Sunday, May 09, 2010

Santee School in LA Unified School District

With the uproar over the video of Ron Gochez, a look at the performance level of the school where the ranting Mr. Ron Gochez is employed might provide some insight.  Does it appear that the students are well served at this school?


Here are the results of the students on the California Standards Test.  Only 8% of students at the Santee school achieved a 'Proficient or Advanced' level in the latest school year, 2008-2009, which means meeting or exceeding the state standards.  Amazingly, that is up from 5% in 2006-2007.  I would bet that the education establishment would brag about the 60% increase in proficiency in that area without regard to the raw numbers.  The state-wide result was 41%, over 5-times the average for the Santee school.
The California high school exit exam is used as a graduation requirement.  Just 22% of those tested achieved a graduation level in math, however, this is up from an astonishing 12.3%, two years prior.  The state-wide rate is a bit over half at 53.3%.  The English Arts passing rate was under 19%.
The breakdown shows that 81% of Hispanics are 'Not Proficient' in English-Language Arts and 77.2% are 'Not Proficient' in Mathematics.  Both are close to the overall average since the school is largely Hispanic.
The Average Yearly Progress is defined by the No Child Left Behind Act.  The Santee school failed in all areas but one, the 'API'.  The 'API' indicates the school made some year-to-year progress.  They went from pathetic, to a bit less than pathetic.
One-third of the students failed the English and math portions of the state exam required to receive a diploma.  That is much worse than the 89% that passed in this sub-standard school district.
Sadly, the school's dropout rate is over 41%, more than double the state average which is just under 19%. 

What these students need is a real hero and role model like, Jaime Escalante, the inspiration for the 1988 movie, Stand and Deliver, who passed away several weeks ago.  School vouchers anyone?


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