A corrective action plan for Pomo Elementary School is expected to be brought in December before the Konocti school board.
On Wednesday, Oct. 4, Mickey Porter with the Regional System of Districts and School Support (RSDSS) made a presentation on requirements and protocols that are applicable to Pomo as a Year-3 Program Improvement school.
The federal No Child Left Behind Act requires annual accountability measured by Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in English-language arts and mathematics. A school is identified for Program Improvement, according to the California Department of Education, when for each of two consecutive years it does not make AYP.
In the case of Pomo, according to Porter, while the school as a whole made AYP, a significant subgroup of students — those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged — did not make AYP, thus leading to the school”s PI status.
For each year that Pomo school has been in Program Improvement, it has been required to take certain measures. In Year 1, it had to offer “school choice,” or attendance at another district school that is not in Program Improvement.
Year 2 required the school to offer supplemental educational services to eligible students while continuing to offer school choice.
The release of an Accountability Progress Report this August for California schools served as official notice that Pomo had advanced to Program Improvement Year 3 and that in addition to the previous requirements, the district would be required to take at least one of six corrective actions:
* Replace the school staff relevant to the failure to make AYP;
* Institute and fully implement a new curriculum;
* Significantly decrease management authority at the school level;
* Appoint an outside expert to advise the school on its progress;
* Extend the school year or day; or
* Restructure the internal organization of the school.
In order to choose among these options, the district is to form a district/school leadership team to analyze, in Porter”s words, “what is.” Once the data is in front of them, they will then study the options, choose an action and recommend it to the board by the first meeting in December.
“The outcome is increased student achievement,” Porter stressed, “not another plan to put on the table.”
One of the issues to be faced by the district is that Pomo”s curriculum has significantly differed from other schools” with its use of programs like Success For All and MathWings, through a conscious choice of the governing board. These programs, while compatible with state educational requirements, have not been formally adopted by the California Board of Education.
Superintendent Dr. Nan asked for a board consensus that the team was to look at all options, including that of curriculum. Board members present on Wednesday gave Nan their consensus that the team was to consider all options.
Contact Cynthia Parkhill at cparkhill@clearlakeobserver.com.
