Academic Achievement Alameda County School Districts Education Leadership Meeting Alameda County Office of Education September 8th , 2008 9:00 am – 9:45 am Academic Achievement Alameda County School Districts Bill Conrad, Ed.D. – Assessment Coordinator 1

The Moral Purpose To support every student in our region as if he/she were our own child.

Dropout data from 2006-07 show that almost 1 in 5 students will drop out over the course of their 4 years in high school. Does this constitute a crisis? Ethnic Group Adjusted Derived 4-year drop out rate Number Adjusted Derived 4-year drop out rate Percentage All Students 3,397 18.7% African American 779 This represents 23% of the drop out total White 274 This represents 8% of the drop out total Hispanic or Latino 685 This represents 20% of the drop out total

Session Outcomes To gain a deeper understanding of AYP and API especially in relationship to key subgroups Review ACOE supported Alameda County Districts that link student performance with teacher content knowledge, teacher practice, assessment, coaching, and professional development.

What is AYP? Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) is a series of annual academic performance goals established for each school, local educational agency (LEA), and the state as a whole. AYP is required under Title I of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. States commit to the goals of NCLB by participating in Title I, a program under NCLB that provides funding to help educate low-income children. The primary goal of Title I is for all students to be proficient in English-language arts and mathematics, as determined by state assessments, by 2014.

AYP Targets for Elementary School Districts

What is API? API is designed to measure the academic performance and growth of schools. API determinations are based on a numeric index (or scale) that ranges from a low of 200 to a high of 1000. A statewide API performance target is set at 800 for all schools. A school's growth is measured by how well it is moving toward or past the 800 goal. A school's API Base (previous year’s API performance) is subtracted from its API Growth (current year’s API performance) to determine how much the school improved in a year.

2007-08 Alameda County Academic Achievement Headlines On average about 1 of 2 students scored proficient or advanced on the ELA CST in Alameda County. Fewer than 1 out of 2 students score proficient or advanced on the Math CST in Alameda County. Most school districts in Alameda County demonstrated modest improvements in API scores in 2008 with Albany City Unified showing an API gain of 28 points. Most of our school districts demonstrated modest improvements in the API gap for African American, Hispanic, and EL students compared to White students. Achievement gaps still remain large and in many cases are still at triple digits in many districts.

Highlights of 2007-08 PDK Poll People trust Obama to do a better job on closing the achievement gap (59 percent, compared with 18 percent for McCain) and on funding education (48 percent to 28 percent). People are dissatisfied with the No Child Left Behind Act, with 42 percent wanting to change the law significantly and another 25 per cent saying it should be allowed to expire. Thirty-seven percent of the people think that using federal taxes would be "the best way" to finance public schools (compared with 35 percent for state taxes and 20 percent for local taxes). When asked to grade the public schools in their own communities, 46 percent say they would give them an A or a B -- but only 22 percent would give those grades to schools in the nation as a whole. Half the people favor relying on national educational standards to measure student achievement, while a slightly smaller group (46 percent) prefers state standards. A plurality of Americans (37 percent) think there is "too much emphasis on achievement testing" in their local schools, while 34 percent regard the emphasis on testing to be "about right" and 23 percent think there's "not enough" emphasis. Seventy-seven percent of the people want teachers to pass a national competency test before being licensed, in addition to a state test, in the subjects they will teach.

And Now a Word from Doug Reeves Center for Performance Assessment

The Leadership and Learning Matrix Lucky High results, low understanding of implementation components Replication of success unlikely Leading High results, high understanding of implementation components Replication of success likely Student Achievement Losing Low results, low understanding of implementation components Learning Low results, high understanding of implementation components Replication of mistakes unlikely Degree and Quality of Implementation Center for Performance Assessment

ACOE Math A Model for Action Content Coaching Support Lesson Design Strengthening Teacher Math Content Knowledge Coaching Support Supporting Math Coaches and Coordination Lesson Design Sharing and Developing Best Practice Assessment Facilitating Analysis of Student Work and Data ACOE SIMI II Project

Math Results in Hayward Unified Findings There has been a steady 4 year improvement in the % of students scoring proficient or advanced in Math. There has been an 11 point gain from 13% proficient or advanced in 2004-05 to 24% proficient or advanced in 2007-08. ACOE SIMI II Project

Math Results in Bret Harte Middle Findings There has been a one year 12% gain in the % of students scoring proficient or advanced in 8th grade algebra from 2006-07 to 2007-08 . ACOE SIMI II Project

What are our School Districts Doing to Address the Achievement Gap? Find out how our school districts address the Achievement Gap at the Assessment Continuum Wiki: http://assessmentcontinuum.wetpaint.com/page/Alameda+County+Assessment+Coordinators

What are your Key Findings?

How are these patterns supported by the data? What patterns do you find in the data displays especially as the patterns relate to your work in the District? How are these patterns supported by the data?

So What ? Why are these Findings Important?

What is the District doing to reduce the Achievement Gap? What is the District evidence that their actions support teachers and students in reducing the achievement gap?

What are you doing to reduce the Achievement Gap? What is your evidence that your actions support teachers and students in reducing the achievement gap?

What Next? What are our next steps in supporting school districts in reducing the achievement gap?

What specific action steps can you take both individually and collaboratively to help build the capacity of a school district to reduce the achievement gap?

ELA CST Performance Findings Overall, Alameda County School Districts demonstrated a 2% improvement in students scoring proficient or advanced in ELA. Most school districts demonstrated improvement in the percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced in ELA. 17 School Districts scored above the AYP bar of 35.2% Proficient or Advanced in ELA.

Math CST Performance Findings Overall, Alameda County Schools demonstrated a 1.7% improvement in students scoring proficient or advanced in Math. Most school districts demonstrated improvement in the percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced in Math. 12 School Districts scored above the AYP bar of 37% Proficient or Advanced.

ACOE District and 2008 API Performance Findings Most Alameda School Districts demonstrated API Growth Most Alameda School Districts are at proficient or advanced levels as measured by the scale below 9 Districts demonstrated double digit growth in API

African American API Performance in ACOE School Districts Findings Most Alameda School Districts demonstrated API Growth in the African American Subgroup. Berkeley, Castro Valley, New Haven, Newark and Pleasanton demonstrated double digit growth in API for the African American subgroup Albany City demonstrated a double digit loss in API for the African American subgroup even though it has a relatively high overall API performance.

African American/White API Gap in ACOE School Districts Findings Both Berkeley and Newark demonstrated a double digit reduction in the API gap between the African American and White Subgroups over 2 years. Most school districts demonstrated a triple digit API gap between the African Americans and White subgroups with Oakland demonstrating the highest gap of 281 API points in 2008. Pleasanton demonstrated the lowest API Gap between the African American and White subgroups with an 89 point gap in 2008.

Hispanic API Performance in ACOE School Districts Findings Most Alameda School Districts demonstrated API Growth in the Hispanic Subgroup. Many demonstrated double digit growth. Oakland demonstrated the greatest API growth with 26 points. Albany City demonstrated a 13 point API loss.

Hispanic/White API Gap in ACOE School Districts Findings Both Berkeley and Oakland demonstrated a double digit reduction in the API gap between the Hispanic and White Subgroups over the last two years. Six school districts demonstrated a triple digit API gap between the Hispanic and White subgroups with Oakland demonstrating the highest gap of 248 API points in 2008. Dublin and San Lorenzo demonstrated the lowest API gap between the Hispanic and White subgroups with a 63 point gap in 2008.

EL API Performance in ACOE School Districts Findings Almost all Alameda School Districts demonstrated API Growth in the EL Subgroup. Many demonstrated double digit growth. Albany City demonstrated the greatest API Growth for the EL subgroup with a growth of 28 points. While demonstrating the overall highest API performance for the EL subgroup in both 2007 and 2008, Pleasanton also demonstrated a loss in API growth in 2008.

EL/White API Gap in ACOE School Districts Findings Both Berkeley and Albany City demonstrated a double digit reduction in the API gap between the EL and White Subgroups over the last two years. Eight school districts demonstrated reduction in the API gap between the EL and White subgroups with Albany City demonstrating the highest gap reduction of 34 API points in 2008. In 2008, Fremont demonstrated the lowest API gap between EL and White students (20 points) In 2008, Oakland demonstrated the highest API gap for EL Students (249 points)

PI Status in ACOE School Districts Findings 6 School Districts are in PI status 6 School Districts met all AYP criteria

Academic Achievement Alameda County School Districts Education Leadership Meeting Alameda County Office of Education September 8th , 2008 9:00 am – 9:45 am Academic Achievement Alameda County School Districts Bill Conrad, Ed.D. – Assessment Coordinator 33