Point Loma cluster schools have gone above and beyond the call of duty, an accomplishment that is reeling in well-deserved state and national recognition.
Two Point Loma schools, Dana Middle and Correia Middle, were recognized last month for significantly closing the achievement gap between higher and lower performing student groups.
Loma Portal Elementary also worked hard last year and increased its Academic Performance Index (API) by 51 points from 2005 to 2006, while the small Dewey Elementary was named as one of California’s 2006 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Blue Ribbon Schools, one of 31 public and four private California schools honored.
“I think it’s a really exciting time for Point Loma schools in general,” said Carol Barry, superintendent for the Point Loma cluster. “These are awards that we didn’t see concentrated in Point Loma. The only two middle schools were in Point Loma for narrowing the achievement gap, so I think that’s really exciting.”
Dana Middle closed achievement gaps between African-American and white students in fifth-grade reading and fifth-grade math, while Correia Middle closed achievement gaps among African-American and white students in eighth-grade reading and seventh- and eighth-grade math.
“I think most people don’t understand that closing the achievement gap is a difficult thing,” said Correia Principal Linda Taggart. “Let’s say we were closing the gap for our African-American students. [They] are in a parallel line with the white students, the white students are going up as the African-American students are going up, so the African-American students have to work twice as hard to close the gap, otherwise there would just be a raise in achievement.”
According to the School Matters Web site, the best way to narrow the achievement gap would be for the lower-performing group to improve more than the higher-performing group improves, though both groups must improve.
Taggart boasted that Correia’s use of technology played a critical role in improving achievement.
“Children are more excited about learning when technology is involved,” she said. “Educators have to compete with Nintendo, iPod, uTube, myspace and thousands of other gadgets. Technology will continue to grow and inspire people to do wonderful things with it, but it has to be in the hands of the students.”
Taggart explained that about 45 percent of the students at her school are at low socioeconomic levels and may not have computers in the home.
While Taggart praised technology, Dewey Elementary Principal Vera Valdivia credited her teachers and staff for making their school a Blue Ribbon School.
State Superintendent of Instruction Jack O’Connell nominated Dewey in 2005 based on the students’ academic performance and pending the results of the 2005/2006 California Standards Test. All Blue Ribbon schools will be honored at an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., Nov. 9 and 10.
“I can’t take any credit for it. It’s the teachers and the staff and the students,” Valdivia said. “Even though I get to collect the award, I feel like the teachers should be the ones going to Washington, D.C., not me.”
Valdivia explained that Dewey Elementary is a unique school because its students are mostly military children housed at Liberty Station and Gateway Village. They also have a lot of students who are children of Hispanic hotel workers and restaurant workers from Old Town.
“Over 73 percent [of students] are economically disadvantaged. I think that it really speaks for the work that the teachers are doing, they take a very holistic approach to teaching the children,” Valdivia said. ” We don’t just say, ‘OK, we’re just going to teach you the curriculum,’ but we try to make sure that the other needs are met too. We become the councilor, the nurse, the social worker, the advocate for that child and I think that’s what makes it so special here.”
Valdivia also praised her teachers for continuing after-school reading and math programs, even after the funding was no longer available.
“They’re doing it on their own, they’re not getting paid for it, but they do what is necessary to make sure that the children who are behind catch up,” Valdivia said. “I think in terms of programs, we don’t really have a program, but we embrace families. They know they can come to us.”
Valdivia explained that many of her students are impacted by the war in Iraq. They have parents who have been deployed up to three times and may have not seen their mom or dad in over a year.
“That’s affecting them emotionally; we try to catch that, because we know we need to make sure they are okay there,” she continued.
Like Valdivia, Loma Portal Principal Dina Pacis attributed her school’s increase in API points to teachers and the community.
“Our philosophy here truly is that all stakeholders are important, so we have a very strong parenting community and support base,” Pacis said. “Our teachers really work very hard to look at the different needs of our children and work towards differentiating instruction. I think that’s a big part of it, our teachers’ work very collaboratively together to make sure that this happens.”
While Pacis and Barry both agree that California Standards Test and API scores are not definitive measures of a student’s achievement, they do believe that they are indicative of where students may need extra support and should be used as a tool to inform teachers’ instruction, as all of these schools do.
“We’re just really proud of the work that is going on and what I’ve seen is just incredible parent support in Point Loma,” Barry said. “There are a lot of parents that really want to make schools as good as they can be and that’s what we need. I have no doubt that we’re going to continue to have more resident children stay in their local schools and create stronger and better schools for kids.”