Are you wondering how the Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) did on the 2011 California Standardized (STAR) tests? Wonder no more. I have taken the time to sort through the data for you.
We’ll start with the Anaheim Union High School District. Only 18% of their student body is “White,” while over 60% is Latino and 16% is Asian/Filipino, according to their website. This is a majority minority district and as such it is more than fair to compare their STAR results to those of the SAUSD.
The AUHSD STAR test results improved in 2011 – and they have the right to brag about this as all of their results are over the 50% mark, unlike the SAUSD where they are UNDER the 50% in every single tested category.
Now we will switch to the Garden Grove Unified School District (GGUSD). 53% of their student body is Latino; 32% is Asian; only 11% of their student body is “White,” according to the California Department of Education. Again, it is more than fair to compare them to the SAUSD as they too are a majority minority school district.
In this case, GGUSD realized drops in their 2011 STAR test results, as compared to 2010 – significant in some cases. That is the bad news – but the good news for them is that they still exceed, by far the SAUSD results, except in mathematics. That said, the GGUSD is under the fifty percentile in every category except “Science CST,” so they too shouldn’t be bragging about their results.
Now we will look at the Fullerton Elementary School District. 49% of their student population is Latino; only 22% of their students are”white;” and only 20% are Asian. They are a small district but their demographics, again, are majority minority.
They improved in every category – and have some of the highest scores in Orange County.
We will close with a look at a Santa Ana charter school – El Sol Science Academy. Their results are astounding. But first let’s review their demographics. 595 out of 619 students are Latinos. They are no OCHSA, where only 22% of the student body is Latino.
El Sol did great in 2010, and then improved in every category except history in 2011. Their scores are higher than Fullerton’s. They absolutely dominate in mathematics and all of their scores exceed by far the SAUSD results.
El Sol is a dual immersion school – they start out kids in Spanish and then mix in English later. Could the SAUSD learn from this? Perhaps – considering the disastrous STAR results, drop-out rates and graduation rates something needs to be done at the SAUSD.
There are by the way a lot of great teachers in the SAUSD. I don’t blame them at all. The difference between all of these districts is the administration. The SAUSD administrators have set a very low bar and have not been held accountable. Now at least they have a new Superintendent and I think she is going to do far better than her predecessor, Jane Russo. At least I hope so…
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My child attends El Sol. The instruction, expectations, parent accountability and overall program is the most amazing thing I've ever seen in 24 years as a teacher. My son not only reads and writes at least two years above grade level in English, he is nearly fluent in Spanish and can read and write at grade level in Spanish (neither parent speaks Spanish). There are a lot of things that SAUSD could implement to improve based on the El Sol model. First is to offer more dual immersion programs, as the research in this area strongly supports it as an effective model for English Language fluency and literacy. Second, we need far more preschool programs than are currently offered.
El Sol’s definitely unique. There’s a reason why parents are lining up days in advance and registering for waiting list to register their kids. Anything is better than the current SAUSD model. Raise the freakin bar SAUSD… you have a Latino culture that, despite the stereotype, is hard working. Provide our kids with the right education and tools and they will eventually become a smarter better trained workforce.