School board holds special AYP meeting

GRANTS - The Grants/Cibola County School Board held a special meeting on Sept. 28 to publicly discuss measures being instituted to improve the Adequate Yearly Progress scores in district schools.

Following the last test period, only Bluewater Elementary School met the AYP standard, reflecting statewide trends.

    Superintendent Kilino Marquez opened the meeting by asking some rhetorical questions. “Do we agree with all the elements of the federal No Child Left Behind law? No, but it causes us to study our hard data. Do these standards scare us? No, it just creates challenges for us,” he said.

Marquez stressed the importance of communication among administrators, principals and teachers.         “We ask questions like, why is one school is doing so much better than another? What are the staff at the successful school doing differently?” he asked.

    Autumn Gonzales, director of testing for the district, then told the board about the adoption of the vertical alignment of core curriculum. This measure requires that the same classes are taught in the same grades throughout the district. It also requires that standards and benchmarks are met in all grades, she explained.

    This measure allows the school to follow a student throughout the grades and assess each one at the beginning of the school year to determine if the student had been advanced correctly.

Independent consultant Glenda Brown stated that the district obtains data from all the schools and then breaks it down to the point where the administrators can analyze it. “We look at last year's data and this year's data and that can show us where we're going,” she said.

    Brown explained that the all teachers are given a spreadsheet for each student to show principals who can see what's happening school-wide. “The vertical alignment is set to standards and is part of the strategic plan for the whole district,” she said. “Exciting things are happening as we find out what has worked and what hasn't worked.”

    Board member Jerry Smith arrived with a sheaf of papers of his questions and criticisms of district policies. “What is the next level of detail that we'll see? I'm looking at accountability here,” he said.

Assistant Superintendent of Instruction Gloria Chavez replied that the district is identifying problems at proper level and that the school sites are breaking down the data by classroom and grade level.

Chavez cited some measures that address accountability. “We've divided the curriculum into quarters to determine what should be taught first and we are consistent in documentation despite the grade or subject,”

    Other elements of accountability include weekly reports from the principals to the superintendent and the planned site visits by administrators.  Each school's plan should be made available to parents, according to Chavez.

    “We want to stress collegiality and parent involvement at all schools. In the past we've stressed curriculum alignment and developing student assessments, but now we'll focus on instruction,” she said.

    Marquez noted that no one in the district is satisfied with the current data. “We have a lot of work to do, but we're a lot closer to completing it,” he said.

    Los Alamitos Middle School Principal Joan Gilmore explained how evaluations are carried through at the school level. “We've created a partnership between the administration and the individual teacher. The teacher now works with the principal and the principal is now accountable, just like the teachers have been,” she explained.

    Smith, who dominated the meeting, then explained his observations. “We need people who have accomplished AYP goals before and then expand our capabilities,” he said.

    “Is paperwork taking the leaders away from the classroom?” he asked. “We need to get the leaders out in the field. Perhaps an organization alignment is needed.”

    Smith also noted that Native American students are not performing well. “I hope it's not an ethnic issue, but it looks like something systemic is going on to produce these poor results.”