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Three distinguished schools chosen
State honors Simi, Camarillo and Ojai secondary campuses
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Three Ventura County campuses were named California Distinguished Schools on Monday, an award recognizing the state's most exemplary public programs.
The list of schools included first-time award winner Nordhoff High School in Ojai, Monte Vista Middle School in Camarillo and Valley View Middle School in Simi Valley.
Both middle schools have received the honor previously. The schools will carry the honor until 2011.
"I feel fantastic," Nordhoff Principal Dan Musick said Monday. "We compete with 10 private high schools up here. ... This just affirms to the public that we are great."
Officials said 171 of California's nearly 2,400 middle and high schools made the list this year.
The state Department of Education recognizes elementary schools one year and secondary schools the next.
Schools had to submit detailed applications about their programs, then host visits from judges.
Musick said Nordhoff's art, music and occupational programs, improved counseling services and focus on staff collaboration helped it gain recognition.
The high school also had to improve student scores on state tests just to get the invitation to apply.
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More from CamarilloIn evaluating applicants, state officials looked for high academic expectations for all students, a variety of teaching strategies and safety, among other criteria.
Valley View's application highlighted the school's use of student portfolios and a long-standing music program, which includes the only middle school string orchestra in the Simi Valley Unified School District, Principal Terry Webb said.
Monte Vista Principal Sara Davis said a new block schedule, which means longer periods but fewer classes each day, and the school's AVID program, which encourages students to go to college, have helped raise achievement and motivate students.
Davis got cheers and applause after a midmorning announcement to students and staff.
"I never interrupt classes. But this one was something I felt everyone would want to hear and we could share together," she said. "They (students) took a lot of ownership of it, and that made me feel good."
Posted by mlmlcc on April 17, 2007 at 6:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Cathy Carlson from TO here: These awards are very expensive in both time and money, due to the application process. Many schools pay administrators and secretaries for weeks and weeks of time to write and re-write these applications. They expire 3 years after the the school term for which it is given. So, since these are for school year 06-07, they will expire on the last day of instruction 2010, NOT 2011. That makes the 4 years of the award. At least the Star TRIED to get it right this time.
Note that in the past several schools in California that brag about being "Distinguished" actually were below the 800 API mark (75percent)when the got the designation.
This award is not what it seems. Yes, it is good that the schools are doing pretty well academically, and that they have lower crime rates than other schools (yes, that is part of the evaluation) and that they have community support that bothered to write up sentences for the application package. But these awards are really sought because of their PR value. Many schools in Northern California which score 95% and higher on the API don't even bother applying. One Supt in Los Altos, Santa Clara County told me, "We don't distract our teachers in spending the time and money on awards. We don't have to. Our API scores speak for themselves." And what is the district AVERAGE there this year? 95% for every school. They have had the number one and number two middle school in the state for API scores for several years. They don't bother with collecting awards you have to apply for. These Northern California first tier schools don't need to buy status--they have earned the respect of their very critical parents and community members by their API accomplishments. Sorry, but the truth is that Ventura County isn't even in their league. I'm not out to insult the teachers, students, or parents of Ventura County. I'm writing this to "out" the administrators who exagerate their own mediocre accomplishments.
Critics will tell me that I'm a wet blanket and that it is not nice to rain on someone's parade. I say it is more important NOT to exagerate your acomplishments. To have a solid future California's children need a rich education in their background, rather than empty awards garnered by greedy administrators.
Posted by mlmlcc on April 17, 2007 at 7:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Cathy Carlson from TO again: Here are the API scores for the 3 Ventura County "Distinguished Schools", with the percentages these scores represent. Remember, the interim target is only 800 points, or 75percent. This month State Supt of Intruction, Jack O'Connell, admitted that students really need to score 875 to reach the (very weak) definition of "proficient". The 800 mark has been a very low target for nearly a decade. Watch and see. It will be raised very soon, since Jack is termed out, and he can be honest with the public without worrying about being re-elected!
Nordhoff High, Ojai 797 or 74% (failed to make minimum)
Monte Vista Mid. Cam 728 or 66% (failed to make minimum)
Valley View Mid SV 816 or 76% (1% above minium)
For comparison, please look at Santa Clara County, and scroll to Cupertino at 931 or 91%; Los Altos at 960 or 95%. 920 is the 90th percentile. Every 8 points means one percent. Do the math. Oops. I guess most of you can't if you went to school in Southern California. But I bet all the foreign scientist at Amgen, and the newcomers from back East can understand these statistics.
Demand accountability from public education, and don't accept a PR snow job. Next time, pay attention to the election for State Supt of Schools. I say, vote for Diane Lenning from Orange County. She will turn things around. Let's dump the expensive Distinguished award program NOW! Put that money into teaching our kids something, besides phony status. (Hard to do here, since we are so close to Hollywood!)
Posted by kfisher on April 17, 2007 at 11:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Ms. Carlson,
I would like to correct one error in your comments. Monte Vista Middle School, located in Camarillo, scored well above the required 800 API with a score of 825. The number you reported, 728, is the number of students included in our testing group. Before making such disparaging remarks, maybe you should have made sure that you were able to READ the report correctly.
Kate Fisher
Teacher, Monte Vista Middle School, Camarillo
Posted by mlmlcc on April 17, 2007 at 5:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Cathy Carlson from TO here: Ms. Fisher, my apologies. My eyes did slip over one column. I was in a hurry to get to work. Thank you for the correction on your school. You can see that I was accurate with the other 2 schools.
I DO know how to interpret the API, and I am frequently called to explain the Academic Performance Index to parent groups as well as to educators.
The correct API for your Monte Vista Middle school is indeed 825, which is 77%, 2 points above the minimum interim target, or a C+.
The point of my comments are to explain the nonsense definition of "Distinguished" in the up-side-down world of political correctness in academics. In the real corporate world, a 77% performance would never be termed excellent or distinguished.
Let's do away with making public schools spend time and money on collecting a charm bracelet of awards. Get rid of the bureaucracy in Sacramento in the Dept of Ed that spends a fortune on administering these unnecessary and inflated awards! Of course, they don't want their jobs to go away, so they keep these silly awards going. And the principals are hungry for them, because the school boards reward principals who get them! And teachers who defend and promote the dubious merits of the Distinguished School award are also rewarded. But, I know for a fact, that several schools vote NOT to apply for this award, because there are senior teachers there who are fed up with the extra work these awards take, and who refuse to short-change their students. Lang Ranch teachers in the Conejo Valley boycott these awards, and the principal stands by them and WON'T be cowed by the CVUSD school board. Their school site council has also voted against applying for these awards, even though the school gets near the 90% mark in the API--920 for the past several years.
How do the kids benefit from this award? They do not. A few moments of exagerated pride is not a long-term benefit. Rather, they are harmed because teachers frequently must neglect their duties when they are pulled out of class to write up applications. Substitute teachers are hired at taxpayers expense to cover for them. I estimate that this award costs at least $30,000 in the Conejo Valley, based on salaries of multiple teachers, substitutes, and secretaries and clerks who devote months and months of work on these applications. The federal applications are even more expensive.
Let's stop this madness and get back to basics. How in the world did America educate our great country in the last 200 years with such awards?
We have to stop throwing more money at the public schools, and we have to have some tough love here. It is WRONG to tell the kids in Ventura County that performances of 74%, 76%, and 77% make them "Distinguished". Stop celebrating mediocrity.
Posted by seducators on April 18, 2007 at 10:27 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Congratulations to all three schools for your hard work and dedication to students! There will always be critics, the people in the communities know that you are doing a great job for your students.
Posted by concerned_educator on April 18, 2007 at 1:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Ms. Carlson,
I think you are misunderstanding the intent of Distinguished Schools. As Fred pointed out to you, the examples you gave are of schools that have won a demographic lottery. The reality is that most schools don’t have those demographics. The students of those schools would succeed regardless of the instruction they receive, there are no obstacles to overcome. Distinguished Schools celebrates growth on student achievement measures. I don’t know if you are aware, but growth must be made in all significant subgroups to qualify for the award. It is a celebration of progress and student growth based on sound instructional strategies and programs. You also cited whole district data as opposed to individual school data when referencing Cupertino and Los Altos. This award celebrates individual schools. If you look at individual school scores for Cupertino, particularly in their performance compared to their similar schools, some of the schools are disheartening. For instance, Hyde (Warren E) Middle School had a Hispanic/Latino API of 654, and a Socioeconomically disadvantaged API of 686.
http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2007/200...
Do you consider that successful? I would also have to question whether your attitude is simply sour grapes. There were schools within CVUSD that applied for the award and were not selected. I would much rather believe that you are altruistic in your sentiments and really want to see ALL students achieve, not just those luckily enough to hail from districts (Los Altos) who hit the demographic lottery.
Posted by concerned_educator on April 18, 2007 at 4:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Correction *** lucky enough... not luckily enough
Posted by kfisher on April 19, 2007 at 7:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
How are you arriving at a percentage figure for API? API is calculated with a complex formula...it is not a mere percentage of students meeting proficiency standards. I certainly hope that the parent groups you speak to are not being given the impression that the API can be related to a percentage of proficient students.
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ap/docume... (Please refer to section beginning on page 27 of 81.)
Posted by caragirl73 on June 5, 2007 at 12:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Blah... blah... blah.....
Why don't you turn all of your energy to tutoring some of these kids instead of having a pi$$ing contest over something that only looks good on paper.
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