San Juan High School Intermediate Intervention/Under-performing School Program By Mike Peebles, Teacher Partial fulfillment of ED251 Instructors: Duane E. Campbell, PhD Bruce McVicker, M.A.

San Juan High School II/USP  In 1999 SJHS volunteered to become part of the Governor’s Immediate Intervention/ Under-performing Schools Program (II/USP) based on our 1999 API score of 589.

San Juan High School II/USP  The Immediate Intervention/Under- performing Schools program is a major part of California’s Public School Accountability Act (PSAA) We were in the original 430 Cohort Three Schools

San Juan High School – II/USP  With input from an external evaluator (West Ed), the staff, students, community and the district, San Juan High School implemented a two- year II/USP Action Plan in the fall of 2000.

San Juan High School – II/USP  The plan is designed to remove the barriers to improve student achievement identified by West Ed and a Site Leadership Team (SLT). The school set out to give attention to obstacles to the school’s success.

San Juan High School – II/USP  The school collected and analyzed data in six categories:  Student Achievement;  Curriculum, Instruction, and assessment;  Teachers and professional development;  Allocation of resources;  School environment and culture;  Family and community engagement.

San Juan High School – II/USP  Data was collected from a number of sources and in a variety of ways including the review of existing documents: reports of student achievement, meetings and interviews with district and school staff; focus groups of parents, teachers, and students; and classroom observations.

San Juan High School – II/USP  Focus areas are translated into components of The Action Plan:  Literacy  Program for English Language Learners  Professional Development  Collaboration Time  School Image  Test Environment

San Juan High School – II/USP  The Site Leadership Team employed a strategy to increase the numbers of parents attending II/USP meetings. Each teacher called parents to encourage them to take part in the effort to support their kids.

San Juan High School – II/USP  Measurable Objectives:  All teachers continued literacy instruction using reading strategies at least two or three time a week regardless of their assigned content areas.  A formal reading training during staff meetings helped to align with the state a school- wide reading emphasis.  All teachers analyzed student achievement in reading using literacy benchmarks.

San Juan High School – II/USP  English Language Development  All teachers were encouraged to apply consistent language acquisition strategies in daily lessons.  Teachers constantly monitored individual ELL(English Language Learners) student’s needs.  The school added an after school tutorial program to accelerate English Language acquisition.

San Juan High School – II/USP  Last year was the 3 rd year San Juan was evaluated by the API (Academic Performance Index) from the STAR program. The API measures growth on the Stanford/9 test and sets an annual target for growth. San Juan has met its target growth in each of the last two years.

San Juan High School – II/USP  San Juan’s rank on the 2001 API was a 5. Our similar schools rank was a 5. The ranking is based on a 10 point scale with a score of 10 representing the highest of the school’s in the state and 1 representing the lowest 10%

San Juan High School – II/USP  The SAT/9 measures basic skills in reading, language, science, and social science. These tests are combined into total reading, total language arts, and total mathematics scores. San Juan’s results include an average of 22 gifted and talented,162 Limited English Proficient and 38 Special Education students out of 999 total.

San Juan High School – II/USP  The challenges in improving student achievement are clear. The solutions are complex. Students who have difficulty reading may not adequately understand basic instructions on the standardized assessments or in classroom lessons. It becomes a daily struggle for learning to take place.

San Juan High School – II/USP . However, simply adopting standards is not enough—how the standards are used is the crucial issue. The impact of standards and standardized testing in our teaching is a heavy burden.. Most teachers want our students to think rather than just fill their brains with information. States throughout the nation are moving to a standards-based approach to curriculum where what students should know and be able to do is explicitly spelled out

San Juan High School – II/USP Bibliography  Campbell, Duane E Choosing Democracy. Ohio: Prentice- Hall,Inc.,2000 pp Web Sites: