Union City Schools Score Higher

Just received this press release from Rick La Plante at New Haven Unified.

The district had some major improvements in standardized scores. Hopefully parents who've resisted these changes will embrace them more, and continue their involvement and support of the district's plan to get all students to achieve academic excellence.

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TEST SCORES SOAR IN NEW HAVEN

UNION CITY (Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008) * Hillview Crest Elementary School students and Alvarado Middle School School students made dramatic improvement in both English/language arts and mathematics, and science scores across the District took an impressive jump, according to results from standardized tests taken in 2007-08 in the New Haven Unified School District.

At Hillview Crest, fifth-grade students made remarkable gains, according to preliminary results made available by the state today from the Standardized Testing and Results (STAR) program. The percentage of fifth-graders scoring at or above standards in English/language arts rose 24 points, from 22 percent in 2006-07 to 46 percent in 2007-08, and the percentage at or above standards in math jumped 25 points, to 51 percent. The improvement was even more dramatic in science, where the percentage scoring at or above standards rose 32 points, to 53 percent.

There were impressive gains at other grade levels, too. In fourth grade, the percentage scoring at or above standards in English/language arts rose 14 points, to 50 percent, and the percentage at or above standards in math jumped 18 points, to 62 percent. In third grade, the percentage scoring at or above in math rose 12 points, to 35. In second grade, the percentage scoring at or above in math jumped 10 points, to
66 percent.

*Hillview Crest*s scores were up in every grade level and every
subject,* Interim Superintendent David Pava said. *Beth Davies, in her first year as principal, and her entire staff, both teachers and classified employees, should be commended. And it*s obvious that the
students and their parents did a lot of hard work.*

At Alvarado Middle, meanwhile, the percentage of sixth-graders scoring at or above standards in English/language arts rose 15 points, to 59 percent, and the percentage of eighth-graders jumped 10 points, to 57 percent. In math, the percentage of sixth-graders scoring at or above standards rose 11 points, to 54 percent, and seventh-grade scores jumped
6 points, to 36 percent. Eighth-grade general math scores went up 19 points, to 44 percent.

No less than 98 percent of algebra students at Alvarado scored at or above standards, up a remarkable 30 points from 2006-07, although it should be pointed out that the comparison group was smaller and the criteria for inclusion was more strict.

District-wide, science scores also made impressive gains. The percentage of eighth graders scoring at or above standards rose 15 points, to 63 percent, including a 19-point improvement at Barnard-White Middle, a 17-point improvement at Alvarado Middle and an 11-point improvement at Cesar Chavez Middle.

At the same time, the District-wide percentage of fifth-graders scoring at or above standards in science rose 11 points, to 56 percent. Searles Elementary fifth-graders nearly matched the improvement recorded at Hillview Crest, as the percentage of students at or above standards rose
31 points, to 55 percent. At Alvarado Elementary, the percentage of fifth-graders at or above standards rose 17 points, to 50 percent.

At James Logan High School, meanwhile, the percentage of physics students scoring at or above standards jumped 24 points, to 65 percent.


The District also made double-digit gains in general math * up 15 points, to 32 percent at or above standards * and in eighth-grade English/language arts * up 10 points, to 51 percent.

At Pioneer Elementary, the percentage of second-graders at or above standards rose 19 points, to 83 percent, in math and 16 points, to 70 percent, in English/language arts. At Searles, the percentage of fifth-graders at or above standards improved 15 points, to 42 percent, in math and 10 points, to 45 percent, in English/language arts. And at Alvarado Elementary, in math, the percentage of second-graders at or above standards in jumped 11 points, to 70 percent, and the percentage of fourth-graders at or above standards improved by 10 points, to 73 percent.

*I can*t remember a year when we had this much improvement in our test scores or when so many schools had such dramatic gains in the same
year,* said Mr. Pava, a New Haven teacher, principal and administrator for more than 30 years. *Part of it, I think, comes because we have a Strategic Plan in place, and part of it is just the good old-fashion hard work put in by our students and their parents and our teachers and support staff.*

*I*d also like to thank our Board of Education for its support as the District has intensified its focus on teaching and learning,* he said.

Chief Academic Officer Glynn Thompson said part of the improvement is a reflection of the new instructional initiatives that are part of the Strategic Plan, such as *our myopic focus on literacy,* and an emphasis on incorporating frequent assessments into language arts and math and on mastering standards-based curriculum.

Mr. Pava also pointed out that the District adjusted school schedules last year in an effort to make sure students were in class at peak learning times and improved student-to-teacher ratios and increased instructional minutes in key subjects at the middle schools.

*Unfortunately, because of the budget cuts that were forced on us by the state, this year we*re having to give back this year some of the gains we made in student-to-teacher ratios, and, for now, we*re unable to act on our hopes of reducing class size in grades 4 and 5,* he said.

*Frankly, the state*s making it harder to make the kind of improvement we*re celebrating today. Short-term, for this year, we need the Legislature to simply do its job and pass a budget. Long-term, we need the Governor and the Legislature to get serious about finding new revenue sources and stabilizing the budget for schools.*

Still, the District expects that the further initiatives introduced as a result of the Strategic Plan -- such as introduction of full-day and mid-year kindergarten programs last year and the expansion this year of the *freshman families* program at Logan -- will pay dividends in the future, Mr. Pava said.

Approximately 10,000 New Haven students took the STAR tests during April and May of 2008. Most students took two types of tests: the California Standards Tests (CSTs), which measure progress based on state curriculum content standards that are among the highest in the United States, and the CAT/6 tests, which compare achievement in Grades 3 and 7 to students throughout the country.

Craig Boyan, Director of Assessment and Evaluation, acknowledged that a portion of the improvement in grades 3-5 could be attributable to fact that an average of eight students in each grade level at each site took a modified test for the first time in 2007-08. Under new state guidelines, some special education students who in the past took the CST were given California Modified Assessments instead.

*Mathematically, that could have accounted for a few percentage points. Regardless, the improvement across the board is impressive,* Mr. Boyan said.

*Our teachers are taking seriously the necessary work of incorporating standards into their daily curriculum,* Mr. Thompson said, *and we*re starting to see the benefits that Small Learning Communities offer in terms of collaboration and the chance for teachers to share strategies and problem-solve together.

*This is a good time to be in New Haven,* he added. *Our teachers are doing amazing work, our classified employees and administrators are dedicated to supporting them, and our parents and the community are seeing the results. Most important, our children are getting the
benefits.*


Rick La Plante
Public Information Officer
New Haven Unified School District
(510) 471-1100, ext. 2310
FAX: (510) 471-7108
rlaplante@nhusd.k12.ca.us

Best Dollar Valueper Square Foot per API in Bay Area

For those of you looking for information on homes associated with a school that performs well on the standardized tests you’ll find the information below useful.

If you are buying a 2000 sqft, detached, 4 bedroom home and want to know where's the best buy on $/sqft/API basis this will help you compare school districts (based on recent closings):

City	Cost	sqft	API	Elementary Sch	$/SQFT/API
Union City	$ 660,000	2070	895	Delaine Eastin	0.36
San Ramon	$ 722,000	2027	961	Hidden Hills	0.37
Pleasanton	$ 748,000	2014	961	Mohr	0.39
Danville	$ 782,500	2080	936	Greenbrook	0.40
San Ramon	$ 750,000	2025	897	Walt Disney	0.41
Pleasanton	$ 790,000	2047	922	Walnut Grove	0.42
Fremont	$ 761,000	1958	921	Parkmont	0.42
Fremont	$ 858,000	2110	957	Forest Park	0.42
San Ramon	$ 918,075	2200	881	Twin Creeks	0.47
Fremont	$ 800,000	1920	857	Glenmoor	0.49
Fremont	$ 995,000	1970	987	Gomes	0.51
Cupertino	$ 1,125,000	2049	954	Collins	0.58
Cupertino	$ 1,310,000	1939	973	Regnart	0.69
Palo Alto	$ 1,399,999	1974	919	Palo Verde	0.77

Delaine Eastin Elementary in Union City is a bargain compared to other schools, and is centrally located. However, if you need high performing middle and high schools you’ll have to consider San Ramon, Pleasanton, Danville, & Fremont’s Mission hills areas only.

Best Buys in the East Bay Newsletter

san ramon school

Just sumamrized info on san ramon schools and their API scores

San Ramon, in general offers real estate at the best price per API point in the Bay Area.

The schools associated with Windemere are as follows

Elementary School
Hidden Hills Elementary
Live Oaks elementary (opened in 2007)

Middle School
Windemere Ranch Middle

High School
Dougherty High School

Gale Ranch community is assoicated with the following schools

Elementary
Coyote Creek Elementary

Middle School
Gale Ranch Middle School - Opening Fall 2008

New API scores are now available

The new API scores are now available.

Of immediate note is that New Haven Unified (Union City) now has a school with an API of 10. Delaine Eastin moved up. Let's see how this impacts the homes that feed into that school this year. The other good news is that the Principal of Delaine Eastin will become the Principal of Alvardo-Middle next year. Hopefully he'll have impact in raising that school's API scores as well.

Tri-city Schools Improve API scores

The new API scores reflect an adjustment for performance on the science exam taken by students.

In comparing the scores issued today to what was released in August, most schools had small 1-3 points changes up or down. The exceptions were:

Fremont Unified School District
Cabrillo Elementary now 755 vs. 743 up 12
American High School now 780 vs. 789 down 9
Irvington High School now 787 vs. 795 down 8
Kennedy High School now 713 vs. 723 down 10
Mission San Jose now 922 vs. 932 down 10
Washington High School now 764 vs 758 up 6

So the good news is that the Elementary and middle school kids performance in science is on par with the their reading and math skills, except at Cabrillo elementary where the kids science scores were better than their math and reading skills. The same could be said of the kids at Washington High School, whereas the kids at American, Irvington, Kennedy and even Mission San Jose are performing at level lower on their science exams relative to their math and English.

With regard to the similar school ranking and statement rankings, I don't pay much attention to them, because it's a standardized exam, I'm only interested in knowing how the average kid is performing. If the average kid is performing well I'll interpret it to mean that 1.) the school has motivated kids, 2.) the parents are motivating their kids to perform, 3.)the teachers are doing a good job, 4.) the principal is doing a good and 5.) the school board is a positive influence. If the score isn't at least 825, my buyer's are usually not interested in buying into the neighborhood, and I don't blame them. If they can afford to buy into a neighborhood where score meets their requirements than why not.

Union City (New Haven Unified School District)
pretty much all it's schools scored within 1-4 points of what was reported in August 2006.

Newark Unified School District
the noticeable changes were:
Musick Elementary now 735 v.s 718 up 17 points
Newark Jr. High now 737 vs. 730 up 7 points.

STAR Testing is Coming up

New Haven Unified will be conducting starting its STAR testing as follows:

High School Student: April 24-May 1
Junior Hight Students (grades 6-8) May 7-14
Elementary Students (grades 2-6) May 1-10

At the high school level, results from the California High School Exit Exam also play a part in API scores; CASHEE applications are roughly every 2-3 months (students take 'em 'til they pass 'em).

25% of the actual questions from this year's exam are available for your kids to practice online. I encourage you to have your kids become familiar with these sample/actual test questions.
The results of these standardized exams will be used to publish the 2007 API scores published in August.

Though these dates are for New Haven Unified, other school districts throughout California probably have similar testing dates.

Did you know that the state will let you cheat on 25% of the Questions

As mentioned in my last blog, at the beginning of each year the state makes available sample questions for that years exams. Actually they are more than sample questions. They representative 25% of the actual questions students will be asked to answer in that year's CST.

So if you want to improve your child's score, test him on those questions now to see where he needs help. Than ask his teacher for help in getting more similar questions.

Making the Rounds of other blogs

There's a lot of debate on whether we should test, how much we should test, when we should test, what we should test, etc. , etc.

I won't debate that. I'm looking at this from the point that we do test each year, a score is released and more, and more of the general population is making a decision based on the API score.

Given that I'm focused on finding resources to help students score better, by getting them, their parents, their teacher and their principals access to best practices, sample exams, and other means to score better.

The definition of how the API score is derived is not static across grades or years. You can find the complete definition for 2005-2006 school year here. If the state's site isn't clear enough try Edusource's pic charts on the different components.

Here you'll find the sample exams for the CST (English-Language Arts, Mathematics, History-Social Science, Science).

I haven't printed out every test, but I'd recommend every parent begin the process by printing out their kids grade level and administering the test to their kids.

Determine their weaknesses, discuss your findings with their teachers, and ask for advice on resources to help them score better.

If you want to know how your child school did on the CST's here's the test results site: CST test results

I'm starting this blog to focus on resources to help parents, teachers, principals (aka head teachers, those responsible for sharing best practices to other teachers) and students. To I'll refer back to my post at http://fremontrealestate.blogspot.com/2006/09/increasing-your-homes-value.html regarding the monetary reason every neighbor regardless of whether they have a kid in the associated school, should volunteer in some fashion to help improve the API score of kids in their neighborhood. Volunteering could mean participating in tutoring programs, asking kids how they are doing in school (taking an interest, will encourage them to take an interest), please remember getting a perfect API score, only means you are proficient at the basics, hardly a genius. So don't feel you are putting pressure on kids to be familiar with the basics. You can also volunteer by gathering info and spreading it. Please post innovative approaches to learning material or incentive parents, teachers and pupils. If you find proactive exams send me the links. Just like any exam, the more practice exams you take of it, the better you will score on the actual exam. President Bush's brother is trying to market something for $3800 a pop to help kids score better on standardized tests (http://www.pamspaulding.com/weblog/2005/01/no-child-left-behind-bush-family), which is deservedly getting a lot of bad press, because the president's brother is trying to make money of one of Bush's signature legislations. Actually haven't seen any review of how good his system is. However, if the game manufacturers got into the education game on the cover of creating home equity - that might be interesting.