Achievement Gap Narrows at PaliHi

Minority and Special-Needs Students Make Large Gains

Upon the release of state education data on August 31, state educators bemoaned the ‘leveling off’ of student achievement scores during the 2006-7 school year. But they weren’t talking about Palisades Charter High School. The 2,700-student school’s Academic Performance Index (API) rose at more than double the statewide rate. And the biggest share of that growth came from large gains made by minority, economically disadvantaged and special-ed students’groups who have historically lagged behind white and Asian students. ‘That growth is so different from other high schools,’ said Marcia Haskin, PaliHi’s new interim principal. ‘We’re one of the few high schools in L.A. that exceeded its growth targets in all its sub-groups.’ School officials expected large API gains after the state released the results of student scores in mid-August on the California Standards Tests (CSTs). Those tests are the most heavily weighted data that form the API. As reported by the Palisadian-Post, the percentage of students who scored ‘proficient’ or better on those tests increased at double-digit rates across several subjects. That growth’though largely confined to ninth-grade students’accounted for the school’s API boost. ‘We’re very pleased,’ said Executive Director Amy Held. ‘We’re the second-highest performing [public] school in Los Angeles after Granada Hills [Charter High School].’ Every school in California receives an API from the Department of Education. The index ranges from 200 to 1,000 with 800 as the target for all state schools. All Palisades public schools exceed that target except for PaliHi. While the API of the average high school statewide rose six points to 689 last school year, PaliHi’s API rose 15 points to 781. The API of Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) rose by nine points to 664. Other Palisades public schools also saw above-average API gains. Palisades Charter Elementary rose by 20 points to 920; Canyon Charter Elementary by nine to 932; and Paul Revere Charter Middle School by 10 to 817. Scores at Marquez Charter Elementary fell by nine points to 880. The Education Department also assigns an API to racial, ethnic, economic and ‘special needs’ sub-groups within schools. Students with disabilities saw the largest API gain of any sub-group at PaliHi, rising 32 points to 543. Statewide, the same students rose by eight points to 464. Other sub-groups also made large gains, helping to shrink a large, persistent achievement gap at the independent charter. The API of both Latino and ‘socio-economically disadvantaged’ students rose by 19 points to 698 and 714, respectively. African-American students’ API rose 10 points to 686. Those rates outpaced gains made by Pali’s white students, whose scores rose to 846, a nine-point gain. Asian students were the only sub-group at the school with falling scores. Their API fell 13 points to 846. School administrators attribute last school year’s gains to a series of programs targeting the poorest-performing students. For example, incoming ninth-graders with a grade of ‘C’ or lower must take guided-study classes; students who fail some classes must re-take the class with others who have failed; and students entering the school with far-below average reading skills must take specialized literacy classes. ‘These gains are no fluke,’ says Eileen Savage, a Pali parent and board member. She credits the school’s Literacy Program, which became effective last fall, with raising achievement among some of the lowest performing students. ‘We have found, generally, that when kids’ reading improves that translates into improvement all around,’ she says. Most of those programs began last fall under the direction of former Principal Gloria Martinez, who left the school in June. Marcia Haskin became the school’s interim principal last month. And she says that this year’s data are helping shape this school year’s instructional goals. ‘We need all these intervention programs,’ Haskin says, ‘but we also need to focus on what I call first-teaching. In other words, we [need] to give students the support in class, so we minimize the numbers who have to end up in intervention.’ —– To contact Staff Writer Max Taves, e-mail reporter@palipost.com or call (310) 454-1321 ext. 28.