College Park chosen for state program

Danette Goulet

COSTA MESA -- College Park Elementary School will receive a $50,000

grant from the state this year in an effort to improve student test

scores.

The Costa Mesa school is one of 430 statewide that have been chosen to

participate in the Immediate Intervention for Under-performing Schools

Program.

“I’m really thrilled and looking forward to the process,” said College

Park principal Carol Lang.

One of the integral pieces of Gov. Gray Davis’ Public Schools

Accountability Act of 1999, the intervention program targets schools that

scored below the 50th percentile on the state Standardized Testing and

Reporting program achievement tests.

With acceptance to the program, schools are awarded a $50,000 planning

grant and must appoint an external evaluator to assist in creating a plan

of action to raise test scores.

Although administrators said they are not certain exactly when they

would receive the grant money, they were told it will be soon.

“We’re in the process of getting together a parent-teacher team to

make that selection [of an evaluator] so that everyone is comfortable

with that person,” Lang said.

The evaluator then will help the school produce a plan that could

bring in as much as $200 per student from the state during the next two

years to help put it into action.

With the benefits of the program, however, come serious consequences

if scores do not improve.

While the first year is a planning year, if scores do not improve

after the second year, schools will be subject to serious district

sanctions.

If scores do not increase after the third year, the state takes

control. That could result in the firing of the principal or up to 30% of

the school’s teaching staff, Lang said.

“You’re here for the kids, so of course you’re going to work to

improve their scores. That’s what they hired me for,” she said, “so it

doesn’t make me nervous.”

Having just received word that her school was chosen for the program,

Lang and the school community are trying to learn its intricacies and are

excited about the opportunity.

“I think that it’s a really positive thing for us and we’re still

really kind of learning what it’s about,” said Renee Bowen, a parent and

past president of the school’s PTA.

After the success enjoyed by Whittier Elementary School since it

volunteered to participate in the program when it began two years ago,

district officials are pleased to see another area school involved.

Whittier improved its score on the state Academic Performance Index

test by 73 points -- from 498 to 571 -- over the last two years.

“It gives [College Park] money to improve, the opportunity for an

outside evaluator and I think the principal sees it as an opportunity for

growth,” said Peggy Anatol, director of curriculum and assessment for the

Newport-Mesa Unified School District. “I was pleased that we were

chosen.”