Just three years ago, Fresno Unified was among the worst in California for student achievement. For three straight years, the overall student achievement has improved. Last year, the district’s overall performance improved with an 8-point Academic Performance Index (API) gain on the state’s accountability measure. Three years ago, only 1 in 4 students were proficient in English Language Arts and today, 1 in 3 students are proficient in English Language Arts.
While the rate of improvement in student achievement may appear to lag behind other areas of improvement for the district, Hanson’s leadership in creating a data-driven system is beginning to see results and is building momentum. Even in the highest performing urban districts in the nation, it took 8 to 10 years to reach student achievement levels that are noteworthy and most of those districts started at a higher level of performance than Fresno Unified.
Just like the dashboard in your car gives you feedback on the car’s performance, Hanson has lead the district to create a district data dashboard that gives feedback on the district’s performance throughout the school year during a process called Cycle of Review. This allows for mid-course corrections up to four times a year. There are very few school districts across the nation doing this type of data-driven work, and the Cycle of Review is already revealing positive results in getting English Learners to proficiency, which represents one of the largest achievement gaps in Fresno Unified.
Highlights on English Learners:
· Students who have been re-designated as English proficient are exceeding the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) target and are surpassing the “all students” group in the percent of Proficient and Advanced in English Language Arts and math.
· There has been a 9 percent increase over the past two years in the number of 10th grade English Learners passing the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) on the first attempt.
· At the elementary level, students who have been re-designated as fluent English Proficient are exceeding the district target in English Language Arts and math. In addition, English Learners at levels 4 and 5 are exceeding the “all students” group.
Download Student Success 2008 Quarter 2.ppt
Download Student Success May 2008 EL and Disabilities.ppt