V.C. schools get mixed report cards

"The 2002 New Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) report brings both good and bad news for school districts," said Ventura County Superintendent of Schools Charles Weis, Ph.D.

"The good news is that the report from the California Department of Education indicates that all Ventura County School Districts earned overall AYP scores of ‘A’ indicating ‘At or Above’ the 2003 AYP criteria for the percentage of students scoring at ‘proficient’ or ‘advanced’ on both the English/language arts and mathematics sections of the California Standards Test.

The bad news is that eight school districts failed to test the required 95 percent of students and 13 school districts displayed inadequate progress for English learners and students with disabilities in either English or mathematics.

These are not unexpected problems when a new system is being implemented, according to Dr. Weis. Several school districts have indicated that there still may be errors in the school/district data that is being reported to the public.

Weis has been chairing the AB 312 statewide committee that has been making recommendations to the California State Board of Education on the implementation of the federal No Child Left Behind legislation.

"I anticipate better results when the 2003 AYP is released in August because school district personnel were informed about the expectations before the March 2003 testing period," he said.

According to Weis, an immediate challenge will be to help all community and staff members understand the new AYP components (federal requirements) and minimize misunderstandings and confusion about the new data.

To assist in this effort, Weis will host a meeting for school leaders at 1 p.m. Fri., Aug. 8 to discuss the new requirements, at the Administrative Services Center, 5189 Verdugo Way, Camarillo. For more information, call Weis at (805) 383-1901.