That’s right … Sonoma Valley High School is to become a “flagship” school, and we commend the school board and the superintendent for setting a high goal with the restructuring currently being planned, so that the high school can more fully meet the needs of all our students.
Readers know we feel a parental concern for the young men and women in our community, wanting all of them to a) graduate from high school and b) move on to work or college proficient in reasoning and communication skills. We’ve noted before the significant drop in high school class size each year, as up to 100 or more of the students who enter as freshman each year are gone by the time their class is ready to graduate. And of the remaining group, only about half have completed the “A-G” classes, which are the basic requirements for entry into the California state college system.
Most at risk are those students identified as coming from “socio-economically disadvantaged” families. That represents a growing segment in our schools, and it’s instructive to look at student achievement in the primary grades. Here’s a brief look at each of the five primary schools run by our district, with the percentage of SED students and the most recent “Academic Performance Index” for those students:
School SED percent API score
Dunbar 41 642
El Verano 75 684
Flowery 78 603
Prestwood 28 703
Sassarini 60 689
We recognize that such scores are not the sole measure of students’ growth, but they tell us something useful about how well we’re imparting certain basic skills, such as reasoning and communication, that can be assessed objectively.
Are there other government-run schools with similar demographics that are doing better? Apparently so, we’re learning. Among several discussed at the school board meeting on Tuesday were two primary schools in Long Beach. Both have student populations that are 100 percent from socio-economically disadvantaged families and at least 60 percent from families whose primary language is not English. Yet both schools are achieving at levels higher than any of the Sonoma schools, accomplished with programs that combine high expectations, student responsibility and fluid grouping by academic readiness levels:
School SED percent API score
Lee (Long Beach) 100 784
Lincoln (Long Beach) 100 752
It is heartening to see the growing sense of urgency among the trustees about widening gaps in student performance. From senior trustees Helen Marsh and Nicole Abate-Ducarroz, both in second terms, to new trustee Gary De Smet, seated just months ago, all five seem anxious to implement changes to bring about substantive improvements.
Back at the high school, where the results of changes at the primary level might not be seen for a number of years, we are encouraged to learn about successful programs at that level, as well. Windsor High School was brought forward as an example of a school whose performance Sonoma might like to duplicate, with 75 percent of its graduates having fulfilled state college requirements. Santa Rosa’s Roseland University Prep, where reportedly 80 percent meet those standards, was also mentioned.
We understand it’s a long process to implement a new program across the whole school, and so we encourage the trustees to start soon by starting small. Offering the Roseland model, for example, as an academic track at the high school, much like the present Honors/Advanced Placement track, could be implemented easily, and then it can be expanded, if warranted, to accommodate more students.
Our trustees carry a public trust, and we acknowledge and appreciate the concern and commitment that all of them demonstrate. In our view, they are each worthy of our trust.
