The “annual list”:http://emsc32.nysed.gov/irts/school-accountability/home.shtml of high schools who aren’t making the grade according to either the state or federal standards has just been released.

(Middle and elementary school lists will be released later this fall.)

Four schools in Westchester and Rockland have been taken off the list and are considered “in good standing.” Their principals are relieved, their staffs are rejoicing.

Nine Westchester schools and one school in Rockland are on the list for various reasons and in various stages.

Most had one subgroup of students who failed to meet one benchmark—for example, not enough special-education kids at White Plains High School took and passed the English Regents test.

One, Roosevelt High School in Yonkers, has been on the list long enough—for failing to get enough kids to pass the math Regents—that it is required to develop a plan for restructuring the school.

One thing about these lists: they’re bald. Just the name and the subject the school came up short in.

What combination or combinations of last year’s seniors didn’t meet the benchmark, or what’s being done to fix the problem, or what the school is achieving in other areas, takes up a lot more space.

I spent a couple of hours on the phone today with administrators from Yonkers, White Plains and Ossining schools talking about all these things.

We talked about the usefulness of the test data. At Gorton High School, Principal Rocco Grassi and a data committee analyze test results to figure out who’s failing, who’s not taking the test and what areas they’re struggling in. Then they move in on individual students with everything from after-school help to early morning phone calls on the morning of the test.

We talked about perspective. Being on this list is publicly unpleasant. Often, achievements in other areas don’t get that kind of attention. Ossining High School, points out Phyllis Glassman, sent four kids to Harvard this year. OHS, which has been working on the achievement gap for years, exceeded the state standard for every ethnic and racial group. It missed the benchmark for poor kids by just four points.

We talked about personalizing instruction and learning. Yonkers Superintendent Bernard Pierorazio talked about his strategic reasons for wanting to create smaller high schools – starting with Roosevelt.

Here are some highlights from those conversations.

Roosevelt High School now has two separate divisions of about 900 kids. One is a communications magnet and one has a public service theme. Each has its own administration and guidance department.

It’s part of the long range strategic plan for the Yonkers district to help adults keep better track of students. The plan includes turning Museum Middle School into a high school – which will put a second high school on the west side of town. Having six high schools will mean each can be smaller – and smaller means adults can keep better track of students.

Yonkers educators are also reviewing their writing instruction in grades 3, 7 and 10 – the years before the highest-stake tests. “We want to see a significant improvement,” Pierorazio said.

Gorton High School’s journey off the list was intense, according to Grassi.
First they had to get a better grasp on who the students were – and where they were academically – in each grade. Hence the data committee.

Then they focused their energies on those students who needed to pass. First, they worked on getting them to show up.

They offered extra help after school, Saturdays, even over the summer. They started to administer practice exams after school to familiarize the kids who were willing to come with the contents and format.

They started to look at teaching methods. First they had teachers examine student work and sample exams to see where they were falling short. Then they did a lot of in-house staff development. They encouraged teachers to use a literacy program in all subject areas, because they were finding a strong correlation in ability to read and ability to pass math or science tests.

They even met with middle school math teachers to build on what the kids already know when they arrive.

Ossining High School joined the list this year because seniors whose family income levels qualify them as economically disadvantaged didn’t meet state standards in English. There were 63 seniors in that group, which missed the mark by four points.

Slice ‘em different ways, and the results are different.

The other eight subgroups, which include students grouped by race, ethnicity and special education classification, met or beat the standards in English. All the groups hit the mark in math.

In fact, OHS students over all are ahead of schedule – they hit benchmarks that are still a few years off as the state continues to tighten the standards, said Glassman.

Meanwhile, the school board’s plan this year was to develop action plans for specific subgroups. This was one. Now it’ll get extra attention.

They have to meet the standards for two years in a row to get off the list.