posted by:
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Jerry Valadez
on November 1, 2000
at 12:43PM
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subject:
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The California Accountability System
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Greetings from Fresno, California; gateway to Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada and one of the fastest growing cities in California. We are a very diverse urban district with 80,000 students. Major challenges include high poverty, limited resources, old facilities, and the California accountability system. California s accountability system is designed around the performance of schools on the SAT-9, and assesses student performance on language arts and mathematics compared to a nationally normed sample. The nationally normed sample is very different from our student population, and included 2% English Learners in that population. Fresno has an English Learner population of 32%. This is a critical point of reference considering that schools in California are now ranked from highest to lowest based on an /index that is derived from the SAT-9 score. In addition, the focus on language arts and mathematics has caused a marginalization of science teaching in the elementary grades, especially in schools with high English Learner populations. In some schools principals have told teachers that they are to teach only language arts and mathematics. Science is not to be taught. The result will be an entire generation of students that will not have had the opportunity to learn about science in the context of world in which they live. Many have identified the importance of inquiry-based science programs in supporting the development of literacy, especially with language minority students. Is this a problem in other districts? If so, how are other districts addressing this issue?
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