ANALYSIS
OF CURRENT EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE
WOODSIDE HIGH SCHOOL
The following
statements characterize educational practice at this school:
CURRICULUM IMPROVEMENT
- Staff commitment to teaching to the standards has
prompted teachers to identify standards being taught on daily lessons as
well as on the course syllabus.
- The purchase of new texts for Algebra I and
Biology should improve student access to up-to date information as well as
additional means to learn using technology.
- The increased numbers of resource periods for
Resource Specialist teachers has improved the student / teacher ratio for
these special needs students.
- Many Woodside students have benefited from
support from alternative programs (Redwood,
- The continuation of curriculum collaboration
among staff pays off. This includes themes for freshmen English/social
studies, work to improve CAHSEE results in English and math refinement of
the Senior Exhibition Project, summer work among teachers of English
learners, collaboration among advanced integrated Science teachers.
- Teachers report that the computer math program
has presented challenges for implementation but benefits students.
- Woodside has increased numbers of ninth graders
enrolled in Biology to improve performance on CST exams due to the
alignment of the curriculum to the standards. Increasing numbers of
student in Biology also feeds into the federal NCLB criteria for the new
science test that will be implemented next year.
MEETING THE LITERACY CHALLENGE
- Improved information from partner districts has
improved placement of 9th grade students. This includes CELDT,
STAR, reading, and math assessments. Efforts of Marianne Splenda are
commended for this.
- Woodsides policy approved by the Shared Decision
Making Council to enroll students who read below 6th grade
level in a
- Woodside staff has recognized the need to
strengthen the educational program for long-term English learners.
Collaboration among staff has resulted in plans for consistent
expectations as well as academic themes.
- Woodsides commitment to the improvement of
literacy has resulted in a core group of staff being trained in
methodologies of Kate Consella.
- Woodside continues the commitment of support for
English learners through the funding of a full-time bilingual resource
teacher using categorical funds.
- There is on-going need for improved curriculum to
close the achievement gap for English learners. This includes
supplementary materials for High Points.
- Woodsides English learners did well on oral
performance on the CELDT exam and need to increase performance in writing.
BROAD-BASED CHANGES IN PROCESSES
- Private funds have benefited the school in many
ways during times when public funds are uncertain.
- The merger of the Site Council with the Shared
Decision Making Council has strengthened decision making with a more
streamline process.
- Communication with parents has improved through
the e-mail system as well as the exemplary Woodside h.s.org website.
- Woodsides very low turnover of staff has helped
the school maintain continuity in its programs. This is especially true
for collaboration efforts among staff.
- Additional support from district staff at the
opening of school and during testing has helped the over-all performance
of these activities.
- Support from the Sheriffs department has assured
the promotion of a safe environment for school events and has deterred
potential problems from troubled youth.
The following
statements characterize educational practice at this school:
1. Alignment of
curriculum, instruction and materials to content and performance standards:
Subject area councils at the
district level, staff development buy-back days, and department meetings have
been used to align the curriculum, instruction and materials to content and
performance standards. Recent staff
development for the entire staff has included curriculum maps, instruction on
how to include standards on course syllabi and on the teaching agenda for daily
classes. Woodside now has a core of
teachers using Edusoft to measure student progress in mastering the
standards. All of the staff was trained
on using Edusoft. Woodside teachers have been given copies of the standards for
the major subject areas in order to encourage all staff to reinforce standards for
all subjects.
Staff development funds from a
variety of sources assure this process; teacher teams within departments meet
regularly to update curriculum. Resource
teachers at the district level have also facilitated the process. The ELL Resource teacher at Woodside had
increased release time and worked with teachers to align curriculum for ELL
students by meeting with individual teachers, groups of teachers by
department. All ESL teachers are using
the new texts that are aligned to the state standards.
Teachers work collaboratively in
departments to develop curriculum that meets standards. Teachers who are teaching the same subject
share curriculum. Curriculum that meets
the standards for CAHSEE was purchased and is used predominantly in English and
math classes. Teachers working in teams
also collaborate on curriculum that meets the standards and is also
interdisciplinary. An example is the
Senior Exhibition Project that will be in its third year of implementation in
the current school year. This project is an example of a means to measure
student achievement other than standardized tests.
2.
Availability of standards-based instructional materials appropriate to
all student groups:
State funds were used to purchase
standards-based instructional materials appropriate to all student groups. Categorical funds have been used to provide
supplementary materials for GATE students, ELL students. State-adopted
Teachers collaborate within
departments and between departments to develop instructional materials
appropriate to all student groups. The
library has purchased appropriate materials.
The Woodside Foundation and private funds have been used to purchase
supplementary materials.
The math department is attempting
to update math texts for Algebra I by piloting texts. The new text has internet supplementary
services to help students learn and is aligned to the state standards. Finding funds for purchasing a new text may
be a challenge.
Computer labs are available for
each department, and technology used as a component for most courses. Students who may not own a computer have
access in the library as well as in the labs to complete the standards-based
assignments. Teachers assign work that
requires internet research.
2.
Alignment of
staff development to standards, assessed student performance and
professional needs:
Recent
staff development of the entire staff has focused on curriculum mapping, the
inclusion of standards in course syllabi, the importance of communicating
standards to students and parents for each lesson, and the use of Edusoft as a
means to measure student achievement relative to standards. In addition, staff development funds have
made it possible for teachers to develop curriculum collaboratively in subject
matter teams.
The School Site Plan has a
staff development component. (See
Chapter 6 for documentation of staff development activities by Woodside staff.)
There has been extensive staff development time devoted to issues related to
academic literacy (including reading and SDAIE training), alignment of
curriculum to standards, assessment, and issues related to needs of second
language students to reduce the achievement gap. The guidance department attended
workshops related to college planning and requirements of the UC/CSU.
Woodside staff has embraced
training in technology and has made extensive use of the districts resource
teacher as well as Woodsides teacher with a technology release period. Teachers are creating web sites, including
expectations of technology in their lessons for students. Woodside has increased the number of computer
labs used by teachers.
Departments are working in teams
using Edusoft computer technology to assess student performance standards and
to determine student performance needs based on STAR data.
Staff development decisions are
made with input from department chairs, district personnel, school
administrators and SDMC. Private funding
has increased staff development opportunities at Woodside.
3.
Services
provided by the regular program to enable Underperforming students to meet
standards:
Services include: special programs such as Compass, Business
Technology Academy, AVID, MESA, tutoring in the library after school, teacher
availability to help students before school, during brunch, lunch, after
school, Saturday School, Phoenix, Target Success (for parents), parent
institutes, guidance programs (classroom presentations, parent meetings,),
career programs, college advising, SAT preparation. The district provides a community liaison to
provide outreach to students who have poor attendance. Information in Spanish is provided to students
and parents to assure that they are informed about college alternatives and
other important information
The Sustained Silent Reading
program has increased the amount of time all students spend reading and has had
an impact on improvement of reading skills.
The School Site Council has provided funds to support this program by providing
appropriate reading materials.
Private funds have made it
possible for the math department to purchase software to be used in the new
math computer lab for students in Pre Algebra and Algebra .5.
Kaplan materials have been
purchased with the funds from the state award for STAR score improvement and
are being used in English and math classes.
5. Services provided by
categorical funds to enable Underperforming students to meet standards:
Unfortunately there have been
budget cuts at the state level that impact the availability of categorical
funds to enable underperforming students to meet standards. The extent of the impact is not yet
known. The position of instructional
associate for the
Assessments are provided to
improve accuracy of placement in classes.
Bilingual instructional associates for the Resource Specialist Program
and the ELL program assist students and improve communications with
parents. The ELL Resource teacher is
currently a full-time position (beginning 2002-03); services include improved
placement of students in classes, guidance services, curriculum support, and
staff development. Sophomore Counseling Project has provided additional
guidance services. Tutoring is provided
through GATE and ELL tutorials as well as anytime school funds. The AP Challenge grant has provided funds to
support students in Advanced Placement classes; these funds have been cut at
the state level for 2003-04. Tutorials were provided to assist students who had
not passed the California High School Exit Examination.
Teachers were provided with staff
development activities using categorical funds to assess the ELL program and to
redesign the program with new Specially Designed Academic Instruction in
English classes in both English and content area classes. Supplementary materials to enrich the
curriculum have been provided.
SOS (Students Offering Support)
developed and implemented a new peer mentoring program for underachieving
freshmen with students from the Leadership class and other SOS students. The program also provided conflict mediation
services.
Freshman
Transition is a program for freshmen that personalizes the school environment
resulting in a positive transition to high school for all students. Freshman Transition received a national award
at the Character Education Partnership Conference last year for Best Practices.
6. Use of state and local
assessments to modify instruction and improve student achievement:
Woodsides Data Team meets regularly to review a
variety of assessments. The districts
department of Research and Evaluation provides data on state assessments. Workshops are conducted for department chairs
and staff regarding results of state testing.
The improvement of STAR scores and financial reward by the state is
evidence that the strategies to improve test scores are working.
The Shared Decision Making Council has implemented a
program to assure that students who need reading are appropriately identified
using multiple assessments and placed in reading classes. A position of Reading Department Chair has
been established to take leadership in the process to help with reading
placement and testing as well as improvement in reading curriculum. The
assessments include the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test, a writing sample,
grades, teacher recommendation. Ninth graders
who need reading are placed in an English Reading Block that has an integrated
curriculum designed to assist students who have achievement gaps in English.
The number of reading sections has increased over previous years, beyond the
additional sections provided by the board to meet the literacy need.
The Math Department has implemented an assessment of
all 9th graders at the beginning of school using the STEP test. Ninth graders enrolled in Geometry are given
an assessment to determine if the student has mastered Algebra.
Databases of state and local assessments are
maintained for ELL students to monitor and measure progress and to determine
which students are fluent and ready for redesigination and movement into
mainstream classes. In addition transcripts
of ELL students are reviewed regularly to monitor progress.
Departments are using Edusoft, paid for by the
Woodside Foundation, as a means to assess student progress on standards as well
as to be aware of individual student needs in terms of improving skills for
STAR testing. Teachers in most
departments are developing assessments and using this program to monitor
student progress in California Standards tests, the CAT 6 exam, CELDT exam, and
CAHSEE. A staff development day was
devoted to training staff, and additional summer work has been devoted to
developing assessments using Edusoft to measure student achievement. All 9th
and 10th graders were given a practice High School Exit Exam
assessment to determine their readiness for this test. ELL teachers will use
Edusoft as well to monitor student achievement and mastery of standards.
The District has abandoned plans to implement Oracle
software in the current school year. It
is hoped that staff will be able to pull up data on individual assessments in
order to see how the students have performed on multiple assessments.
7. Number and percentage of
teachers in academic areas experiencing low student
performance:
Because all teachers have access to Edusoft, they
have access to information from state tests to make them aware of which
students in their classes are experiencing low academic performance. They can then provide individual assistance,
or if the entire class is weak in a particular area, the teacher can design
lessons to remediate the group.
Grades are another means to identify classes with
weak academic performance. Teachers have access to student grades in other
courses through SASI XP. In addition,
the mark distribution report is reviewed by administrators and department
chairs after each grading period by teacher as well as by course. The number of students receiving Ds and Fs
needs to be reduced. Although Woodside
has the lowest dropout rate of ELL students in the district, too many Hispanic
students are doing poorly; this group has higher percentages of failures than
other groups.
8. Family, school, district
and community resources available to assist these students:
Target Success, Parent Institute, community liaison,
probation department, College and Career center (scholarships, planning for the
future), community college and four-year college representatives, San Mateo
County Sheriffs Department, San Mateo County Probation, Woodside Foundation,
School Site Council, Shared Decision Making Council.
The WHS assistance fund helped over one hundred
students that were in need of school supplies, backpacks, food, eyeglasses, and
housing.
9. School, district and
community resources available to assist these students:
The School Site Council and the
Shared Decision Making Council have representatives from all of the affected
stakeholder groups: teachers, classified
employees, administration, parents, students.
The Woodside Foundation provides funds for many resources at the
school. The school has also received
anonymous funding support as well as grants from the Peninsula Community
Foundation.
Staff who are resources include:
all Guidance Advisors (3), Guidance Information Specialists (3), nurse (1),
school psychologist (1), community liaison (1), ELL Resource teacher (1), ELL
Department Chair (1 release period), bilingual instructional associate (1),
tutorial services, special programs to provide additional instruction to pass
High School Exit Exam, reading labs and materials, technology (through Digital
High School, Woodside Foundation), new library media center (open during and
after school), resource officer from sheriffs department, class size reduction, free and reduced price
lunch program, assessment services (reading, math, CELDT, STAR) to help with
appropriate placement, special programs such as AVID, MESA, Business Technology
Academy
10. Limitations of the
current program to enable under performing students to meet standards:
There is a need for improved
articulation with feeder districts/school to obtain accurate assessment
information (including spring STAR scores) on incoming students in order to
assure appropriate placement in classes.
This includes ELL students who did sufficiently well on the English
Language Arts standards tests to be redesignated as fluent and moved out of
SDAIE classes to mainstream. In addition, there is a need to improve
articulation with middle schools regarding inclusion students to assure
appropriate placement, services and also to assure complete goals in the
individual educational plans. High
schools need cum folders from middle schools no later than the middle of
August.
Approximately seventy percent of
the freshmen class arrives at
The Compass program provides
enrichment and monitoring of incoming 9th graders. Personal
counseling services helped students. There is a need to expand the program to
include all of the underperforming students who will be entering high
school. Funds are from private sources.
Large class sizes makes it
difficult to meet individual student needs. Approximately one- third of
Woodside students have a language other than English as their primary
language. Woodside was unable to find
qualified bilingual math teachers to teach students who are English language
learners. There are inadequate funds to
hire bilingual instructional associates needed to help in these classes.
Private funds have been used to reduce class size at the freshman level now
that the class size reduction funds have been eliminated.
Teachers report that many of the
Woodside students who are not performing up to standards are not completing
homework and other assignments. There is a need to develop a systematic
approach to solve this problem. Parents need to be part of the process.
CURRICULUM IMPROVEMENT
- Staff commitment to teaching to the standards has
prompted teachers to identify standards being taught on daily lessons as
well as on the course syllabus.
- The purchase of new texts for Algebra I and
Biology should improve student access to up-to date information as well as
additional means to learn using technology.
- The increased numbers of resource periods for
Resource Specialist teachers has improved the student / teacher ratio for
these special needs students.
- Many Woodside students have benefited from
support from alternative programs (Redwood,
- The continuation of curriculum collaboration
among staff pays off. This includes themes for freshmen English/social
studies, work to improve CAHSEE results in English and math refinement of
the Senior Exhibition Project, summer work among teachers of English
learners, collaboration among advanced integrated Science teachers.
- Teachers report that the computer math program
has presented challenges for implementation but benefits students.
- Woodside has increased numbers of ninth graders
enrolled in Biology to improve performance on CST exams due to the
alignment of the curriculum to the standards. Increasing numbers of
student in Biology also feeds into the federal NCLB criteria for the new
science test that will be implemented next year.
MEETING THE LITERACY CHALLENGE
- Improved information from partner districts has
improved placement of 9th grade students. This includes CELDT,
STAR, reading, and math assessments. Efforts of Marianne Splenda are
commended for this.
- Woodsides policy approved by the Shared Decision
Making Council to enroll students who read below 6th grade
level in a
- Woodside staff has recognized the need to
strengthen the educational program for long-term English learners.
Collaboration among staff has resulted in plans for consistent
expectations as well as academic themes.
- Woodsides commitment to the improvement of
literacy has resulted in a core group of staff being trained in methodologies
of Kate Consella.
- Woodside continues the commitment of support for
English learners through the funding of a full-time bilingual resource
teacher using categorical funds.
- There is on-going need for improved curriculum to
close the achievement gap for English learners. This includes
supplementary materials for High Points.
- Woodsides English learners did well on oral
performance on the CELDT exam and need to increase performance in writing.
BROAD-BASED CHANGES IN PROCESSES
- Private funds have benefited the school in many
ways during times when public funds are uncertain.
- The merger of the Site Council with the Shared
Decision Making Council has strengthened decision making with a more
streamline process.
- Communication with parents has improved through
the e-mail system as well as the exemplary Woodside h.s.org website.
- Woodsides very low turnover of staff has helped
the school maintain continuity in its programs. This is especially true
for collaboration efforts among staff.
- Additional support from district staff at the
opening of school and during testing has helped the over-all performance
of these activities.
- Support from the Sheriffs department has assured
the promotion of a safe environment for school events and has deterred
potential problems from troubled youth.
Chapter
1- Introduction: A general description of the school and the population it
serves.
Our community reflects the cultural and
socio-economic makeup of
Woodsides Expected Schoolwide
Learning Results (ESLRs), originally developed in 1997, continue to delineate
the requisite skills and qualities of a Woodside graduate. In an effort to make the ESLRs more readily
accessible, the achronym
Mission Statement
"
Approved by Shared Decision Making Council, May 2004
The
Students
Our students reflect the
cultural diversity of the community. The
ethnic pluralism of the campus provides a rich academic and social environment
as well as a broad spectrum of perspectives and experiences. Since 1997, our Hispanic population has
continued to rise while our Caucasian population has continued to drop. Despite the rise in our Hispanic population,
our ELL population continues to decrease, as more and more students are
redesignated at their feeder schools or within the first two years at WHS. The Redesignation Rate has risen from 3.4% in
99-00 to 9.4% in 03-04.
Demographics
1997-2004
|
Year |
Enrollment (October) |
Caucasian |
Hispanic |
African-American |
Asian-American |
Pacific Islander |
Other/ Multiple |
|
39% |
8% |
4% |
3% |
2% |
|||
|
1999 |
1893 |
43% |
42% |
6% |
3% |
4% |
2% |
|
2001 |
1986 |
45% |
41% |
5% |
3% |
4% |
2% |
|
2002 |
1953 |
42% |
43% |
7% |
2% |
3% |
3% |
|
2003 |
1935 |
41% |
45% |
7% |
2% |
3% |
2% |
|
2004 |
1939 |
39% |
46% |
6% |
2% |
3% |
4% |
(Data derived from School Performance
Profile 2000-01, CBEDS and SASI enrollment data 9/02, SARC 9/03, SASI
enrollment data 9/04)
Other
student data indicate many positive trends in the academic outlook for our
students. Our standard
Curricular Programs
Curricular programs at
Courses are offered in a wide variety of
disciplines, and efforts are ongoing for integration across curricular
lines. Woodside offers programs
addressing the needs of second language learners as well as honors, at-risk,
and special education students. We take
great pride in the development of programs that address the changing needs of
all our students in this comprehensive high school.
In order to serve a large and diverse community of
students, Woodside offers a variety of programs:
|
|
|
|
Freshman House Program |
Freshman Transition |
|
Compass Program (Incoming Freshmen) |
|
|
Junior Teams (Social Science and English) |
|
|
Advanced Placement/Honors Courses |
Concurrent Enrollment (Community College) |