Feds sanction Anderson High on testing

Anderson Union High School District officials met in special session last Thursday to discuss how to get Anderson High School back on track with the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act.

The high school was placed on “program improvement” status, a federal sanction, when the number of students taking standardized tests dropped below the 95 percent mark.

With the law’s academic requirements, schools are required to have 95 percent of the student body take standardized tests to “assess academic conformity with NCLB.” The federal act has upset educators in the area because of the requirement that by 2014 “every child must show a proficiency in math, language arts and reading.”

This past spring, a little over 94.5 percent of Anderson High students took the tests, thus dropping the district slightly below the 95 percent mark. Therefore, federal officials placed Anderson High School on noncompliance status.

Randy Palomino, superintendent of the Anderson Union High School District, explained that “over the past two years, test scores at the high school have increased significantly” with a state Academic Performance Index ranking of 706. The average state high school ranking is 689. All state schools must reach 800 by 2014.

“Every school is eventually going to be in (Program Improvement),” said Tim Klaiber, Special Education teacher and a “parent of three future Anderson Union High School students.”

Charlie Menoher, former Shasta County Office of Education Superintendent and now a consultant with Nascent Group, said the district should look at this “as a great opportunity to do things you want to do to make students be successful and to bring in more of them.”

“In one word, it is ‘trust.’ We are all in this together as educators and parents,” Menoher said.

The board then listened to a presentation by Denise Hexum from the Nascent Group, a consulting firm authorized by the state to assist schools placed in program improvement status, as well as comments from the high school's own team of administrators, teachers and parents.

Members of the school site team explained what they did and how they did it in the crowded boardroom. Head football coach Lance Gosch started the explanations by saying, “We have to provide (for) the needs of the kids.”

Sally Rinker, who chairs the school’s special education department and is also a teacher, as well as Raye-Dawn Wonder, a parent, each spoke to the group. Then, Anderson principal Mike Koontz and assistant principal Scott Booth each explained the school’s testing procedures.

English teacher Tim Sowles said it was “difficult to explain what went on for four days in five minutes time.”

Sowles said goals were set by the group in “intense meetings” and it was finally agreed that of the nine goals the group agreed upon, the first five goals would be accomplished during the first year while the remaining four would be tackled in year two.

Board member Richard Urban asked “how do we get kids here which are not coming here?”

Mathematics teacher and boys’ soccer coach Joe Curiel said “you get the kids interested in school and they talk to their parents. The parents talk to other parents. Kids’ needs need to be addressed – and the word gets out. We need a cultural shift.”

“Yes, we are in (program improvement). Embrace it — and get out of it. But who is to blame?” district board member Ron Brown said.

“We all are, we all have bullseyes on our backs,” Curiel quickly answered.

“We improved five percent last year, but this year it had to improve 12 percent,” Klaiber said.

“It is impossible to have 100 percent of the students test at that level,” Davis said.

Schools must have 35 percent of students test at the proficient mark. Beginning next year, the bar moves up to 46 percent and continues to rise 11 percentage points each year until schools reach the 100 percent mark in 2014. Penalties include classifying the school as a PI school; school-funded tutoring for students; students being bused to other district schools; firing of school staff; lengthening the school day or year; or even closing the school.

Board members Joe Gibson, Ron Brown and Al Davis expressed their gratitude to the members who gave the report and Hexum said, “We have to refocus on why we are here – it is for the kids.”