The list was devised by the California Department of Education in an effort to grab some of the second round of so-called Race to the Top federal funding and hundreds of millions of dollars in School Improvement Grants. Initially, California schools were locked out of such funding, in part because the state hadn’t identified its most needy schools. A second round of federal funding is in the offing. Tier 1 schools such as Pescadero Elementary and Middle could receive as much as $2 million in additional federal funding annually for three years – if they consent to one of four draconian reforms.
The Turnaround Model mandates major changes including replacing the principal and firing at least half of the school’s staff. The Restart Model requires closing and reopening as a charter school. The School Closure model calls for closing and sending students to other schools in the district. The Transformation Model requires a new principal and increased instructional time.
|
|
“Well, absolutely, it’s disappointing,” said LHPUSD President Andy Wilson, who noted district officials were not terribly surprised to find the school listed as among the lowest-performing in the state. The school has been stuck in the Program Improvement mandates of the federal No Child Left Behind mandates for several years.
“We’ve been complying with that … and now we find ourselves on this list,” he said.
The Pescadero school was found to be in the lowest 5 percent of persistently poor-achieving schools. While few schools in San Mateo County were on the list, dozens of Bay Area schools were listed.
Administrators in Pescadero are quick to point out that they have already made major changes to the elementary and middle schools in an effort to correct years of poor test scores. Earlier this year, the board elected to move seventh- and eighth-graders into the high school and create a separate “academy” for sixth-graders. Currently kindergarteners through fifth-graders are set to attend either La Honda or Pescadero elementary in the fall.
For practical purposes, the middle and elementary schools have been separated for two years, as the district planned for renovations to its campuses, but the state still considers them one. Board members say Pescadero elementary teachers have told them the educational environment has improved for younger students since the middle school students moved out.
District supporters say the rural nature of the area and demographics of their community make education and reform difficult. And they have bemoaned the need for greater federal funding.
In January, district Superintendent Dennis Dobbs mentioned efforts to obtain Race to the Top funds in his “State of the District” letter. The letter also acknowledges the district’s prolonged problems reaching acceptable scores on standardized tests:
“For far too long, standardized test scores have shown the need for improving the academic performance of our students,” Dobbs wrote. “There is a wide achievement gap in performance of various sub-groups of the student populations and the overall levels of performance are not what they should be. The school staffs are reviewing instructional practices and materials to target reforms that will significantly raise student achievement levels.
“The first steps have been to acknowledge that we are not achieving the necessary learning results for students, which in turn, fosters a sense of urgency to do better,” he wrote.
The district board was scheduled to meet Tuesday night, after Review deadlines.
w