Castro must pick up the pace Castro must pick up the pace (October 07, 2005)

Under government's watchful eye, school has until December to hatch a new plan

By Molly Tanenbaum

Castro parents, still thankful that their school will not be closed next year, have something new to worry about.

The elementary school has been named a Year 2 Program Improvement (PI) school under the No Child Left Behind Act, and educators must develop a series of recommendations by December for how they will improve test scores. As a first step, Castro will use restructured categorical funding to hire former Graham principal Judy Crates as an administrator to help develop and implement these recommendations.

But if Castro fails to improve, and becomes a Year 3 PI school, the state will take corrective actions such as replacing staff and restructuring the curriculum.

On the evening of Sept. 27, administrators, parents, teachers and trustees gathered at Castro to discuss what this status means for the coming year and for the school's future.

Some plans already on the table include after-school reading programs for students reading below grade level, pull-out courses to decrease language arts class sizes for fourth and fifth graders, and increased resources for parents to support their children's education. Additionally, the school plans to hire two intervention teachers and a literacy coach, according to Castro principal Carla Tarazi.

Maurice Ghysels, Mountain View-Whisman's new superintendent, told the gathering he views this Year 2 labeling not as a handicap, but as an opportunity for improvement.

"We need to do something now and faster, building on the things we're already doing," he said in opening remarks to the Castro parents, many of whom wore headsets to listen to a Spanish translation.

Ghysels stressed the importance of learning English as a way to gain access to society; at Castro, English language learners lag behind other students in the language arts, according to recent test scores.

Castro did meet its Academic Performance Index target, improving by 9 points in 2005-- from 635 in 2004 to 644 out of 1,000. However, Castro is still more than 100 points below the district average of 764, and far below the statewide performance target of 800, according to Tarazi.

But the school earned its Year 2 PI status by failing to meet the target of 24.4 percent of students performing at or above proficiency, with a school-wide total of 14.7 percent proficient or above. In math, however, Castro did meet its target, with 33.3 percent of students scoring at a proficient level or above.

The most striking discrepancy in the Adequate Yearly Progress scores, Tarazi pointed out, was between the English language learners and white, English-speaking students in language arts. While 80 percent of white students were proficient or above in language arts, only 6.3 percent of English language learners and 6.4 percent of economically disadvantaged students achieved proficiency or above.

As a Year 2 PI school, Castro administrators must abide by several rules: First, they must revise the school plan and develop recommendations for change by December; second, they are required to notify all parents of the Program Improvement status and give them the opportunity to transfer to a different school; and finally, they must provide supplemental educational services for all eligible students.

Crates, addressing the audience in Spanish, highlighted parental involvement as an essential part of improving Castro students' achievement and displayed a "triangle of responsibility" diagram with parents and teachers at the base of the triangle and students at the top.

During the question-and-answer period, parents expressed concerns about the budget, and wondered how Slater's closing will affect Castro.

Castro is the only Year 2 school in the Mountain View-Whisman district this year. Slater has been named a Year 1 school, but is not in jeopardy of becoming a Year 2 school due to its impending closure, according to Assistant Superintendent Mary Lairon.

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

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