Tough questions arise for MV-Los Altos Tough questions arise for MV-Los Altos (November 18, 2005)

District's educators ask if achievement gap is acceptable

By Molly Tanenbaum

At their Nov. 14 board meeting, sets of administrators from Mountain View and Los Altos high schools took turns presenting their annual review to the board and the public, including their successes, shortcomings, current professional development efforts and needs for improvement.

But it wasn't until the end of the night when Mountain View High School administrators raised the tough questions that are underlying the achievement gap troubles that persist among Hispanic, English language learning, and economically disadvantaged students.

Principal Patricia Hyland, who is taking the year off while recovering from breast cancer, sat with her fellow administrators at the table facing the board on Monday night and asked, "Are we willing to continue to accept 25 percent of our students not succeeding?"

And if not, she asked the board, what will the school and the district do to ensure better-than-incremental improvement?

Throughout the evening, both schools displayed their benchmark goals and recent test scores using large binders full of charts prepared by Associate Superintendent Brigitte Sarraf. Both schools have seen a decline in Algebra I scores and grades and a plateau in English and language arts test scores.

"We slid backwards. Let's be honest about that," said interim Mountain View High Principal Keith Moody.

In addition, the economically disadvantaged, English language learning, and Hispanic students' scores continue to fall far behind the school's average in all state test subjects, which is a major concern for the district.

Administrators discussed new efforts to confront the achievement gap and better serve all students at the Monday night meeting. These initiatives include increased dialogue about race during staff development, an increase in the number of classes that satisfy UC prerequisites, and at Los Altos High, the addition of a career development class for economically disadvantaged seniors.

Further, Mountain View High hopes to move world studies from 9th to 10th grade, so that students learn the material closer to the time when that subject matter shows up on the state test. This move would mean an open spot in the freshman school day, which could then be taken by a study skills class.

But the algebra gap remains one of the biggest trouble spots for both schools. The district has already spent $50,000 to study this gap and come up with possible solutions, according to Superintendent Rich Fischer.

A glimmer of hope was presented from both schools regarding algebra grades. Students who attended an algebra summer school program through the high school were already showing clear improvement in their first quarter grades, when compared with students who had not participated in the summer school algebra academy.

"We're hoping to get 'em young, get 'em ready, and get 'em into the program," said Los Altos High Principal Wynne Satterwhite.

In addition to summer school, Mountain View High is planning to implement another program to help bring algebra grades and test scores up -- cross-age tutoring with the middle schools. This project will begin in January and will start off as a pilot with Crittenden Middle School, according to interim principal Moody, who is enthusiastic about the new program's potential.

"We'll make the student the teacher," Moody said.

About 30 high school students will serve as tutors and "math buddies" for Crittenden 6th graders, giving middle school students an early start and providing the tutors with more confidence to improve their own performance.

Despite many concrete efforts to solve the achievement gap problem and raise scores, grades, and school participation, the underlying big question of the night remained: Will the district continue to opt for slow, incremental progress, or is major restructuring in order?

These questions spurred a debate among the board and administrators, which focused mainly on the possibility of having to reallocate funds and other resources in order to close the achievement gap and make sure that all students can obtain school offerings.

Hyland estimated that about 95 percent of the school's resources are being accessed by the top achievers, and that perhaps a shift is needed. Mountain View High's Assistant Principal Matt Neely and Hyland threw out some examples of ways to reallocate funds and prioritize algebra achievement to demonstrate the complexity of the issue, such as cutting physical education for a month leading up to an exam, or doing away with the spring play, or paying teachers a bonus if they raise their students' test scores.

"Our successful students are really successful and profit from resources given to them, and if we change the status quo, it'll be met with resistance," Neely said.

Mountain View Assistant Principal Donna Peltz echoed these sentiments, pointing out that the current rigidity of the educational system presents limitations to initiating radical change.

"The traditional structure of the comprehensive high school is a roadblock to addressing 21st century learners," Peltz said.

Suggestions that would potentially take away resources from high-achieving students were met with resistance from trustee Phil Faillace, who said that those are the children of taxpayers, too, and are equally deserving of the school's attention and funds. He hoped that students in need of help could be assisted without the sacrifice of resources for high-achievers.

However, the trustees recognized the need for change. To Hyland's initial question of whether the school should be complacent about the 25 percent rate of students not succeeding, trustee David Williams said, "To me, that's not an acceptable solution."

Williams placed the responsibility on the administrators to do what they think is best, as they are already doing in other areas in the school.

"You guys are the professionals. I'm looking for you to tell us to move world studies to 10th grade," he said.

Fischer lauded both schools' administration teams and the school board for keeping student achievement as the district's No. 1 priority.

"It's just been an ongoing commitment to continuous improvement," Fischer said.

He noted that annual reviews in front of the school board, which Mountain View-Los Altos has only been doing for a few years, are a rare practice for school districts.

"Things like this don't work many places without this trust from the board," he said.

E-mail Molly Tanenbaum at mtanenbaum@mv-voice.com

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