not math class--and worked one-on-one with the math resource teacher or available tutors. The results not only showed up on the API scores but in students' overall grades and attitudes.

With such positive results, Day said the school decided to add an English resource teacher to work with students needing help in writing and reading.

"When something works we try to build on that and take the idea into other areas," Day said.

Building on the initial success of the guided programs, Willow Glen High School decided to review test scores and grade point averages of eighth-grade students entering high school. For those students who were low performing, Day said they created a three-week summer-school program, and with the support of parents, the incoming freshman focused on math, reading and writing.

"Their pre-test and post-test results were incredible," Day said.

Since Day became principal five years ago, the big focus at the school has been on data.

"Looking at student data has been a high priority at Willow Glen High School," said Aaron Buchanan, district director of research and assessment. "We have been looking at different lists of students, what they need and what they have done over the past four years."

Day annually reviews individual student scores and overall grade scores of his students in all categories, which include math, English, social sciences and science.

"We are real data-driven," Day said. "I'm tired of everyone's opinion on education. I think we have made more mistakes by going with everyone's opinion."

And Day said focusing on data has not only brought up standard testing and grades for low performers, it has also increased the number of students in Advanced Placement classes.

Many students at Willow Glen High School are in the middle, Day said. The school is encouraging them to challenge themselves, and the results are showing up, with a greater number of students taking AP tests and SATs and graduating with the necessary classes to enter a four-year college.

The district elected to raise the bar in 1998, by switching to a stricter graduating curriculum, starting with this year's 2002 seniors, which requires all students to have the necessary classes to enter any University of California. Day credited all these changes with improving the numbers.

"It has to be a culture of success and a culture of academic success," Day said. "It doesn't happen overnight, but I think we are getting there."

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