State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell released the results of the 2009 Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program that show Tehama County students overall continue to make steady academic progress in English-language arts, math, science, and history-social science.
County Superintendent of Schools Larry Champion says:

“California is known nationally for the rigor of its academic standards. These results are energizing for students and schools across the county. Achievement in the early grades is especially encouraging. In fact, the majority of Tehama County’s elementary schools are showing API scores that are at or above the state median (see table 1).

The API or Academic Performance Index is a numeric index that ranges from a low of 200 to a high of 1,000 with a statewide target of 800. Twelve of Tehama County’s elementary schools achieved a score of 800 or above: Antelope, Bidwell, Evergreen Elementary, Evergreen Middle, Flournoy, Kirkwood, Lassen View, Lincoln Street Independent, Los Molinos, Olive View, Richfield and Vina. The majority of the remaining schools are making substantial progress towards the target, some only needing to see a few points growth to reach that goal. And, for the first time, we have a district which scored above 900 – Evergreen Elementary. Of the more than 9,000 schools in California – only 8.5% have achieved this level.
We are proud to say that Tehama County is home to several of the state’s schools scoring in the top 15%. Of note, several schools have demonstrated exceptional effort and growth over the last year. They include:

• Olive View Elementary (API 808) has continued to improve and exited the Williams state monitoring requirements. Woodson Elementary (API 794) is close behind also showing an impressive gain.
• Jackson Heights Elementary (API 774) Bidwell Elementary (API 823) and Metteer Elementary (API 794) all posted gains that accentuate the improvement efforts of Red Bluff Elementary School District.
• Evergreen Elementary has taken achievement to another level by posting an API of 906. This achievement along with the stellar performance of Evergreen Middle School (API 854) makes Evergreen one of the highest performing districts anywhere.
• Lassen View (API 875) also showed excellent performance, taking their place in the top three performing schools in the county for the third consecutive year.
• Los Molinos Unified School District continues to improve and be recognized as the highest performing high school in Tehama County and Los Molinos Elementary has become an example of high performance to schools around the state.
• Lincoln Street Independent School is to be commended for the successful partnership with parents, which has made it one of the highest performing Independent Study programs in California.
• Great gains were posted by Tehama County’s small schools with Flournoy, Bend, Vina, Kirkwood, Salisbury High, and Sacramento River Discovery Charter School all achieving dramatic increases.

“These accomplishments can be attributed to targeted professional development, the addition of preschools and the continued hard work of the entire educational community of our county,” Champion said. “It is particularly impressive if you consider that our students and schools are continuing their upward trend even in these historically difficult economic times.”

A detailed look at the AYP or Adequate Yearly Progress data shows the majority of Tehama County students in grades 2-8 are meeting the federal expectations for achievement in English language arts and math (see table 2). State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said:

“While California’s API system recognizes improvement across all performance levels, the federal accountability system reflects only the number of students that have reached proficiency on California’s rigorous standards. Thus, students showing significant progress may, in some cases, appear to have fallen short on federal measures.

We learn different things from the state and federal measures; however, the two systems of accountability can often send conflicting messages to educators and parents. While we can never abandon the goal of proficiency for all students, I continue to support efforts to create a single accountability system for California that combines the best of the state and federal systems in order to reduce confusion and still push schools to help all students improve.

While the federal target for students expected to score at the proficient level or above on state assessments increases approximately 11 % each year, fewer schools and LEAs made AYP than in 2008.”

In Tehama County 67% of schools made AYP in 2009 (compared to only 51% for the state), a slight decline of 3 percentage points from 2008. There was a similar decrease in the percentage of local educational agencies making AYP, which fell from 72 % in 2008 to 59% in 2009.

Twenty-five percent of middle schools made AYP in 2009, as compared to 86% (only 61% for the state) of elementary schools. Conversely, the data show a marked increase in the percentage of high schools that made AYP from 2008 to 2009, rising from 20% in 2008 to 50% in 2009.

The chart below shows the comparison between Tehama County and the state:
(Source: California Department of Education)

Superintendent of Schools, Larry Champion stated, "While we applaud these gains in student performance, we must continue to focus on student achievement across all stages of our educational system. It is our obligation to provide a foundation of learning and critical thinking skills that will help our students become the self-confident, well-prepared leaders of tomorrow that they have the potential to be. We must also pay particular attention to preparing students for college and career. With this in mind, we have formed a Blue Ribbon Committee, consisting of all Tehama County Superintendents who are charged with a single focus: improving student achievement.”

Committee facilitator Roxy Williams, Superintendent of Bend Elementary School District, expressed her thoughts on the new concept, saying “Our group will meet regularly to develop a systematic process to meet our goals, which will result in the implementation of more effective strategies. The commitment level is high and the timing is right for this county-wide approach to improving student achievement.” Other committee members shared similar views on the new venture. Dan Curry, Superintendent of Red Bluff High School District said, “We’re excited about the prospect of identifying and sharing best practices across the county with the goal of improving achievement for all students.” William McCoy, Superintendent of Red Bluff Elementary School District is “Excited to be a part of a collaborative group intensely focused on increasing student achievement in our county – Pre-K through high school.” All are encouraged by the dedicated participation of all district superintendents and are looking forward to the good that will undoubtedly come from this innovative approach.

“It is an issue of great importance,” says Champion “While we look at the social, emotional and cognitive growth of every child, our goal continues to be a partnership with parents, schools, and community that will ensure that every student achieves their potential.”

For more in-depth information on student achievement in Tehama County’s schools and the Blue Ribbon Committee, log on to: www.tehamaschools.org/studentachievement.

TABLE 1 - The schools have been listed by category and ranked by 2009 API score. (source: California Department of Education)

Larger Elementary Schools (2009 state median: 790)

Middle Schools (2009 state median: 754)

High Schools (2009 state median: 713)

Small Elementary Schools (2009 state median: 790)

Alternative Schools Accountability Model

Key: NA = less than ten students tested.
NS = no score: Did not test a significant portion of students not exempt from testing in 2008, resulting in NS for 2008-2009.
** = no scores to use in determining +/- difference value.