Sacramento schools rank high and low in exit exam
Published: Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 1B
West Campus High School proved again why it's one of the most sought-after schools in the Sacramento area after posting top scores on the California High School Exit Exam.
Just over a mile away, Hiram Johnson High School proved why it remains a top priority for Sacramento City Unified School District officials after posting among the worst results in the state.
Same district.
Similar neighborhood.
Different admissions policy.
West Campus is an open enrollment campus, where students must meet grade-point average requirements in order to apply. Among schools with more than 200 10th-graders taking the 2009-2010 exit exam, West Campus had the lowest percentage in California of sophomores
POPULAR COMMENT
As Diane Ravitch demonstrates in her book DEATH/LIFE OF GREAT AMERICAN SCHOOL SYSTEM, it is POVERTY that is the most significant factor weight on student performance -- NOT the teachers. Hiram Johnson serves the single most impoverished area in the SCUSD system, with a confluence of ESL learners and other challenges manifested in the culture of poverty that surrounds the school and plagues its student body. If these issues are not addressed, Hiram Johnson, and other similarly situated schools stand to perpetuate poverty, enabled by a school board that diverts resources, for example, to under the table loans and other maintenance for charters that, were it not for student cherry picking and other window dressing fakery, would result in similar underperformance, or allows a Superintendent to hire PR firms to PR things for him, instead of focusing on cultivating a partnership with district teachers. We should stop the chicanery of certain charters, especially that one founded by our now mayor, and place these resourcers back where they belong -- with PUBLIC SCHOOLS and the front line teachers who mightily attempt to overcome the astonishing challenges they confront every day in the classroom.
-- shlomovonglickstein
Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/08/25/2980793/sacramento-schools-rank-high-and.html#ixzz0xcaqj7TW