School Audit to Generate Change
I was asked by the San Bernardino County Sun to write an opinion piece on how the district felt about the Audit of Educational Effectiveness of the Rialto Unified School District conducted by SchoolMatch, a national research and database services company located in Westerville, Ohio. I must admit that when this idea was brought to the attention of the superintendents of the eight school districts selected to take part in this audit, there was a great deal of concern and uncertainty with respect to the motives behind the Sun's sponsorship. However, Sun Publisher Mark Adkins said the idea for the audit grew out of the |
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The Rialto Unified School District is always interested in improving the academic progress of our students, so we accepted the Sun's offer and went forward with the process. The process was not unlike others that the district has participated in over the years such as a Program Quality Review or a Western Association of Schools and Colleges accreditation. SchoolMatch's intent was to compare us to 10 other districts throughout the United States that SchoolMatch said were similar to Rialto. Factors of comparison were demographic characteristics in the categories of education level of school district residents, per capita income, poverty level of the community, relative size of the student population and the percent of the student population and the percent of the student population qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. In other words, they would be comparing apples to apples, not apples to oranges.
SchoolMatch sent a visiting team of five very professional educators who were genuinely interested in doing an honest and fair evaluation of the Rialto programs. There were no real surprises in their final report, and we feet somewhat validated that some of the same concerns the district was currently analyzing were found important by the team.
We do, however, question and take exception to the comparison with the matched groups. They matched Rialto to schools in Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Wisconsin Ohio, Texas and Georgia whose demographics, in our opinion, are not reflective of Rialto.
An example is the school district in Maryland where the student population is 19,490 (Rialto is 26,096); student ethnicity is 91.06 percent White, 6.39 percent Black, 1.21 percent Latino and 1.34 percent other (Rialto is 15.37 percent White, 26.98 percent Black, 53.76 percent Latino and 3.89 percent other).
They have no program for limited-English speaking students; Rialto services almost 5,300 English-language learners. Their percentage of students on free or reduced-price lunches is 32 percent; Rialto's percentage is 65.93 percent.
It appears that their intent of comparing apples to apples was not achieved. It is because of this incongruence and others found within other "matched7" districts that I question the validity of some of these conclusions and the basic hypothesis by which SchoolMatch determined the effectiveness level of like districts and their corresponding analysis of the district data.
Nevertheless, some areas of concern to SchoolMatch are also areas of concern to the district.
We are concerned about our math and reading scores. Last year's SAT 9 scores were unacceptable. The Board of Educafion's goals and objectives for 1999-2000 will concentrate on the improvement of students' academic performance in reading, language arts and math while ensuring safe and drug-free schools. Schools and principals will be evaluated annually for the progress they are making toward these goals and objectives.
We are increasing our focus or early intervention. The district has aggressively pursued funding for early childhood education. Beginning in the 1999-2000 school year, there will be 14 pre-school programs at eight different sites. Also, we have applied for additional funding for 16 more preschool programs. If funding is received, that would bring our total to 30 pre-school programs district-wide.
We have examined our district's curriculum and authentic assessments, and we are in the process of developing more district-wide, standard-based assessments. We are in the process of developing a new standardbased grading system. We will continue to analyze and disaggregate SAT 9 data in order to identify the needs of children and then provide training to the schools to address these needs. Kindergarten through third grade teachers will continue to receive literacy training that includes phonemic awareness. We will heighten our training in reading instruction for teachers through 12th grade.
The district has complied with the state mandates of Proposition 227 by providing structured English immersion classrooms for our English-language learners. School Match's site visit came during the transition period of implementing Proposition 227. I believe it was a learning experience for the SchoolMatch visiting team since the state of California mandates were new to them.
The SchoolMatch process was a learning experience for the district as well. I think it's important to step back and take an objective look at our instructional program and how we are helping children. I'm glad that one of the Sun's main focuses is on improving the lives of children. It is, also, a focus of the employees of the Rialto Unified School District, and I'm confident that by working together we will make a difference for kids.
The mission of the Rialto Unified School District is to maximize student academic success. We take that charge seriously, and we welcome the support of the San Bernardino County Sun newspaper and anyone else who will assist us in accomplishing our mission.
By JILL WALKER
San Bernardino County Sun
Until about three or four years ago, student performance data in the Rialto Unified School District was kept at individual schools. The district did not have a designated person who compiled the reams of information the schools generate.
The 1997-98 school year, in fact, was the first in which the district electronically distributed information.
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BY THE NUMBERS
A glance at the Rialto Unified School District
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But the audit of educational effectiveness found the district still had not centralized its data collection system, a factor the auditors considered essential in making "informed school district decisions to improve student achievement."
"Rialto has all the data it needs to make excellent decisions," said K. Dianne Katzenmoyer, educational liaison with the firm. "They have pieces in every office where decisions are made. Frequently, we found that the data was not aggregated in one central data bank."
The district tried unsuccessfully to address the shortcoming.
The school board approved the creation of a director of accountability and assessment for this academic year. But as soon as Barry Last stepped into the position, the district lost its director of curriculum, so Last was moved into that slot.
"We had wanted to have an individual that would be responsible for analyzing data and keeping forward-looking analysis," said Michael Brown, assistant superintendent of instructional services. "That position never really got off the ground."
In fact, the position will cease to exist after this year, when the instruction division will take over the duties.
The audit said such change is crucial so the district can see its weaknesses.
"It would appear that the Rialto Unified School District collects and reports data primarily in order to comply with state mandates," the audit stated,
But administrators said that is changing.
"We're very much in agreement for the need of a centralized system," said Dorothy Spence, director of special programs.
Katzenmoyer said the district could improve its collection of attendance records for student and faculty, test scores, use of facilities, trainings attended and program outcomes.
The audit suggested the district hire a management information specialist, centralize the data and generate reports.
It also suggested taking parents and teachers into account when disseminating information.
Rialto Parent-Teacher Association Council President Michelle Crayne said a district- or school-run meeting to explain test results could be helpful.
"The way the information comes out on those (state) tests is very confusing," she said. "I think the school district could communicate it better."
When results of last year's Stanford 9 statewide test came in, schools such as Ernest Garcia Elementary only had it broken down by grades, not teachers.
Garcia Principal Stephen White said the school looked at the data per grade level, finding strengths and weaknesses.
But other districts broke down the test data by teacher.
The results from this year's test is expected by teacher, White said.
At Sam Curtis Elementary School, teacher Monte Stewart said after analyzing the test data by grade, fourth-grade teachers started emphasizing more word problems in math.
The audit also found that the district was not teaching content in the same sequence as it appeared on the Stanford 9 test, meaning some students weren't prepared for the material on which they were being tested.
But Stewart said that's the nature of tests. Each grade is tested on concepts they should know the following year, with a fourth-grader tested on what a beginning fifth-grader should know.
So Stewart and other teachers are emphasizing strategies, such as ways to comprehend and answer word problems.
The district switched from a developmentally-based report card to a standards-based report card last fall.
It also developed new districtwide assessments and started training teachers and the schools to best use the data.
"Data should inform action," Spence said.
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