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School Reports Bad News Sanctions Faced By Antelope Valley High

Posted on: Wednesday, 8 March 2006, 00:00 CST

By Karen Maeshiro\ Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Under state scrutiny for failing to raise test scores, Antelope Valley High School was found by a state review team to suffer from high teacher turnover and classroom instruction described as "neither purposeful nor effective."

On the upside, the state reviewers concluded that "community passion" is apparent for the Antelope Valley Union High School District's oldest school, administrators appear cohesive and focused on school safety and climate, and staff, students, and parents agree campus violence has lessened.

"The purpose of the findings was to provide some insight as to what the next steps should be for the schools," said Wendy Harris, director of the state Department of Education's school improvement division.

For failing to improve scores, Antelope Valley High is facing four possible sanctions outlined in state law: the most drastic is shutting it down.

The other sanctions include letting parents form a charter school, hiring outside tutors, and forcing the school to employ only teachers with full credentials. In the 2004-05 year, state records show full credentials were held by 62 percent of Antelope Valley High's teachers.

Antelope Valley Union High School District Superintendent David Vierra said the state report paints an incomplete portrait of Antelope Valley High. He said the team's two-day visit produced a "snapshot observation."

"Though we face challenges at Antelope Valley High School as well as at other schools, I don't think it's indicative of the entire population there," Vierra said.

Antelope Valley High, and also Wilsona Elementary School in Lake Los Angeles, got the January visits from state inspection teams because they are among the first six schools in California to face the most serious sanctions for failing to raise test scores.

The state began monitoring Antelope Valley High and Wilsona Elementary not because their test scores were especially low, but because they dropped or stayed the same for two consecutive years.

Antelope Valley High's Academic Performance Index score went down in four of the past five years, the one exception in 2004 when the school posted a 50-point gain.

Its score for 2005 was 582, down 19 points in a year and the third lowest score in the Antelope Valley for a conventional public school, state test records show.

Wilsona's API score for 2005 was 704, down from 708 the year before - but still higher than about two-thirds of local schools. The state's goal is 800.

Vierra said Antelope Valley High has a dedicated, committed staff who have been implementing changes to improve academic performance.

"Antelope Valley High had a 50-point increase in 2004. There are good things happening there as evidenced by the 50-point gain," Vierra said. "Yes, we face challenges as all schools do. We have much more work to do, and we are staying on focus on what's taking place in the classroom. We are continuously striving to educate all students and place the resources where it's most needed."

At Wilsona, state reviewers said they were concerned about the lack of teacher training in math, saw a need for more coordinated, targeted intervention for pupils learning English and for special education students, and the need for a parent education program.

At the same time, Wilsona's teachers were described as dedicated and highly committed, and parent interest in the school is high and their commitment to their children's education is substantial, the reviewers said. Nevertheless, the team found significant barriers, especially for parents whose native language is not English.

Wilsona School District Superintendent Ned McNabb said he agrees with the state assessment.

"It pretty much validates everything that we had in our analysis of the school and the school's needs. We are in agreement with what they are saying," McNabb said. "It's also encouraging because the areas of focus they've identified are the areas that we believe we need to focus on."

After the schools were singled out in 2003 for failing to improve test scores, their instructional programs were audited by outside educators. The auditors, called School Assistance and Intervention Teams (SAIT), recommended steps to improve students' academic performance.

With the improvement plans, the schools were required to improve API scores for two years in a row between 2003 and 2005 but did not do so. That made them subject to the next level of sanctions.

Targeted schools that do improve for two consecutive years exit the so-called three-year SAIT process and are no longer monitored by the state. Piute Middle School in the Lancaster School District and Shadow Hills Intermediate School in the Palmdale School District are in their second year of the SAIT monitoring.

This school year, three more Antelope Valley schools were designated as state-monitored: Littlerock High School and El Dorado and Joshua elementary schools in the Lancaster School District.

State officials had indicated they would come out with recommendations for Antelope Valley High and Wilsona at the end of February but that has been pushed back to the end of March.

"These are important considerations. The important thing is that the next step for the schools be the right ones. The state wants to give it due consideration," Harris said.

At Antelope Valley High School, 47 percent of the school's 2,843 students qualify for free or subsidized lunches, and 19 percent are learning to speak English, the team's report said.

"The school has a significant number of English learners and yet there is no apparent coordinated, effective strategy for enhancing academic support for the English learner population," the report said.

In the past two years, teachers and the principal underwent training in instructional materials, but many teachers have left and been replaced by others, the state reviewers said.

"With the high teacher turnover rate, many of the current teachers have not had the training and the follow-up training is not consistent," the report said.

Antelope Valley High currently has three full-time curriculum coaches in math, English and special education, and the district provides a part-time literacy and math coach.

"There is discussion to alter that model and instead have general education coaches in some areas in the future. The teachers expressed concerns about these and other possible changes that will impact the school day," the report said.

Two and a half years ago, a new administrative team was assigned and since then, there have been three different people as assistant principals, which has hurt the school's leadership, the report said.

"A large number of parents ... expressed their distress in trying to access the campus and communicate with the teachers. The school site council and the English Learner Advisory Committee were not sure of their responsibilities and did not appear to have established members and regularly scheduled meetings," the report said.

"Above all, a significant issue for the review team is that the district office and the school site staff gave no indication of plans to further the SAIT corrective actions that address the lack of effective instructional capacity. Although the district appeared to play a significant role in the school's improvement efforts early in the SAIT process, now that the funding has expired, several staff members shared that they feel the district is no longer fully engaged in this effort," the report said.

At Wilsona Elementary, all 641 students qualify for free and reduced-price lunches, and 42 percent are learning English, the team's report said.

Wilsona teachers have undergone reading instruction training on the school's Reading First program.

"With this background, support by the principal, and ongoing professional development and coaching provided by the Reading First coach and (English learner) coach, the teachers at Wilsona demonstrate effective teaching and collaboration across subject areas. Teachers within each grade level have synchronized their instructional day," the report said.

District administrators' support for the school and for the principal is substantial, the report said. Several teachers reported that the superintendent's feedback from periodic walk- throughs is far and above what they had experienced elsewhere, the report said.

"As the school is now effectively implementing its reading program, teachers need to participate in the ... training on their adopted mathematics program to make the curriculum come alive. In addition, there does not appear to be a coordinated system for intervention for students reading below grade level and the additional instruction for (English learner) students is a 'work in progress,'" the report said.

Karen Maeshiro, (661) 267-5744

karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com

Source: Daily News; Los Angeles, Calif.

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