Schools' Administrators Are 'Data Driven'

With the school year nearly half over, the annual California Standards Test is now only a few months away. As schools in Highland Park and Mount Washington prepare for the annual exam, administrators say being able to effectively analyze and respond to testing data will be the key to improving their schools Annual Performance Index scores.

Highland Park-Mount Washington Patch gathered the API scores of each of the schools located in and around Highland Park and Mount Washington and spoke to school administrators about their plans to improve student achievement on the annual upcoming California Standards Test, upon which API scores are primarily based.

Graphs of the schools progress on the test over the last five years are provided in the box to the right.

API scores range between 200 and 1,000, with a score of 700 being a general indicator of strong student performance on the standardized test.

Joseph Nacorda, the new principal of the 2,300 student Benjamin Franklin High School on Avenue 54, is faced with the challenge of getting Benjamin Franklin into the "700 Club"

Currently, the school's Growth API, which is based on the results of the 2010 California Standards test administered in the spring, stands at 658, a slight improvement over the previous year.

The school's moving in the right direction, Nacorda said, but there's a long way left to go.

Nacorda said the school is making use of the Single Plan for Student Achievement provided by the California Department of Education to address the school's API scores. The single plan, developed by a committee of teachers and practicioners from across the State, provides schools with guidance for creating a "continuous development, implementation, and monitoring cycle."

Nacorda said that, for Franklin High School, which is divided into several distinct small learning communities, such a plan is critical for getting every teacher on the same page.

"It aligns strategies," he said. "We need to have an overall plan in place."

At the Mount Washington Elementary School, where the school has been flirting with a score of 900 for several years, principal Elizabeth Valentino said the focus at the school has shifted toward preparing for the exam in more project based manner.

Valentino said the shift to a more project based approach will accomodate broader range of learning styles and develop students' inductive and deductive reasoning skills.

"This is what's going to take us to the next level," she said.

Juan Gonzalez, principal of Garvanza Elementary School, credits his school's plus 800 API scores to rigorous data analysis done by parents and teachers.

13 years ago, Garvanza was one of the lowest performing schools in the LAUSD, Gonzalez said.

"There was a huge concerted effort undertaken by the school and parent community," he said. "A new system of accountability was put in place. Every year parents and administrators look to see if goals are met, and if they're not, the approach is tweaked. We're very data driven."

Despite the successes of Garvnza, the school is still faced with the challenge of closing the achievement gap between students who speak English as a first language and English learners.

"We're still struggling with our English learners, so we'll be focusing on them," he said. "40 percent of our students are English learners, so that's major challenge."

Frank Baird, principal of the Buchanan Street Elementary School, which has posted API Scores in the high 700s for the last thee years, said his school is also keying in on English learners.

"It's our responsibility to bring them up to the same level [as students who speak English as a first level]," he said.

This year, Buchanan has a new learning center support coach whose responsibility it is to work one on with the students in the distinct areas of the test on which they are struggling.

The coaching position is funded by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, Baird said, which means that it could possibly be cut after this school year.

"We're hoping the district will be able to pick it up," he said.