Charter Oak Schools Develop Plans For Success

As Charter Oak schools struggle to meet and maintain scores required under No Child Left Behind, have drafted success plans to meet what school officials have deemed nearly impossible expectations.

The Charter Oak school board reviewed annual Student Achievement site plans for each of the eight schools in the district during Thursday’s meeting, but focus centered on schools considered failing under NCLB.

Under federally mandated NCLB, K-12 schools must show improvement in English Language Arts and Math proficiency for all students.

This year, 78.4 percent of students must be proficient in ELA and 79 percent in math. Next year, those requirements will jump by 10 percent in each category.

,, Glen Oak and Badillo elementary schools have missed required AYP scores.

Any school that fails to meet AYP two consecutive years are labeled as Program Improvement. At Charter Oak, Badillo and Glen Oak elementary schools are listed under Program Improvement.

Jeanine Robertson, assistant superintendent of educational services, said schools falling under Program Improvement were required to write two-year plans identifying strategies for achieving the required proficiency scores.

She cited several areas of focus for both schools, including emphasis on intervention programs and parent involvement opportunities.

Robertson said school officials at Badillo Elementary are looking at intervention programs targeting students in Kindergarten and first grade.

“They are really trying to target those grades, so they catch the problems early and focus on those issues,” said Robertson.

Other identified areas included improving communication with parents, teaching effectiveness, professional development and better use of technology.

“These schools have been working on bringing the quality of teaching to the next level than what they’re already doing,” said Robertson. “And they have been doing a good job – they’re in program improvement, but they still have been doing a good job.”

Two-year plans addressing Program Improvement would be approved in January.

However, School Board Member Don Davis said the current plans for each school, aside from Oak Knoll Virtual Academy, were not specific enough in addressing struggling test scores. He said he wanted to see more detailed descriptions of goals, rather than a “copy-and-paste” of goals from the previous year.

“Going over last year’s plans and this year’s plans, there’s very little change… ,” said Davis. “This is the site plan for the schools, so if it doesn’t have focus in the plan now, how can you execute [the improvements]?”

The board voted to approve the school plans 4-1, with Davis casting the lone dissenting vote.