Comments on: New rankings for Oakland schools

By: Steven Weinberg

Steven Weinberg — Fri, 13 May 2011 13:01:51 +0000

Catherine, I did a little more research. Dublin’s high school API is lower than its elementary school average. Its one middle school has a lower API than the high school, but one of its highest scoring elementary schools keeps its seventh and eighth graders, so that lowers the middle school’s average.
Inner city or suburb, the CST tests are not a fair gauge of progress between grade levels.

By: Steven Weinberg

Steven Weinberg — Fri, 13 May 2011 04:38:18 +0000

Catherine, I just checked Dublin’s scores on the state website and they show a similar drop in 11th grade English to the drop in Oakland: almost a doubling of Far Below Basic scores and a drop in advanced scores. The test for 11th grade English is clearly a contributing factor in the drop in scores. High school testing is so confused with students taking many different tests that I cannot compare other subjects.

By: Nextset

Nextset — Fri, 13 May 2011 04:24:08 +0000

One of the things I wonder after reading some of the above postings: Is OUSD just teaching basket weaving? Is the reason for the decline at the HS level the departure of the bright students after primary grade for better schools – or is it the dumbing down process used by OUSD (if that’s what it is – I never go there).

I do know that their products’ reputation as undesirables – that’s old news. I have not heard of anything OUSD does as an institution to make it’s products more desirable to industry, military or higher learning (Merritt Nursing School, etc). Can somebody post info on how OUSD improves (trys to improve) it’s students deportment and merchantability as the students move through grades 10-12? Average students please, not just the AP and University bound people.

Some good news would be nice.

By: wdcrachel

wdcrachel — Fri, 13 May 2011 01:56:30 +0000

Catherine’s point about Oakland Tech seems very true. I was really surprised by how low the numbers were. I don’t know what percentage of students are in Paideia (sp?) but I would think their scores are quite high.

By: Catherine

Catherine — Thu, 12 May 2011 23:00:39 +0000

Steven: I see that we look at Oakland as the gauge, but if you look at Dublin and Livermore the high school scores are higher than the middle school scores. Oakland, Berkeley, San Leandro and Hayward all have dramatic drops, but other districts in which most of the students continue on from middle to high school in public school (compare general numbers of all elementary, middle and high schools to gauge) the drop is about 50 points from the average high school numbers.

What I wish we could see in our numbers are the scores of those students who had high (at least proficient, but mostly advanced) scores in elementary school and compare them to middle school and then high school.

Children who read, and read well and often with a variety of materials and genres will test better than those who don’t read well. A recent study by the Annie E. Casey Foundation followed students from the end of third grade through high school. You can predict with almost 100% accuracy those students who will score well by how well they read at the end of third grade.

I agree with Gordon in that many, many of our students who scored well in elementary school left before middle school and the vast majority of students who scored well in middle school left before high school. What I also wish is that the Oakland Tech numbers would break out academy students. It would be frightening because I believe the academy students are scoring in the 800s and 900s which means that the remaining students are scoring even lower than the dismally low scores represented in the chart.

By: livegreen

livegreen — Wed, 11 May 2011 04:06:21 +0000

CBI, re#3, it could also be that other HS’s in the State have a bigger dropout rate of good students, while Encinal maintains them or (even) that MS students return in High School. Or some combination of this with good programs.

By: Katy Murphy

Katy Murphy — Tue, 10 May 2011 23:26:02 +0000

They’re on there. Check the alpha list. The state classifies many of them — including OCA — as “small” schools, rather than “middle” or “high.”

By: Can't believe it

Can't believe it — Tue, 10 May 2011 22:28:00 +0000

Mary- we had an AVID program for years but then lost funding but our two AP support classes offer a combination AVID, tutoring, study hall and counseling support for students new to AP along with a few college field trips. Students are closely monitored by experienced and enthusiastic teachers and individually counseled by someone assigned just to that program. Believe me, we needed the recent parcel tax to pass to keep these classes, but they add immeasurably to closing the gap. it is not magical, however, as one of the issues we must face is undoing years of academic neglect, no matter how intelligent the student may be. This is where I differ from Nextset and his comments. Each student has potential, but he/she can get used to low standards, and the smartest kids can learn to do little or nothing and get by, or even have their self- esteem drop when no one expects anything from them. In my humble opinion this is 1/2 of the kids who are in academic trouble. It is not enough to say Si se puede, you have to give constant support and encouragement.

By: teacher

teacher — Tue, 10 May 2011 13:29:17 +0000

Can’t Believe It: It’s my understanding the teacher is no longer teaching. The principal at Skyline has changed every year for five years, so the principal who was overseeing testing last year is not there any more anyway. And, yes, the school has reported its scores every year. Just go here to see the ones from 2009, the last set that were valid: http://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/AcntRpt2010/2009BaseSch.aspx?allcds=01612590137943

By: Mary Hill

Mary Hill — Tue, 10 May 2011 03:24:48 +0000

@Can’t Believe It–Sorry for assuming you were referring to an Oakland school. Thanks for adding more details. I notice you mention “support classes” which I assume (there I go again) would be primarily for students who need extra academic or English language support. Could you write a little more about what that entails?

Unfortunately, in Oakland, resources to help struggling students have decreased drastically over the years. I’m an elementary teacher, but I’m sure this has equally affected secondary schools. For example, my only resource for helping struggling students (besides peer tutors and myself) is a parent volunteer who works with students on specific skills a few hours per week. This is not enough help for students who enter a class with serious deficits–and sometimes with serious emotional/behavioral problems as well.