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Glendale Unified district to honor three of its schools
Muir Elementary, Woodrow Wilson Middle and Clark Magnet High excel in academics.
By Angela Hokanson
Three Glendale Unified School District schools will be honored today with the Title I Academic Achievement Award, a recognition bestowed on schools that are improving the performance of low-income students.
John Muir Elementary School, Woodrow Wilson Middle School and Clark Magnet High School were all named Title I Academic Achievement Award-winners for the 2007-08 school year. The state Department of Education will recognize the schools today at an awards ceremony in Los Angeles.
The award goes to Title I schools that have made substantial progress toward bringing all students to proficiency on the state content standards, and are closing the “achievement gap” that exists between certain sub-groups of students, such as low-income and middle-income students, according to the state Department of Education. Title I schools receive additional funding from the U.S. Department of Education because they have sizable numbers of low-income students.
“I really like that award because it recognizes schools that are not seen as high-performing schools initially,” Supt. Michael Escalante said.
At today’s ceremony, the school principals will be presented with plaques and will have their photograph taken with State Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell. Across the state, 239 schools received the award this year.
To earn the award, schools must meet or exceed certain state and federal academic achievement criteria. For instance, schools had to increase their school-wide Academic Performance Index score by a certain amount, depending on the current performance index score of the school. Schools also had to increase low-income students’ academic performance by set amounts that depended on those students’ current achievement levels.
The Academic Performance Index is a summary of students’ scores on a variety of standardized state tests. Scores range from 200 to 1,000, and 800 is the state’s performance target for all schools.
Between 2006 and 2007, the school-wide API at Wilson increased from 820 to 827. And during the same time period, the performance index of “socioeconomically disadvantaged” students at Wilson went up by 15 points, from 768 to 783, which was five points more than what the state looks for in giving out this award. Educators at the school were happy with both increases, Principal Richard Lucas said, because they show the school is making progress toward making all students proficient in the academic content standards.
It was the fourth year in a row that Wilson had received the Title I award, Lucas said.
“We’re at least on the right path,” he said.
To earn the award, schools who do not have an API score of at least 800 must realize API growth that is at least double that of the target set by the state.
For instance, in 2006, John Muir Elementary School’s API was 761. The state set the school’s target growth at five points on the index. But in one year the school more than doubled that amount of growth, increasing its API score by 23 points to reach 784.
During that same time period, the API score of low-income students at the school increased 25 points, from 744 to 769.
That latter increase was a critical one in earning the schools’ this award, as it shows a jump in the proficiency levels among low-income students, said Alice Petrossian, assistant superintendent for elementary education.
“That’s the driving factor for being recognized as a Title I achieving school,” she said.
Clark Magnet High School’s API score grew from 838 to 848 between 2007 and 2006. And the API score of low-income students at the school increased 38 points, from 788 to 826.
All three schools also met their national benchmarks showing students were making “adequate yearly progress” toward proficiency in English and math for two years in a row.
It’s appropriate to recognize these three schools, as they are contributing to closing the achievement gap, Petrossian said.
“The schools being recognized should be truly celebrated,” she said.
John Muir Elementary School, Woodrow Wilson Middle School and Clark Magnet High School were all named Title I Academic Achievement Award-winners for the 2007-08 school year. The state Department of Education will recognize the schools today at an awards ceremony in Los Angeles.
The award goes to Title I schools that have made substantial progress toward bringing all students to proficiency on the state content standards, and are closing the “achievement gap” that exists between certain sub-groups of students, such as low-income and middle-income students, according to the state Department of Education. Title I schools receive additional funding from the U.S. Department of Education because they have sizable numbers of low-income students.
“I really like that award because it recognizes schools that are not seen as high-performing schools initially,” Supt. Michael Escalante said.
At today’s ceremony, the school principals will be presented with plaques and will have their photograph taken with State Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell. Across the state, 239 schools received the award this year.
To earn the award, schools must meet or exceed certain state and federal academic achievement criteria. For instance, schools had to increase their school-wide Academic Performance Index score by a certain amount, depending on the current performance index score of the school. Schools also had to increase low-income students’ academic performance by set amounts that depended on those students’ current achievement levels.
The Academic Performance Index is a summary of students’ scores on a variety of standardized state tests. Scores range from 200 to 1,000, and 800 is the state’s performance target for all schools.
Between 2006 and 2007, the school-wide API at Wilson increased from 820 to 827. And during the same time period, the performance index of “socioeconomically disadvantaged” students at Wilson went up by 15 points, from 768 to 783, which was five points more than what the state looks for in giving out this award. Educators at the school were happy with both increases, Principal Richard Lucas said, because they show the school is making progress toward making all students proficient in the academic content standards.
It was the fourth year in a row that Wilson had received the Title I award, Lucas said.
“We’re at least on the right path,” he said.
To earn the award, schools who do not have an API score of at least 800 must realize API growth that is at least double that of the target set by the state.
For instance, in 2006, John Muir Elementary School’s API was 761. The state set the school’s target growth at five points on the index. But in one year the school more than doubled that amount of growth, increasing its API score by 23 points to reach 784.
During that same time period, the API score of low-income students at the school increased 25 points, from 744 to 769.
That latter increase was a critical one in earning the schools’ this award, as it shows a jump in the proficiency levels among low-income students, said Alice Petrossian, assistant superintendent for elementary education.
“That’s the driving factor for being recognized as a Title I achieving school,” she said.
Clark Magnet High School’s API score grew from 838 to 848 between 2007 and 2006. And the API score of low-income students at the school increased 38 points, from 788 to 826.
All three schools also met their national benchmarks showing students were making “adequate yearly progress” toward proficiency in English and math for two years in a row.
It’s appropriate to recognize these three schools, as they are contributing to closing the achievement gap, Petrossian said.
“The schools being recognized should be truly celebrated,” she said.
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