Identifying Schools That Are Beating the Odds

I dent i f yi ngSc hool sThatAr e Beat i ngt heOdds i nOr angeCount y

Spons or edbyt heCr oulF ami l yFoundat i on Pr epar edbyDr .

Wal l ac eWal r od J anuar y2011

Table of Contents Executive Summary………………………………………………………………………….....2

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………...…….4

Section I: Orange County Context…………………………………………………...………..5

Section II: Importance of Improving Academic Achievement for California’s Future…….8

Section III: Literature Review…………………………………………………………………10

Section IV: Methodology………………………………………………………………………14

Section V: Specific Findings by Indicator…………………………………………………...19

Section VI: General Conclusion Regarding Orange County High Schools That Are Beating the Odds………………………………………………………………………………22

Section VII: Programs that Help Students Beat the Odds………………………………...27

Section VIII: Interviews with Leaders of Top Schools Beating the Odds………………..39

Section IX: Conclusion……………………………………………………………………......41

Section X: Bibliography……………………………………………………………………….42

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Executive Summary The purpose of this Study is to identify Orange County High Schools that are located in the most severely economically impacted communities, yet are retaining and graduating students into college and/or productive employment. We describe these schools as those which have been able to “beat the odds”. Through the findings of this Study, we hope to better understand, and thus be better positioned to support administrators and teachers, schools and programs that are achieving this goal.

Our primary criterion for the Study was based on schools within “severely impacted communities”, defined as having more than 40% of students participate in the free and reduced lunch program. These are schools with a high percentage of economically challenged families.

We also considered schools with a high number of students who are overcoming challenges, such as schools with a high proportion of English Learners. Twenty-two Orange County public high schools met our criteria.

The key indicators of success were the following:       

Percentage of students designated as English Learners and redesignated as fluent English Proficient; Graduation rates and performance on the Cumulative Promotion Index; Achievement on the Academic Performance Index; UC/CSU eligibility; SAT scores; College attendance; and Enrollment in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) courses.

The principle findings of the Study demonstrate that: 

   

La Quinta High School (Garden Grove), Santiago High School (Garden Grove) and Garden Grove High School (Garden Grove) have “beaten the odds” in academic achievement despite having demographic characteristics that would appear to make it difficult for students in these schools to succeed.

Garden Grove Unified School District high schools tend to have higher graduation rates and lower dropout rates than others in this cohort.

Santa Ana Unified School District has among the best and the worst of outcome achievements.

Costa Mesa and Estancia High Schools in Newport Mesa Unified School District have achieved success despite demographic characteristics that typically would prevent them from “beating the odds” Anaheim Union High School District schools perform relatively well on most academic achievement measures except college attendance.

The Study also found that:   

Poverty does not necessarily lead to low school academic achievement.

High performance on one academic measure does not necessarily result in high performance on another.

STEM enrollment is increasing in high poverty school districts.

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

School districts that are “mixed” (districts containing both schools with high socio-economic status and schools with socio-economic status) have higher levels of UC/CSU preparedness, SAT participation and achievement.

The most common factors leading to success are:     

Support and coordination by the school district administration A visionary principal partnering with teachers in implementing a “whatever it takes” mentality for the school; Publicly celebrating academic achievement; Parent involvement; and After-school programs to take academic support beyond the classroom and partnering with outside organizations like the Chamber of Commerce on education programs.

The Study also found a number of programs exist that appear to demonstrate success in driving academic success which should be examined more closely. These programs include AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination, the Latino Educational Attainment (LEA) Initiative, the Tiger Woods Learning Center, the Puente Project, the Orange County Math Initiative, High School Inc Academies, and ITEP (International Trade Educational Programs). Examining how these programs impact individual schools that are beating the odds and discovering how these efforts could be reproduced in schools is a next step for further research.

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Introduction In an era in which education is the tool for success for an individual to succeed in modern society, discovering successful educational programs is essential to Orange County’s future economic success. Orange County’s economy increasingly depends upon having a workforce of trained and educated professionals, so Orange County must look to “grow its own” by graduating high school students with skills and abilities that will prepare them to be employed in Orange County companies or to go on to college where they can obtain higher education.

However, too many high school students in Orange County are currently failing to make the grade.

While many Orange County students suffer from poverty, not speaking English well, or are dealing with personal and/or emotional issues that prevent them from succeeding academically, some students are succeeding despite these obstacles. It is essential to discover which schools have programs that enable students who are suffering from these disadvantages to have a better chance of succeeding. Where are these schools in Orange County? What do components of success look like? Which school districts and individual schools are “beating the odds?”

In an effort to discover the answers to these questions, First Foundation Advisors initiated this Study, sponsored by the Orange County Community Foundation, funded by the Croul Family Foundation, and conducted by Dr. Wallace Walrod and a team of researchers. The Study identified school districts, high schools, and specific academic programs that are in the most severely impacted communities yet are achieving success beyond their peers and beyond the community norm. Which Orange County high schools demonstrate success despite characteristics such as poverty? Success is defined for this purpose as retaining and graduating students into college and/or productive employment. Finally, suggestions are made regarding programs that help bolster schools’ efforts to help students to “beat the odds.”

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Section I: Orange County Context In order to survive in a competitive global economy, Orange County needs competitive advantages. One of the key competitive advantages a community needs to prosper is the ability to grow its own workforce to power local companies so that they prosper, thrive and ultimately begin to attract the most talented families, workers, entrepreneurs, and companies possible from around the country and around the world.

Creating a strong workforce will require bold ideas and concerted actions among business leaders, policy-makers, educators, workforce professionals, researchers, and, most importantly, parents and students. Orange County is no longer about attracting population and businesses from outside the county, but is instead becoming a place where success is dependent on retaining and growing existing businesses and economic clusters.

However, recent statistics are finding that Orange County’s high schools are coming up short.

Many Orange County high schools are performing extremely well with SAT scores that exceed competing metro areas and have Academic Performance Index (API) scores that are among the best in the state. Other schools are below average in SAT scores, lagging schools across the state in academic performance, but also suffering from students dropping out of school before graduation. Arguably, this “Orange Curtain” of academic performance masks differences in performance between school districts and even within school districts. While most high schools in Orange County exceed the state target API score of 800, approximately half of the school districts in Orange County do not. Furthermore, the three lowest are over twenty points short (Garden Grove), forty points short (Anaheim) and over ninety points short (Santa Ana). Clearly, there are gaps in high school achievement in Orange County.

Figure 1: Orange County Academic Performance Index Scores, 2009 900

878

870 850

850

837

833

820

814

812

810

809

808

805 780

800

768

759

750

714

700 650 600 550

Source: California Department of Education

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Santa Ana

Anaheim Union

Orange

Garden Grove

Tustin Unified

Newport-Mesa

Huntington Beach Union

Orange County Average

Placentia-Yorba Linda

Fullerton Joint Union

Brea-Olinda

Saddleback Valley

Capistrano

Laguna Beach

Los Alamitos

Irvine

500

State target for API scores is 800

In addition, Orange County high schools are not instructing enough students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) oriented courses. Approximately 17.5% take courses in Intermediate Algebra, 19.7% take courses in Advanced Math, 14.5% take First Year Chemistry, and 6.8% take First Year Physics. In 2008-2009, the percentage of students showing “Advanced” achievement in math and science ranged from 3% for Algebra II to 23% for Summative High School Math. On the other end of the spectrum, the percentage of students “Far below Basic” ranged from 16% for Algebra II to 2% for Summative High School Math.

Figure 2: Percentage of OC Students Taking STEM Courses, 2008-2009 Grade 11 Algebra II % % % % %

Advanced Proficient Basic Below Basic Far below Basic

3% 17% 32% 31% 16%

Grade 11 Summative High School Math 23% 38% 22% 15% 2%

Grade 11 Chemistry 20% 32% 33% 10% 5%

Grade 11 Biology/Life Sciences 29% 25% 29% 9% 7%

Source: California Department of Education

Examining pass rates on the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) shows how student success varies across districts as well when it comes to demonstrating a fundamental ability to complete the high school curriculum. Orange County students generally perform well on the CAHSEE, with 87% of Orange County students passing the Math portion of the exam and 85% passing the English-Language Arts portions of the exam. Laguna Beach had the highest percentage of test takers pass (97% for both Math and English-Language Arts), while Santa Ana had the lowest percentage of students pass (76% for Math and 70% for English-Language Arts). Anaheim Union High School District and Garden Grove had higher pass rates than Santa Ana (Anaheim with 81% passing Math and 79% passing English-Language Arts and Garden Grove with 86% passing Math and 82% passing English-Language Arts). A twenty percentage point difference between the highest and lowest school districts in Orange County is a significant gap to overcome.

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Figure 3: High School Exit Exam Pass Rates, 2008-2009

Math

English Language Arts

Fu

lle

An

ah

ei

m

Un

io Br n H e a ig rto -O h n Jo C a lin d p a in t U i st r Hu an n i o nt in G a r on H gt d o n e n i gh Be G r ac ov e h Un io n La g u I rv i na ne Lo B s ea Ne Ala ch wp m i Pl or tos ac tM en e tia O sa Sa -Yo ran d d rb g le a L e ba in ck d a V S a alle nt y aA na Co T us un tin ty S t w id ate e wi de

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

Source: California Department of Education, Educational Demographics Unit

Such gaps show that Orange County schools are not all measuring up to the needs of the current and future Orange County economy. While some schools are graduating students who are ready to compete and succeed in the global economy, other schools have students who are shuffling through the system and will be unable to find jobs in the county that will provide sufficient income for them to afford the high cost of living in Orange County.

The Orange County Register recently examined academic achievement of all schools in Orange County to identify outstanding schools (http://www.ocregister.com/articles/high-255041-countyschool.html?data=1&appSession=58568284936297). While not focusing on just disadvantaged schools, the Orange County Register’s examination showed that most of the outstanding schools are schools that have students coming from economically stable families. For example, Troy High School and Oxford Academy were named the premier schools of Orange County while having much lower levels of students on free/reduced lunch than average. Newsweek magazine (http://www.newsweek.com/id/201160) and US News and World Report (http://www.usnews.com/sections/education/high-schools) examined academic achievement regarding items such as participation and success in AP exams and similarly found high performing Orange County schools. Orange County has no shortage of outstanding schools.

Schools with stable income families are doing well, while schools that tend to come from poorer socio-economic backgrounds are doing much worse. The focus of this Study is to examine which schools are performing well even though statistically speaking should be failing to meet the grade, and what are the elements that have enabled them to be successful?

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Section II: Importance of Improving Academic Achievement for California’s Future The recent Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) report entitled “Closing the Gap: Meeting California’s Need for College Graduates” states that by 2025, California will be a million workers short of its need for college educated employees to fulfill positions that a high tech economy will need for the future. 1 Other research from PPIC states that 41% of all future jobs will require a college degree by 2025 as opposed to 35% of jobs today. 2 However, only 35% of the California’s working adults will have college degrees.

This potential mismatch is occurring because the relatively well-educated Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) will be retiring over the next twenty years and the jobs they fill will not have enough similarly educated replacements. Subsequent generations of California students are less educated, so the replacement workers will need to either come from out of state or not be filled at all—meaning high wage employment currently in California will relocate out of the state resulting in decreasing tax revenue for governments and a lower quality of life for Californians. Furthermore, as jobs in the global economy become increasingly dependent on high tech skills and better education, there will be even more jobs in need of college graduates than currently, meaning that the shortfall in college graduates is that much worse than merely replacing current Baby Boomer job holders. Basically, the projected shortage is not only troublesome, but appears to actually be getting worse.

PPIC predicts there are opportunities for improvement, however. Currently, approximately 56% of high school graduates in California go on to attend college. Additionally, relatively few community college students transfer to four-year institutions to graduate (about 25%). 3 Moreover, California State University graduation rates are somewhat lower than University of California graduation rates. Therefore, if California could match the national average and have 61% of high school graduates attend college, increase the transfer rate of community college students to four-year institutions by 20%, and modestly improve CSU graduation rates, approximately half of the gap could be closed with an additional 500,000 college graduates.

Achieving such a goal may not be as daunting as it may initially seem. Increasing college attendance of high school students beyond 61% could actually happen if the right driving factors are identified, encouraged, and expanded. Many community colleges already have significantly higher transfer rates than the 20% rate needed for all community colleges to meet this goal.

Several CSU’s are already engaging in programs to increase graduation rates (such as the Beach Beginnings program at CSU Long Beach to help prevent drop outs of first-year students, when students are most vulnerable to discouragement and failure). With the right initiatives and sufficient funding, the gap has a good chance of being closed.

However, looking at the numbers, the biggest part of closing the gap is fundamentally increasing the number of high school students who go to college. But this is also, potentially, the most difficult part of the task. While increasing the college attendance rate to 61% may not seem like much, given the shortfalls in California’s high schools, even this modest improvement may be 1

“Closing the Gap: Meeting California’s Need for College Graduates” Public Policy Institute of California.

“Out-of-State Labor No Panacea: California Can’t Import Its Way Out of Shortage of Educated Workers.” Public Policy Institute of California. 23 May 2007.

3 “All Things to All People: The Dilemma of Community Colleges.” Public Policy Institute of California, 15 Nov 2006.

2

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too much to ask for. When looking at countywide numbers, Orange County high school students compare favorably to state and national achievement numbers and are increasingly, not decreasingly, ready to go onto college. However, when we focus on Orange County’s economically disadvantaged communities, significant challenges – and divergences in performance -- become apparent. Despite significant poverty rates, language acquisition issues and lack of preparation from earlier grades, Orange County students in some schools in economically disadvantaged communities are holding their own, overcoming the odds, and even improving performance, while other schools in similar communities are struggling to achieve even are modest academic performance improvements. For students in these to overcome these challenges, they need the tools to beat the odds in an environment where many of the cards are stacked against them.

What steps can be taken to improve this situation? Once again, the focus of this study is high schools that are already taking steps to meet this challenge by creating educational environments where students can “beat the odds”? Are the attributes of these schools transferable?

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Section III: Literature Review Schools in California have significant challenges to overcome in order to grow college educated workers of the future, a source for continued prosperity. Large numbers of immigrant youth are out of school with an estimated 265,000 youth between ages 13 and 22 who are either not obtaining / have not obtained a high school diploma or GED. 4 Between one-quarter and onethird of students in California are English Language Learners. 5 Furthermore, contrary to expectations, most of these students (85%) are not recent immigrants but are American-born children of immigrants. 6 Furthermore, English acquisition is higher for students who have parents with greater levels of education, which reveals itself in comparisons of the education level of parents who have immigrated from Mexico as opposed to the higher education level parents who have immigrated from other regions such as Southeast or East Asia, 7 which often results in higher poverty for Mexican immigrant children. While many students go on to become fluent English proficient during elementary school, boys lag behind girls in acquiring English proficiency and students who are also suffering from poverty (as measured by schools in areas where they are eligible to receive Title I Compensatory funding for disadvantaged students) acquire English at lower rates than non-disadvantaged students. 8 Previous academic studies of schools that are “beating the odds” provide clues as to what accounts for success compared to underperforming peers. Schools revealed in statistics, that overcome odds frequently studied to find out what accounts for their success. One of the best studies was conducted by Stanford’s Institute for Research, Education, Policy and Practice of academic achievement statistics of California’s 9,000 public schools reveals the following findings about the 103 schools that appear to be “beating the odds” despite major challenges: 9 1) Statistical analysis shows no difference in the number of personnel in each school, but

some variations in the type and qualification of personnel. These schools have smaller Kindergarten classes, administrators with more years of experience, and teachers with more education and experience than lower performing schools, as well as a higher percentage of teachers holding full credentials.

2) Schools that are beating the odds actually do not have higher spending per pupil than lower performing schools. In fact, the spending per pupil at $7,799 per student in 20042005 is actually slightly lower than the spending of $8,021 per pupil at lower performing schools.

3) There is no single “recipe” for success as each school that is “beating the odds” appears to be employing a different method for success in their individual context.

Other studies suggest components that contribute to a successful school environment, particularly for disadvantaged students who are English Learners, 10 including: 1) High quality preschool programs for children before they enter formal education; 4

“California’s Out-of-School Immigrant Youth: A Vulnerable Minority.” Public Policy Institute of California, Research Brief Issue #117: Apr 2007.

5 California Department of Education. Dataquest <www.cde.ca.gov>.

6 “The Progress of English Learners in California Schools.” Public Policy Institute of California, Research Brief Issue #99: Apr 2005.

7 “Immigrant Education: All Younger Generations Enjoy Notable Improvement, but Wide Disparities Among Ethnic Groups Remain.”

Public Policy Institute of California, Research Brief Issue #103: Sept 2005.

8 “The Progress of English Learners in California Schools.” Public Policy Institute of California, Research Brief Issue #99: Apr 2005.

9 Perez, Maria, Parrish, Tom, Anand, Priyanka, Speroni, Cecelia. “Successful California Schools in the Context of Educational Adequacy.” American Institute for Research, Jan 2007.

10 Gandara, Patricia, Rumberger, Russell. “Resources Needed for California’s English Learners.” Institute for Research on Education, Policy and Practice, Mar 2007.

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2) Comprehensive instruction that addresses both English language development and core school curriculum; 3) Sufficient and appropriate student and family support such as tutoring, counseling, community liaison personnel, health care workers and social workers to create a holistic environment of proactive achievement around not just the student but the entire family; 4) A safe, welcoming school environment with elements of school security personnel to monitor the campus and environmental enhancements such as landscaping, paint, extra janitorial help as well as effective school leadership with adequate and comprehensive assessment of student achievement.

Research by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University 11 on thirteen New York City schools in disadvantaged communities that had better than expected college attendance and success rates found that: 1) Solid academic rigor with standardized expectations for students all across the curriculum reinforced by a school culture of mutual respect between students and teachers as well as ground rules for academic effort and behavior. (Such findings are also the core of the analysis about the celebrated “Harlem Children’s Zone” Promise Academy where no behavior issue is too small to merit attention in an attempt to inculcate middle class values of achievement and self respect for children who may come from families where such demands may be lacking. 12 ) 2) Network of timely supports where close monitoring of transcripts and academic achievement results in swift intervention with after school tutoring, Saturday school, lunch time classes and extended school year / summer school courses to arrest any sign of decline before it becomes epidemic.

3) An expectation of college enrollment is made to the students from Day One so that entering ninth graders recognize that the purpose of their education over the next four years is to prepare to enter college. Prominent visual and physical space is devoted to college going: college preparation counselors have a high profile on campus, and parents are regularly involved with college planning for their children.

4) An effective use of data where student achievement is measured quantitatively and utilized for student monitoring for students at the school and those who graduate and are off at college.

In addition, while research is limited and often discouraging in terms of long-term sustainable impacts, findings from research on youth programs outside of the school 13 provides insight on what schools can do to be more effective in helping disadvantaged students and become schools that “beat the odds.” These findings include: 1) Be sure that programs are well structured, well implemented and provide students with

intensive exposure to a variety of activities.

2) Initiatives can improve their effectiveness if they maintain long-term contact with

program participants to reinforce lessons learned.

3) Having trusted adults and the opportunity to earn money appear to be factors that

motivate high-risk youth because jobs and responsibilities help create a sense of belonging and purpose. These elements help students gain a vision for their lives, connect with adults who can become resources for their advancement and help provide 11

Ascher, Carol, Maguire, Cindy. “Beating the Odds: How Thirteen NYC Schools Bring Low-Performing Ninth Graders to Timely Graduation and College Enrollment.” Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, Dec 2007.

12 Brooks, David. “The Harlem Miracle” New York Times, 7 May 2009.

13 “Serving High-Risk Youth Lessons From Research and Programming.” Public/PrivateVentures. Sept 2002.

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income to meet basic needs they might not be getting from their family (money for shelter, food, or clothes). Therefore, having committed program staff, giving students a sense of belonging and meeting basic needs enables students to move beyond living day-to-day and into living for their future.

Research published by Deloitte & Touche LLP regarding what teachers believe the goals of school are and what surveyed low-income students think the goals of school are shows that students are most interested in getting prepared for college and learning basic life skills while teachers believe their mission as a teacher is to help students master the subjects they teach and teaching basic life skills. Nearly half (48%) of students believe the most important purpose of high school is getting prepared for college while 21% believe it is for learning basic life skills, 18% believe it is for graduating high schools and 11% believe is for getting prepared for the workforce. Teachers however believe their mission as a teacher is to help students master the subjects they teach (38%), teach basic life skills (30%), ensure graduation from high school (10%), prepare students for success in college (9%), ensure students pass required exams (7%), and prepare students for the workforce (6%). Schools where the teachers and students have higher level of consensus about common goals are more likely to be successful. Most lowincome students are very focused on getting into college, mastering life skills, and leading sustainable, productive lives, reflecting different priorities than their teachers report. Instead, teachers appear to be primarily focused on helping studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s master academic subject matter.

Such gaps and mismatches between teacher and student priorities are likely bridged in schools that are â&#x20AC;&#x153;beating the oddsâ&#x20AC;? by school principals and district programs.

Figure 4: Goals of High School/Mission as Teacher

60% 50% 40% Students

30%

Teachers

20% 10% 0% Getting Prepared for College

Learning Basic Life Skills

Graduating High School

Getting Prepared for the Workforce

Mastering Subjects Taught

Passing Required Exams

Source: Deloitte 2009 Education Survey at http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_US/us/About/Leadership/barrysalzberg/article/568f028846215210VgnVC M100000ba42f00aRCRD.htm

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In short, a solid body of research is emerging that shows various attributes that define schools that are beating the odds. The next section examines a key question -- are the best practices described in this research found in Orange County high schools that are beating the odds? The first step to answering this question is to look at data on Orange County high schools to identify which ones are beating the odds, laying a solid foundation for examining what these successful Orange County high schools are doing relative to what the literature says successful schools are doing, and what are they doing differently.

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Section IV: Methodology To discover the answer to these questions, the following methodology of examining high schools in Orange County was developed. First, the idea of “beating the odds” implies two criteria: long odds for success to begin with and uncommon success at overcoming these odds.

This Study therefore examines schools that serve high concentrations of at-risk students that are demonstrating success that would not be expected given the hurdles the students in the school need to overcome. Following are the measures developed to identify schools that are beating the odds.

Study sample: Schools that are “beating the odds” must have students who are undergoing significant disruption in their lives as measured by a high degree of poverty or having hurdles to overcome such as needing to learn English. In other words, schools that are worth examining for this Study are schools that are in “severely impacted communities.”

The classic measure of poverty for schools is measuring the participation of students in the free and reduced lunch program. After reviewing demographic summaries for all public high schools in Orange County, “severely impacted communities” are defined as having more than 40% of students participate in the free and reduced lunch program. The free and reduced lunch program is means tested, so this indicator is a solid proxy for socio-economic status.

Students who live in poverty are experiencing shortages in resources for purchases of food and/or shelter, and are burdened by the psychological anxiety of not knowing if there will be enough money to cover the bills. Schools that are able to educate large number of students who are living in these conditions are indeed, “beating the odds.” Twenty-two Orange County public high schools meet the criteria of having more than 40% of students who participate in the free and reduced lunch program.

A secondary criterion for examination is the percentage of students who are English Learners.

Having a high number of students who are English Learners means the school has a significant population of students who are seeking to be educated in a language that is not their own.

When schools are demonstrating high levels of success at educating students who are overcoming this hurdle, they are likely “beating the odds.”

However, since a school may be “beating the odds” yet does not have a high population of English Learners, measures of poverty are the primary modes of analysis for determining whether a school has students who are overcoming major barriers. Poverty measures such as the percentage of students who participate in the free and reduced lunch program consistently apply to all schools in Orange County, as opposed to excluding schools that may be successful but happen to have fewer English Learners for demographic reasons.

Figure 5 shows the twenty-two schools in Orange County that are part of the sample for examination in this Study:

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Figure 5: OC High Schools Identified with High Percentages of Students with Free/Reduced Lunches and English Learners, 2008-2009

Santa Ana High Santiago High Century High Buena Park High Estancia High Los Amigos High Valley High Anaheim High Bolsa Grande High Westminster High Costa Mesa High Saddleback High Rancho Alamitos High La Quinta High Magnolia High Katella High Orange High Loara High Garden Grove High Tustin High Savanna High Western High

Percent of students with free / reduced lunches 2008-2009 82.4% 80.4% 80.4% 80.1% 80.0% 79.2% 77.4% 74.4% 72.9% 71.3% 70.4% 69.9% 66.6% 62.6% 60.7% 60.6% 59.7% 58.0% 57.1% 56.3% 53.5% 49.5%

School District Santa Ana Garden Grove Santa Ana Fullerton Joint Unified Newport Mesa Garden Grove Santa Ana Anaheim Garden Grove Huntington Beach Newport Mesa Santa Ana Garden Grove Garden Grove Anaheim Anaheim Orange Anaheim Garden Grove Tustin Anaheim Anaheim

Percent of students who are English Learners 2008-2009 42.2% 39.6% 42.7% 27.8% 32.9% 37.5% 46.0% 35.8% 32.9% 29.9% 25.6% 37.1% 28.9% 24.9% 28.3% 27.0% 31.50% 26.1% 22.8% 22.4% 23.2% 18.6%

Source: California Department of Education

Examining the locations of these twenty-two schools reveals interesting patterns that highlight the role of geography in educational outcomes. The number of high schools with a high percentage of students facing poverty and/or language challenges were tallied and then divided by the total number of high schools (excluding continuation, special, or advanced schools) within their districts. Garden Grove ranks the highest with 85.7% representation (six of its seven schools), followed by Anaheim with 75% (six of its eight schools). The school districts with the highest representation (Garden Grove, Anaheim, and Santa Ana) are all located in established communities in central Orange County and are mostly adjacent to one another. The map below displays arrows and a red circle that points and encircles where most of the schools eligible of â&#x20AC;&#x153;beating the oddsâ&#x20AC;? are located.

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Figure 6: OC Cities with the Highest Representation of Schools Identified with Academic Obstacles Including Poverty, Language Acquisition Issues, and Other Barriers



Garden Grove: http://www.ggusd.k12.ca.us/schools.asp o

7 regular/public high schools; 2 continuation high schools 

6 are included in top 22 (Pacifica is the only one excluded) 



Anaheim: http://www.auhsd.k12.ca.us/ourschools.jsp?rn=1387809 o

8 regular/public high schools; 1 special needs high school; 1 advanced high school 

6 are included in top 22 



6/7 = 85.7% of the Garden Grove School District

6/8 = 75% of the Anaheim School District

Santa Ana: http://www.sausd.us/144310226144521807/blank/browse.asp?A=383&BMDRN=2000&B COB=0&C=54207 o

6 regular/public high schools; 1 continuation high schools; 2 advanced high schools 

4 are included in top 22 

4/6 = 66.7% of the Santa Ana School District

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

Newport Mesa: http://web.nmusd.us/cms/page_view?d=x&piid=&vpid=1223740620019 o

4 regular/public high schools; 2 advanced high school programs 

2 are included in top 22 



Orange: http://www.orangeusd.k12.ca.us/schools/ o

4 regular/public high schools 

1 is included in top 22 



3 regular/public high schools; 1 special needs high school; 1 continuation school 

1 included in top 22 

1/3 = 33% of Tustin Unified District

Fullerton Joint: http://www.fjuhsd.k12.ca.us/fjuhsd/site/default.asp o

5 public high schools; 1 continuation school; 1 magnet school 

1 included in top 22 



1/4 = 25% of the Orange School District

Tustin: http://www.tustin.k12.ca.us/HTML/schooldirectory/school-directory.htm o



2/4 = 50% of the Newport Mesa School District

1/5 = 20% of Fullerton Joint Unified School District

Huntington Beach: http://www.hbuhsd.org/schools.cfm o

7 regular/public high schools; 1 advanced high school 

1 included in top 22 

1/7 = 14.3% of the Huntington Beach School District

Indicators: There are many ways of examining schools on a collective basis to assess whether they are “beating the odds” as a school. Qualitative methods such as interviews of students, faculty and staff certainly can provide inspirational stories and nuanced information on how schools are operating and where success is being made apparent. However, to obtain such qualitative data on student success drivers is often very difficult to obtain. Instead of starting with qualitative exploration of success in schools, broader quantitative analysis of academic performance was used to discover where students are thriving and gain a sense of which areas these schools are thriving in. Basic indicators for assessing success of these schools that “beat the odds” are:

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1. Percent of students designated as English Learners and redesignated as Fluent English Proficient; 2. Graduation rate, as defined as (# of graduates in Year Y/# of 9th graders students in Year Y-3) as well as the Cumulative Promotion Index (which is number of students 9th grade who make it to 10th grade * number of students 10th grade who make it to 11th grade* number of students 11th grade who make it to 12th grade * number of students 12th graders who graduate); 3. Percent of graduates who are UC or CSU eligible; 4. SAT participation rate and SAT achievement; 5. Percent of graduates who attend community college; 6. Percent of graduates who attend UC or CSU; 7. API (Academic Performance Index) scores of each school; 8. Percent of juniors and seniors enrolled in upper-level math and science courses.

Each of these indicators is computed at the school level from data available from the California Department of Education and the California Post-Secondary Commission. In addition, our team calculated these indicators to highlight achievement for students of Hispanic ethnicity since Hispanic ethnicity in Orange County frequently correlated with higher poverty and English Learner status. To eliminate year-to-year fluctuations and improve the reliability of these indicators, calculations were made for multiple years where the data was available.

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Section V: Specific Findings by Indicator Percentage of Students Designated as English Learners and Redesignated as Fluent English Proficient—Given the high number of students in Orange County who speak English as a second language, identifying the schools with the highest percentage and the schools with high numbers of students being redesignated as fluent-English proficient provides a sense of the language environment the school is addressing. La Quinta High School in Garden Grove (55.1%), Century High (53.3%) in Santa Ana, and Anaheim High (49.5%) in Anaheim are the three highest schools in percentage of students who are Fluent-English Proficient in 2008-2009.

Century High in Santa Ana also has the second highest percentage of students who are English Learners (44.1%) of the twenty-two schools examined by this Study. Valley High School in Santa Ana has the highest number of students who are English Learners (46.0%).

Graduation Rate—The graduation rate highlights how successful students are in each school in completing the course of study at the school. “Drop-out Rates” are notoriously difficult to calculate since students may not actually drop-out, but only move to a different school, so various methods of calculating the progression of students to graduation are used instead. One method known as the Cumulative Promotion Index seeks to measure how well students make it from one grade to the next (on the assumption that the real measure of success is whether students make it from grade to grade rather than how many who started at the school are still at the school at graduation). However, knowing the percentage of students who are still at the school after four years to graduate is valuable information, so a graduation rate is calculated as well.

La Quinta High in Garden Grove has the highest Cumulative Promotion Index with a rate of 87% in 2007-2008, followed by Bolsa Grande in Garden Grove at 86% and Loara High in Anaheim at 84%. Loara High has the highest graduation rate based on comparing the number of students who started the school at Grade 9 to the number of students who graduated (80%). La Quinta is second at 79% and Bolsa Grande is third at 77%. Valley High in Santa Ana is the lowest on both indexes with a 38% Graduation Rate and 31% Cumulative Promotion Index in 2007-2008.

UC/CSU Eligibility—The University of California and California State University have a required set of courses students must complete in high school to be eligible for these universities. Higher percentages are also a measure of increased student focus on academic achievement in the school. Estancia High in Newport Mesa (43%), Costa Mesa High in Newport Mesa (42%), Saddleback High in Santa Ana (41.7%), Western High in Anaheim (40.5%) and Santiago High in Garden Grove (40%) had the highest UC/CSU eligibility rates averaged from 2003-2004 to 2007-2008. Valley High in Santa Ana had a tremendous jump in UC/CSU eligibility increasing from 10% in 2006-2007 to 42.9% in 2007-2008, likely due to the newly instituted High School Inc program.

SAT Scores—The SAT test is a standardized test used for college admission. La Quinta High and Garden Grove High had the highest average SAT scores from 2003-2004 to 2008-2009 with an average of 1534 (out of 2400 in 2003-04 and 2004-2005 scaled to reflect the new testing format) at La Quinta and 1516 at Garden Grove. Tustin High (1494), Costa Mesa (1493), and Bolsa Grande (1489) complete the top five scorers on the SAT. For 2008-2009, La Quinta and Garden Grove had the highest averages. High schools in Santa Ana (Century, Valley, and Saddleback) as well as Buena Park High in Fullerton Joint Unified School District had the lowest scores.

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SAT Participation—Participation in the SAT is a reflection of student confidence and motivation to prepare for college. The SAT is a requirement for admission at many universities so higher participation rates indicate a school with more students oriented towards higher education.

La Quinta High (46.3%) in Garden Grove, Grove High in Garden Grove (38.1%), Costa Mesa High in Newport Mesa (38.8%), Estancia High in Newport Mesa (38.4%), and Tustin High in Tustin (37.7%) had the highest participation rates on the SAT. High schools in Anaheim (Anaheim High, Katella High, and Western High), Santa Ana (Valley High, Century High) as well as Orange High in Orange had the lowest participation rates.

Of the twenty-two high schools in this analysis, only three schools decreased in SAT participation over the 2004-2009 period: Century High, Bolsa Grande High, and Tustin High. Of the seventeen schools that increased, only La Quinta High went over 50% in SAT participation (for two consecutive school years, 2006-2007 and 2007-2008). Most of the schools are still ranging around 20%-40% in SAT participation College Attendance—Another measure of success for a high school is the percentage of students who graduate and go onto higher learning in college. Existing data measures the percentage of students who attend the University of California, California State University and California Community Colleges. While some students may attend college out of state, the data provides a broad overview for evaluating how successful the school is at enabling students to go to college.

La Quinta High in Garden Grove has the highest percentage of students in 2007-2008 who go on to college with 92% going to college (64% for Community College, 19.3% for CSU and 8.7% attending the University of California). Saddleback High in Santa Ana is second with 87.7% of students attending college (71.1% for Community College, 7.6% for CSU and 9.0% attending the University of California), followed by Bolsa Grande in Garden Grove with 75.2% (60.4% for Community College, 7.1% for CSU and 7.7% attending the University of California). Saddleback High had the highest percentage attend the University of California (9.0%) followed by La Quinta (8.7%) and Magnolia High in Anaheim (8.6%). La Quinta (19.3%) had the highest percentage of students attend the CSU, followed by Santiago High and Los Amigos High in Garden Grove (15.2% for both). Saddleback High had the highest percentage of graduates attend Community College (71.1.0%), followed by La Quinta (64%) and Bolsa Grande (60.4%).

Buena Park High in Fullerton Joint Unified School District had the lowest percentage of graduates attend college at 47.1%, followed by Westminster High in Huntington Beach Unified at 49.3%.

API Scores—The Academic Performance Index (API) measures overall school achievement.

Looking at the change in Base API scores over annual periods allow school administrators and faculty to see what years the changes occurred.

Three high schools in Garden Grove have the highest API scores—La Quinta, Garden Grove High and Bolsa Grande High. La Quinta exceeds the statewide target of 800 with a score of 865 in 2009 and an average of 814 since 2004. Garden Grove High has had increasing scores averaging 758 since 2004 and Bolsa Grande High has averaged 752. Western High in Anaheim also performs well with 747 in 2009, with almost 80 points increase since 2004 averaging 724 since 2004. Anaheim High had the highest increase in API scores increasing 123 points since 2004 going from 571 to 694. Santa Ana High (633), Saddleback High (616), Valley High (564), and Century High (591) had the lowest API scores.

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A closer look at the pattern in Base API scores over 2004-2009 gives a better idea of how the schools and its districts have fared in this indicator. While there are fluctuations in API patterns, overall, nineteen of the twenty-two schools categorized under “beating the odds” showed an increase. The three schools that displayed decreases were all in the Santa Ana School District: Santa Ana High, Valley High, and Saddleback High.

Enrollment in STEM Courses—STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) course are courses in fields that provide skills that lead to education and employment in high tech industries. Given Orange County’s high concentration of high tech companies, schools that have higher enrollment in STEM courses are more likely to graduate students will be able to go and obtain college degrees that prepare them for jobs in Orange County businesses. For this indicator, enrollment in Intermediate Algebra, Advanced Math, First Year Chemistry and First Year Physics are measured.

La Quinta High in Garden Grove School District had an average enrollment of 24.5% of the student body enrolled in these courses in 2008-2009. Approximately 17.4% of the Hispanic student body at La Quinta was enrolled in STEM courses. Santiago High in Garden Grove had 21.4% of the student body enrolled in STEM courses with 20.3% of the Hispanic student body enrolled in STEM courses. Los Amigos (21.1%), Bolsa Grande (20.3%), Rancho Alamitos (19.8%), and Garden Grove (19.0%) all in Garden Grove Unified School District were the next highest in STEM enrollment. Each of these high schools had more than 17% enrollment of Hispanic students as well. Anaheim Union High Schools (Western, Magnolia, Loara, Katella and Anaheim High) were also among the highest in STEM enrollment. Orange High in Orange Unified School District, Buena Park High in Fullerton Joint Unified and Estancia High in Newport Mesa had the lowest average enrollment in STEM courses in 2008-2009.

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Section VI: General Conclusion Regarding Orange County High Schools That Are Beating the Odds Upon examining the twenty-two high poverty schools in Orange County (as measured by percentage of students who have free/reduced lunch) according to the seven indicators considered in this report, the following findings were apparent: 14

It appears that poverty does not necessarily lead to low school achievement: 





 

La Quinta High School in Garden Grove School District has high API scores (865 in 2009, 849 in 2008, 840 in 2007, 827 in 2006, 802 in 2005, 750 in 2004 and outstanding measures of achievement across most indicators while a score of 800 is considered to be “on-target” for successful academic achievement in California) and 43.7% UC/CSU Eligible in 2007-2008 despite high poverty rates (62.6% on Free/Reduced Lunch). However it is among the lowest in percentage of Hispanic/Latino students (18.8%) and English Learners (24.9%).

Despite high poverty (80.4% on Free/Reduced Lunch), and 79.6% Latino, Santiago High School in Garden Grove School District has a 712 API score in 2009, 720 API score in 2008, 711 API score in 2007, 692 in 2006, 671 in 2005, and 644 in 2004 and 42.04% enrollment in Advanced Math.

Despite high poverty (72.9% on Free/Reduced Lunch), Bolsa Grande High School in Garden Grove School District has a 789 in 2009, 770 API score in 2008, 763 in 2007, 751 in 2006, 737 in 2005, and 703 in 2004 and 35.12% enrollment in Advanced Math. However, Latino enrollment is 32.9%.

Despite a significant number of high poverty high schools overall, Garden Grove Unified School District overall had solid student performance on the SAT. In an examination of Advanced Placement test performance of 27,000 high schools across America, US News and World Report found that Costa Mesa High School and Estancia High School were among the best high schools in America. Costa Mesa High ranked as the 1,500th best high school in America and Estancia High School ranked as the 1,148th best high school in America despite having 80% (Estancia) and 70.9% (Costa Mesa) on the Free and Reduced Lunch program in 2008. These rankings are comparable to top high schools in America like Woodbridge (1,490th) and Irvine High (993rd) in Irvine and Newport Harbor High (1,395th) which are in much higher income areas.

API scores are experiencing a general upward trend except in a few Orange County schools: 

14

From 2004-2009, the test achievement as revealed by API scores shows that scores are generally increasing in Garden Grove, Anaheim Union, Newport Mesa, Huntington Beach and Buena Park, staying relatively constant in Tustin and decreasing in Santa Ana.

The full listing of data with respect to these indicators for each of these schools can be found as Appendix A.

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

Schools with more than a 65 point increase from 2004-2009 were La Quinta (Garden Grove), Garden Grove (Garden Grove), Bolsa Grande (Garden Grove), Western (Anaheim), Rancho Alamitos (Garden Grove), Los Amigos (Garden Grove), Santiago (Garden Grove), Magnolia (Anaheim), Katella (Anaheim) Anaheim High (Anaheim), Westminster (Huntington Beach) and Buena Park (Fullerton Joint Unified). The biggest increase was at Anaheim with a 123 point increase from 571 to 694 over five years.

Santa Ana Unified School District has among the best and the worst of outcome achievements:   

Valley High School in Santa Ana is generally the lowest performing school in API scores 2004-2009, STEM enrollment (except for Intermediate Algebra), SAT scores, UC/CSU eligibility, graduation rates and college attendance.

Santa Ana’s high-poverty schools have the lowest graduation rates. Santa Ana High, Saddleback High, Century High and Valley High School are especially noteworthy.

In 2008, Valley High School in Santa Ana achieved a dramatic increase in students who have taken courses required for UC/CSU eligibility jumping from only 10% in 2006-2007 to 42.9% in 2007-2008.

High performance on one academic measure does not necessarily result in high performance on another:  

Estancia High School in Newport Mesa Unified School District demonstrated High API scores but lower graduation rates.

Loara High School in Anaheim, La Quinta High School in Garden Grove and Bolsa Grande High School in Garden Grove have the highest graduation rates. However, Loara High School has comparatively low UC/CSU course preparedness and college attendance rates.

Anaheim schools perform relatively well on most academic achievement measures except college attendance. 



Anaheim High Schools have lower college attendance rates than Garden Grove, Santa Ana, Newport Mesa, Orange and Huntington Beach. Westminster High in Huntington Beach Unified and Buena Park High School in Fullerton Joint Unified School District also have relatively low college attendance rates.

Anaheim high schools have a relatively high level of conversion to English proficiency.

This is especially noteworthy given the high percentage of Latino students in the District.

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Enrollment Is Increasing in High Poverty School Districts.   

Anaheim Union High School District does a particularly good job on Physics enrollment.

Garden Grove Unified School District and Anaheim Union High School District lead the way on Chemistry and Advanced Math.

Latino STEM enrollment in Santa Ana Unified School District schools is rising with particular distinction in Latino enrollment in Algebra.

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 

Latino enrollment in Advanced Math is rising in both Anaheim Union High School District and Garden Grove Unified School District.

Santa Ana Unified, Anaheim Union High, and Garden Grove Unified demonstrate rising trends in Latino enrollment in Chemistry.

School Districts that Are “Mixed” in Terms of Socio-Economic Status Have Higher Levels of UC/CSU Preparedness, SAT Participation and SAT Achievement. 





Examples of schools which have high academic achievement in “mixed” school districts are Estancia High in Newport Mesa, Westminster High in Huntington Beach Unified, Buena Park High in Fullerton Joint Unified, Orange High in Orange Unified School District (on UC/CSU Preparedness), and Tustin High in Tustin Unified School District.

Garden Grove Unified School District also performs well in UC/CSU preparedness, SAT Participation and SAT Achievement, with sustained improvement from 2004-2008.

Santiago High and Los Amigos High are especially noteworthy in improvement, as well as Westminster High in Huntington Beach Unified.

Latino UC/CSU preparedness is also high in these school districts as well. Los Amigos High and Rancho Alamitos high in Garden Grove Unified School District are especially noteworthy. Orange High in Orange Unified and Katella High in Anaheim Union also perform well.

Garden Grove High Schools Tend to Have Higher Graduation Rates and Low Dropout Rates.   

Bolsa Grande (86%), La Quinta High (87%), Garden Grove High (70%) and Santiago High (68%), have higher graduation rates than peer schools with similar free/reduced lunch participation.

Magnolia High (71%) and Loara High (84%) in Anaheim Union High School District also have higher graduation rates and lower dropout rates in comparison to other schools in the same district.

Santa Ana Unified School District has lower graduation rates and higher dropout rates— Valley High (31%), Santa Ana High (47%), Century High (47%), and Saddleback High (53%).

Overall, the basic findings of the report suggest that the schools that merit further examination for “beating the odds” in academic achievement and having something to reveal in light of the findings of earlier academic research are: 1) La Quinta High School in Garden Grove Unified School District (high API scores with major improvement between 2004-2009, high SAT participation and achievement as well as a high percentage of students who are UC/CSU eligible). Being the leading school in many of the indicators of academic achievement while also a school with higher than 40% of students on the free/reduced lunch program means that this school has a solid curriculum that is enabling students there to beat the odds.

2) Santiago High School in Garden Grove Unified School District (near the highest levels of poverty as measured by free/reduced lunch program, but good API scores with significant improvement between 2004-2009 as well as high levels of Advanced Math enrollment). This school is also outstanding on many measures of academic achievement while also having a substantial number of students who are of Hispanic

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3) Garden Grove High School in Garden Grove School District (dramatic improvement in API scores between 2004 and 2009, high STEM enrollment and high SAT participation and SAT scores). Despite having demographic characteristics that would ordinarily signify lower academic achievement, Garden Grove has instead demonstrated dramatic improvements showing elements of a school that is “beating the odds.”

Other observations about Orange County high schools point to the need for further examination.

As a result of major improvement in API test scores, Anaheim High (123 points), Western High (75 points) in Anaheim Unified School District, Buena Park High (80 points) in Fullerton and all of Garden Grove High in Garden Grove Unified School District should be looked at more closely to examine what these schools have been doing in recent years that results in such improvements. Furthermore, Anaheim Union High School District has overall achievement in English proficiency conversion and enrollment in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) preparation courses such as Physics and Chemistry, which points to elements of success that should be examined more closely. Santa Ana Unified School District also has relatively high enrollment in STEM courses and achieved the remarkable achievement of 100% UC/CSU eligibility in 2005-2006. In addition, Valley High School, with its partnership with the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce, has demonstrated significant improvements in recent years moving it from one of the worst schools in the county to a school beginning to achieve modest levels of success. Finally, Garden Grove Unified School District high schools overall perform better than expected in UC/CSU preparation, STEM course enrollment, in achievement for the SAT and in API test scoring so further investigation is needed to discover how this is occurring.

While there is no way to scale the twenty-two schools in an absolute rank order of achievement regarding “beating the odds”, the following list provides a general sense of which schools are the leaders in student achievement:

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Figure 7: Ranking of Schools that Beat the Odds High School

District

1

La Quinta High

Garden Grove

2

Santiago

Garden Grove

3

Garden Grove

Garden Grove

4

Bolsa Grande

Garden Grove

5

Costa Mesa

Newport Mesa

6

Rancho Alamitos

Garden Grove

7

Tustin

Garden Grove

8

Loara

Anaheim

9

Los Amigos

Garden Grove

10

Estancia

Newport Mesa

11

Magnolia

Anaheim

12

Savanna

Anaheim

13

Saddleback

Santa Ana

14

Westminster

Huntington Beach

15

Santa Ana High

Santa Ana

16

Western

Anaheim

17

Katella

Anaheim

18

Buena Park

Fullerton Joint Unified

19

Valley

Santa Ana

20

Orange High

Orange

21

Century

Santa Ana

22

Anaheim High

Anaheim

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Section VII: Programs that Help Students Beat the Odds Orange County schools demonstrating success evidence both key countywide programs in common, such as AVID, and unique school-level individual programs, such as High School Inc, that enable their students to “beat the odds”. Following are several programs that demonstrate components that help students “beat the odds” and should be considered for replication and/or expansion in Orange County.

AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination): “Decades of College Dreams” AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) is a copyrighted in-school academic program for academically average fourth through twelfth-graders to prepare them for four-year college eligibility.

Developed in 1980 by Mary Catherine Swanson, AVID originally began as a solution to solve the issue of school integration in the San Diego Unified School District but turned into a system that guides AVID students to take advanced classes, participate in the AVID elective, and gain support from AVID faculty, tutors, and parents. The success of AVID lies in Swanson’s founding philosophy: “Hold students accountable to the highest standards, provide academic and social support, and they will rise to the challenge.” AVID largely targets hard-working low-income students and gives them the opportunity to reach their potential. AVID began and remains an elective course, but now it is a systemic approach via professional development which is extended to teachers.

A decade after its founding, AVID became a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization and a decade after that spread its influence to over 4,000 schools in 45 states, across 15 countries. There are eleven AVID regions in California and the salaries for the staff that run the program are supported by the California Department of Education. The ratios are seven students for every one tutor; however, with budget cuts, the average has now increased to from ten to twelve students per class.

There are 111 middle schools and high schools that offer AVID in Orange County. The overall student population (grades 6- 12) in Orange County is 169,786, while the total number of AVID students (grades 6-12) is 11,929. There are 425 AVID course sections offered at the 107 AVID schools that reported data for 2009-2010. One hundred and seven AVID schools exist, out of which 50 high schools reported having a total of 1,284 AVID seniors.

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Figure 8: OC AVID Schools vs. OC Schools

160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0

149

149 104

152

149 111

100

Total AVID OC Middle and High Schools

85

Total OC Middle and High Schools

2006

2007

2008

2009

Source: AVID Orange County

AVID is a school-wide initiative paid for by school districts that enter into agreements with the AVID Center. School districts must provide teachers and tutors that are trained according to AVID’s curriculum and philosophy. The Garden Grove School District is considered a “demonstration site” where they are “AVIDizing” the program throughout the schools. A grant provided them $30,000 to do this.

AVID also has a scholarship program which is funded through private support. The Orange County Community Foundation administers this program. Students who receive scholarship support are the top candidates from each school. Only 2% of the students received a scholarship last year. Total raised last fiscal year for scholarships was $45,000. A student leadership conference is also privately funded at $8,000 by an Orange County Community Foundation donor-advised fund.

AVID is based upon thorough research that continually seeks to improve its strategies and has gained many successes compared to national results in education.

Findings of the research include: 15 



15

Ethnic Breakdown of AVID Student Population: Most AVID students are underrepresented minorities—Latinos and African Americans—who may lack a collegegoing tradition in their family and whose success is critical to closing the achievement gap.

Percent of Students Applying and Getting Accepted to Four-Year Colleges: Seventyeight percent (of the 87% that applied) of 2008 AVID graduates were accepted to a fouryear college.

“History Lesson.” AVIDonline. 2006. AVID Center. 19 Jun. 2009 <http://www.avidonline.org/info/?tabid=1&ID=604>.

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   

 

Ethnic Breakdown of AP Test Takers: AVID vs. National: AVID students taking AP tests every year are more ethnically diverse. The proportion of Latinos taking AP exams is almost five times higher among AVID students than among U.S. students overall.

UC College Going Rates: While about nine percent of all California grads attend one of the University of California’s nine undergraduate campuses, more than fourteen percent of AVID grads plan to enroll in the country’s best public university systems.

CSU College Going Rate: AVID students plan to attend the 23 California State University campuses at over three times the rate of all of California’s high school graduates.

Percentage of Students That Have Completed “a-g” Requirements: AVID helps students fulfill these rigorous set of courses to attend University of California schools. Compared to the 36% that complete these requirements in California, AVID students in California more than doubles that rate at 88%.

Completion of Four-Year College Entrance Requirements: AVID students complete university entrance requirements at a much higher rate than their non-AVID peers.

Eighth Graders Taking Algebra: AVID students complete algebra at a rate of 51% which more than double the national rate at 22%.

In Orange County, research is finding similar success: Figure 9: 2008 Completion of Four Year College Entrance Requirements by Race/Ethnicity

92.0%

90.0%

80.0%

82.4%

90.9%

90.1%

66.3% 52.4% 36.9%

45.3%

Orange County OC AVID

Multi Racial White (Not Hispanic)

Hispanic or Latino

22.4%

Filipino

Black or African American

24.0%

Asian

100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0%

Source: AVID Orange County

A closer look into AVID gives a good perspective on the kinds of students that benefit from this program. Academically average students do not usually get that much attention from school administrators and thus, AVID seeks to provide students who are getting Bs and Cs with opportunities to reach their potential. By pushing these students into more rigorous (AP, IB, and honors) courses, AVID students are challenged to aim higher instead of stagnantly left in deadend remedial programs. Thus, not only is AVID helping students in the program but it is also growing role models that can reach out to future students in their respective communities who may be struggling.

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In order for students to take the elective course, they must be recommended by their teachers and apply. These are the “middle” students with a GPA between 2.0 and 3.5. They must also want to take the course and complete an interview. In the course, Cornell note-taking is taught which encourages collaborative learning and goal-setting.

AVID does not leave its students to fend for themselves but instead offers a strong support network made up of faculty, tutors, and parents. Faculty members in the schools attend AVID’s Summer Institutes, where they learn techniques for bringing out the best in average students. 16 AVID students are also provided with trained tutors who serve as role models.

These students, after they receive their college education, usually are great tutor resources to keep the AVID program alive. Most importantly, AVID highly encourages parents to participate in the program by regularly communicating with them and hosting AVID Family Workshops.

Students have a better chance of succeeding if schools and parents are on the same team, rooting and guiding students along together.

After almost three decades of service, AVID is considered an essential strategy for closing the achievement gap and making the college dream accessible to all students. 17 Through continued support and improvements to the program, AVID will spread to more places and influence academically average students to dream bigger and do more for their futures.

In Orange County there are several new initiatives. These initiatives include the following: 1. Math Initiative: The goal is to work with middle schools on providing tools school-wide for students to be more successful in math.

2. Foster Youth Initiative: Trying to recruit foster youth at middle schools.

3. ELL Initiative: The goal is to engage these students at the middle school level and prep them for automatic acceptance into the AVID elective.

4. African American Male Initiative: This program is not offered in Orange County, but they want to implement it and focus on recruitment of African American males.

5. Jontus Initiative: Focus on the recruitment of Latino males who are statistically behind in test scores.

6. Professional Development: Teach critical thinking and go even deeper in marking pertinent text. (Teachers have been trained to implement this program.)

7. Program Support: This is in place, however it is provided very nominally. AVID would like to encourage awareness support, especially those schools that are on “Affiliate Status” (at risk of program being dropped) with “Demonstration Schools.”

For more information about AVID, go to www.avidonline.org and/or call (858) 380-4800.

16 17

Introduction.” AVIDonline. 2006. AVID Center. 19 Jun. 2009 <http://www.avidonline.org/info/?ID=549&TabID=0>.

“History Lesson.” AVIDonline. 2006. AVID Center. 19 Jun. 2009 <http://www.avidonline.org/info/?tabid=1&ID=604>.

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Latino Educational Attainment (LEA) Initiative The Orange County Business Council’s Latino Educational Attainment (LEA) Initiative seeks to grow a skilled workforce by educating Latino parents in the best ways to support and help their children succeed in school. Founded in 2005 through the support of key organizations including United Way, Orange County Department of Education, and The Orange County Register, the LEA program plans to demonstrate the importance of education in Latino communities by spreading information through neighborhood-based groups that will provide navigational skills to parents in all of the areas around the 100 low-performing schools in the county. 18 Orange County is populated by a high number of Hispanic families; Latinos make up almost 50% of students enrolled in the county’s public schools. Many of these Latino students demonstrate low academic performance and consequently low graduation and college acceptance rates. With the launch of the LEA program, the 1 in 7 ratio for Latino eligibility into four- year colleges positively changed into a higher ratio of 3 in 7. The program’s parent outreach helps many Latino students reach their potential and will in turn provide educated citizens in the Orange County workforce that will help the communities prosper.

The LEA program creates a dynamic relationship between parents, schools, community groups, and businesses. The Orange County Business Council provided information about the initiative’s specific goals for each of the interacting sectors in Orange County: 

Goals for Parents: To increase parents’ awareness of the importance of helping their children make the most of their education and providing them with tools to help their children succeed;



Goals for Schools: To make schools more receptive to the parents’ concerns and increase awareness of available resources in the community;



Goals for Existing Programs and Community Groups: To extend their influence by aligning them towards the purpose of improving education;



Goals for Businesses: To raise awareness in the business community about the need for mentors, long-term investments, and other resources to improve the education of Latino students.

The program is based on the concept that more parent involvement will lower dropout rates and increase college preparedness. It aims at educating parents, especially from immigrant backgrounds, about the education system with topics including grade point averages, requirements to be eligible for four-year colleges, scholarship opportunities, how to pay for college, and ways to interact with the school faculty. The LEA program has reached out to more than 6,000 parents in many Latino neighborhoods throughout Orange County, with a focus in central and northern regions of the county where there is a higher population of Hispanic families.

One of the many successes of the LEA program was its publication entitled “The Ten Education Commandments for Parents,” a highly publicized and effective comic book translated in English and Spanish that provides parents with information about the education system and ways to help their children succeed. The ten headliners in this publication include: 18

“Latino Educational Attainment.”Orange County Business Council. 2009. Orange County Business Council. 24 Jun. 2009 <http://www.ocbc.org/lea.cfm>.

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1. Commit as a family to be involved in school; 2. Learn how the schools are ordered (preschool through college); 3. Learn what my child needs to graduate successfully from high school; 4. Support the learning of Mathematics, Science, and English; 5. Understand how grades work (A, B, C, D, F); 6. Encourage my child to take honors and advanced courses; 7. Help my child prepare for college early; 8. Realize college is affordable; 9. Do my part in helping my child study; 10. Teach my child to hope and visualize their future.

More than 30,000 copies of this comic book have been circulated and publicity increased with a ten-week article series on each of the education commandments in the Orange County Register from January 10 to March 17, 2006. In addition to training more than 7,000 parents in a program that educates them about the ideas behind the commandments, LEA also trained every principal in the Santa Ana Unified School District, Orange County’s lowest-performing school district, on the education commandments. The influence of these Ten Education Commandments did not stop in Orange County; rather, copies have circulated to more than 30 school districts in California.

The LEA program continues to fulfill its mission in reaching out to Hispanic students through their parents. It has expanded to 14 parent coalitions in the following cities: Fullerton, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach, San Juan Capistrano, Westminster, and Garden Grove. 19 Other communities can learn from the goals and methods behind the LEA program. This initiative serves as a promising tool in raising students to become responsible, educated, and dedicated employees and leaders in Orange County.

For more information about the Latino Education Attainment (LEA) Initiative, go to www.ocbc.org/lea.cfm and/or call Alicia Berhow at (949) 476—2242.

Tiger Woods Learning Center (5th-12th graders – Anaheim) The Tiger Woods Learning Center provides students with the opportunity to connect their current learning experience with their future interests, by helping them explore and prepare for different career fields. The programs offer courses in math, science, technology, and language arts. It is made available for children in Orange, Los Angeles, and Riverside Counties. The Learning Center has programs aimed at specific grade levels as follows: o

Grades 5-6: Career Orientation Program

19

“Latino Educational Attainment.”Orange County Business Council. 2009. Orange County Business Council. 24 Jun. 2009 <http://www.ocbc.org/lea.cfm>.

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

o

o

Students can participate in either a forensic science or marine science program, and experience a potential career in the science field.

Grades 7-8: Career Exploration Program 

Students can choose from over 50 different careers such as Marine Biology, Environmental Integrity, Aerospace Rocketry, Biotechnology and Business Entrepreneurship. This special curriculum provides opportunities to learn about careers through technology and hands-on projects.



Participants of TWLC have access to many other features like SAT preparation, academic support, financial aid, speaker series and fieldtrips.

Grades 9-12: Career Preparation Program 

Students can choose from courses in Aerospace, Communications, Digital Manufacturing, Multimedia, Robotics, Universal Science or Engineering.

By matching students with volunteer career mentors who share their career interests, students are able to have guidance and support as they explore avenues to fulfill their dreams.

For more information about the Tiger Woods Learning Center, go to www.twlc.org and/or call (714) 765-8000.

Orange County Math Initiative The Orange County Math Initiative is a five-year community partnership involving Orange County schools, leaders in the business community, UC Irvine, and MIND Research Institute.

Over 15,000 students enrolled in sixty-four elementary schools are participating in the Orange County Math Initiative. While the Math Initiative was designed for elementary school students, its success demonstrates a mechanism for teaching remedial math skills to high school students from high-poverty backgrounds who have not acquired the skills they need to tackle higher level math.

The Math Initiative program features a prescribed education process based on the MIND ST (Spatial/Temporal) Math instructional software for students, customized professional development, and training for teachers, and leadership institutes for administrators. Math achievement is increased when students solve math problems presented as visual puzzles, before being introduced to abstract math language and symbols. Through a carefully engineered sequence of fun-to-play software "games," with instant feedback about why a solution works, students work at their own pace to solve increasingly difficult problems that eventually require them to think multiple steps ahead in space and time. Out of this process, students gain confidence in their ability to learn math and a desire to advance their mathematical knowledge 20 .

20

Mind Research Institute. 25 September. 2009 www.mindinstitute.net/.../OCMI_Schools_See_Double_Digits_PR_091509.pdf

33

Comparing student achievement between students in schools that used the Math Initiative Program, Orange County students that did not use the Math Initiative Program as well as overall California math achievement, analysis of math test scores shows a significant improvement for those who used the program over those who did not. Students who tested as “Proficient” or “Advanced” in math skills at schools using the program increased by 12.82 percentage points, compared to a non-participating Orange County school average increase of 5.27 points and a state average increase of 4.5 points.

Figures 10-14

Within-Grade Growth 2007-08 to 2008-09 Increase in % Profient/Advanced

Average of Grades 2, 3, 4 and 5 12.82

14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0

5.27

4.5

California Average

Orange County Decile 1-3, OC Math Initiative, ST Math, No ST Math, 71 Schools, 64 Schools, 15,159 23,398 Students Students

Source: Mind Research Institute

Student achievement was not just concentrated in a particular elementary grade. Improvements were highest for second and fifth graders. But even third and fourth grade achievement was higher for students in the program than for students who were not in the program.

Increase in % Proficient/Advanced

Within-Grade Growth 2007-08 to 2008-09 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0

15.3

14.4 12.4

OC Decile 1-3

10 7.7

7.3

ST Math (Spatial-Temporal Math)

5.2 0.8 2

3

4

5

Source: Mind Research Institute

Furthermore, achievement resulted in a higher percentage of students performing at a “Proficient” Level with comparable results for students performing at the “Advanced” level. In fact, except for second grade, the greatest improvement gain was in enabling students to perform at the “Advanced” Level as shown by the chart below.

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ST (Spatial-Temporal) Math: Growth Points Distribution into Advanced and Proficient

Percent Proficient and Advanced

20 15 8.6

6.8

10

Advanced

12.7

8.6

5

7.5

6.7 1.4

0 2

-5

Proficient

-0.3 4

3

5

Source: Mind Research Institute

Even following student cohorts over time showed improvement. Over time, student achievement increased with more students being rated as “Proficient” or “Advanced” in comparison to typical achievement improvements. Where the percentage of students rated “Proficient” or “Advanced” would typically increase by two percentage points between second and fifth grade, with the Math Initiative program the increase was ten percentage points.

Increase in Percentage Proficient and Advanced

Student Cohort Growth 2007-8 to 2008-09 Average of Grades 3, 4 and 5 10.63

12 10 8 6 4 2 0

2.23

2

California Average

Orange County Decile OC Math Initiative, ST 1-3, No ST Math, 71 Math, 64 Schools, Schools, 17,128 10,262 Students Students

Source: Mind Research Institute

Results like this demonstrate phenomenal success in harnessing research and application of a local Orange County program to enhance Orange County student math achievement at the elementary school level. Expanding the reach of this program to the high school level and utilizing the concepts proven by these achievement scores promises enhanced math ability for students across the county. This is especially true given that students from high-poverty backgrounds frequently do not learn basic skills they should have learned in earlier grades, and thus are at a disadvantage by the time they get to high school. The Math Initiative program provides one model for how remedial skills for high school students can be effectively taught so higher level math skills can be activated.

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Puente Project: “Bridging Classrooms and Communities Since 1981” The Puente Project is an academic preparation program installed in about 33 high schools and 51 community colleges in California to help the state’s educationally disadvantaged students become eligible for four-year institutions. Founded in 1981 by Felix Galaviz and Patricia McGarth, the Puente Project initially addressed the pattern of poor academic performance of Mexican American and Latino students. By examining over 2,000 student transcripts, the founders discovered three key patterns among Latino students: 1) students were avoiding academic counseling; 2) students were not enrolling in college-level writing courses; and 3) students were the first in their families to attend colleges. 21 Thus, Galaviz and McGarth created the Puente model to address these three problems and have expanded the program through sponsorships from the University of California Office of the President and the California Community College Chancellors’ Office.

The mission of the Puente Project is to educate and encourage educationally-disadvantaged students so they can have the opportunity to seek degrees from four-year college institutes and return to their respective communities to serve in leadership roles. To address these goals, the Puente model that McGarth and Galaviz designed was comprised of three components: rigorous language arts instruction, sustained academic counseling, and mentoring by members of the professional community. 22 In the local sites, students are instructed to take two consecutive writing courses to enhance their writing abilities to a level acceptable in the college setting. Puente students are also provided with counseling to explore career options and ways to connect the instruction they are presently receiving to their overall personal goals. Finally, Puente gives students the opportunity to be matched with mentors that share their interests and can help them through the college process and beyond. Headquartered in Oakland, the Puente Project reaches out to its programs all over California by having on-site teachers and counselors that are trained by the Puente guidelines. But also keep in mind that parents of Puente students play an important role in the success of the students, so the program seeks to involve parents in supporting their sons and daughters.

Statewide, 86 percent of Puente students go to college compared to 51 percent of all students, according to project statistics. The success of the program in community colleges inspired private funding to expand to selected high schools in 1993. Now, the Puente Project influences about 14,000 students in California. The public and private funds going into Puente serves to keep the program alive and ensure its progress by guiding students and offering them scholarships or other honors. With the 2008-2009 State budget cuts, the Puente Program will have to cut back on some of its resources but will seek to find ways to keep on providing this focused program to its students.

For more information about the Puente Program, go to www.puente.net and/or call (510) 9879548.

21

“Program History.” Puente. UC Regents. 19 Jun. 2009 <http://www.puente.net/about/history.html>.

22

Ibid

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ITEP (International Trade Educational Programs) International Trade Education Program’s (ITEP) vision is to introduce high school students to careers in maritime trade, transportation and logistics. ITEP believes it is important to unite businessmen and women, educators and parents to prepare students for a meaningful place in the world of tomorrow. ITEP believes that through the establishment of international trade academies, we can help meet the needs of the expanding maritime trade industry while providing exceptional opportunity to economically underserved students.

ITEP focuses all of its efforts on schools and students who don’t have the opportunities to succeed in our academic and professional world. Many of these students come from difficult neighborhoods with high rates of poverty and crime. Teachers and administrators from these schools are over-worked and face the daunting problems of widespread student apathy and low ambition. ITEP academies help schools and students from underprivileged, impoverished neighborhoods. Many of the ITEP students are also first time English learners, and have difficulty transitioning to American educational systems.

ITEP Academies provide the opportunity for youth to move beyond classroom learning and apply their knowledge through supervised work experience. By providing paid internships, ITEP curtails one of the primary causes of high school dropouts—money. Research has shown that by adding learning academies where students learn through doing to typical school environments, dropout rates are reduced by nearly one-third within the population of students considered least likely to succeed. In addition, learning academies increase the attendance rate of these students as well as the proportion of those applying to college.

Through ITEP programs and advisory boards, students and schools have shown unprecedented improvements in academics and professional opportunities that weren’t possible through traditional systems. The results speak for themselves. In 2007, Phineas Banning High School made California history as the first and only high school to leave its federal watch list mandated under the No Child Left Behind Programs. Principal Michael Summe credits much of this success to ITEP programs in its ITEP Academies.

By connecting academic programs to real-world jobs, students are given a new and exciting reason to learn—because at the end of the day, kids will be that much closer to securing promising, high paying jobs.

For more information about the ITEP, go to itepinc.org and/or call (818) 249-6281.

High School Inc. The High School Inc. Academies (HSI), sponsored by the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce, is a market-driven institution guided by the principle that students adept at acquiring skills the marketplace demands will succeed in the innovation-driven economy of the 21st century. Seven learning academies prepare students for careers in Orange County’s top growth industries: automotive/ transportation, culinary arts, engineering/construction, global business, health care, manufacturing, and new media. They also have a matriculation program with Santa Ana College where if students begin taking classes on Saturday beginning in their junior year and through their senior year, they can complete an equivalent of 1-year of college in their area of discipline.

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High School Inc. is designed to provide concurrent fulfillment of state graduation requirements through integrated academic and technical classes while students learn valuable, real-world skills by completing team project assignments that teach rigor and relevance. HSI has created a real world learning environment under the banner of Career Technical Education (CTE) that is engaging.

•

CTE Enrollments up from 48% in 2008 to 87% in 2009 (a 78.6% increase).

•

CTE Programs Completed & Diplomas Earned up from 15.6% in 2008 to 29.3% in 2009 (an 87.8% increase).

•

CTE Courses Linked to College programs up from 6.7% in 2008 to 35.2% in 2009 (a 425% increase).

•

CTE UC/CSU Admissions Qualified up from 10% to 42.9% in 2009 (a 329% increase).

The curriculum is monitored by a council of business leaders to include field trips to industry facilities, equipment demonstrations by managers and foremen, internship opportunities, job shadowing, and part-time jobs. This curriculum is resulting in significant improvements in high school exit exam pass rates with a 7% improvement at Valley from 52% to 59% in 2010 in English and 64% to 67% in Math.

Opened in the fall of 2007, HSI is one of the first jointly-administered public/private schools in the state, and is boosting the educational outcomes of disadvantaged students through a realworld, competency-based curriculum. The school actively targets students whose potential and motivation are unfulfilled in a traditional classroom setting. Approximately 2,400 currently participate in the program. While currently only at Valley High in Santa Ana, the plan is to have High School Inc. form an independent nonprofit corporation and expand to all Santa Ana high schools within ten years. The Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) won a businessbacked $4 million state grant to modernize and equip HSI academies, completed in the 20102011 school-year.

By graduation, Academy students are fully prepared to choose one of several career options: higher education at a college, university or trade school; immediate employment in a chosen industry; or establishment of a start-up business as a proprietor or partner. High School Inc seniors graduate with the skills, abilities and knowledge required to secure a good job, start their own business, or continue on to a college or university.

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Section VIII: Interviews with Leaders of Top Schools Beating the Odds In order to develop more insight about why top schools are appearing to succeed and how top education programs within schools achieve success, a series of interviews were conducted with principals and administrators in schools that are beating the odds. These interviews found that: 1)

The importance of District-level programs and support is evidenced by the success and improvement of all schools of the Garden Grove Unified School District.

Administrative leaders in this district have played an especially important role in enabling teachers and principals at successful Garden Grove schools to operate freely. Without the support of top officials at the district level, principals and teachers have less freedom and ability to implement ideas on how to improve the schools.

2)

Programs which bring in outside resources and program models such as AVID and High School Inc. are powerful tools for fostering educational achievement improvement in high schools. These outside programs provide an identity, curriculum and motivation for the school staff and students to connect abstract education ideas to real-world application. AVID (111 middle and high schools in Orange County including Bolsa Grande, Santiago High in Garden Grove, Estancia in Newport Mesa, Westminster in Huntington Beach, Orange High in Orange) and High School Inc. (Valley High School in Santa Ana) are documented in this report. Santiago High School partners with the local Boys and Girls Club where 100 of its students participate in this program from 3:00-6:00 P.M.

3)

A strong and visionary principal is a key catalyst for kick-starting schools from academic doldrums into a new vision for success (a “whatever it takes” mentality).

Estancia High’s “tipping point” into moving forward into greater success came with a principal change four years ago. Valley High School’s principal is an immigrant who has adopted a school motto of “There is a great big tomorrow” and has sought to create a “loving environment” where every student is greeted with a smile and a “hello.” Orange High School adopted a focus on writing with the premise for students that “Math gets you into college; writing keeps you there.” A key component of a strong principal establishing his/her vision is creating strong teamwork between the principal and teachers where best practices are shared on a regular basis (e.g. weekly meetings at Bolsa Grande) even if it might mean a shorter school day for the students.

4)

Schools that celebrate high academic standards such as Honor Roll and Principal’s Roll are able to better motivate the students to believe that academic success is a goal that results in appreciation from peers, teachers and administrators. Anaheim High School celebrates transparency where the classroom doors are open and people can come in and observe the students. Estancia High School speaks of “360 degrees of accountability” between principal, teacher and students. Such transparency spurs an openness that encourages multiple approaches to looking at education data relative to what is going on in the classroom thus allowing success to be more easily replicated.

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5)

Parent involvement and after school programs where students receive academic support outside of and beyond the classroom are also important. For example, Bolsa Grande High School has a 5-week course for parents where they learn about the programs and how to use a computer and SAT prep courses through Princeton Review for a reduced rate of $50. Orange High School has two community liaisons (one who speaks Spanish, while the other speaks Vietnamese) and “Parent Nights” eight times a year to draw parents into the academic process so parents can participate in reinforcing academic achievement for students even when they are at home. Rancho Alamitos High School has an on-line portal that allows parents to be aware of their child’s attendance and grades and an automated phone service to remind parents to attend events like “Back to School Night” and “Grad Night.” Santiago High School involves 350 parents where they teach the “Ten Commandments” of education in six-week sessions graduating over 100 parents over six weeks and a Booster Parent Club which raises $5,000 a year.

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Section IX: Conclusion Discovering the elements that predict success for high schools to “beat the odds” for student achievement despite obstacles such as poverty is essential for insuring Orange County’s current and, more importantly, future success. The academic literature points to several elements that are common to schools that beat the odds. Orange County has a number of schools that appear to be successful in beating the odds despite major hurdles.

The basic findings of the report suggest that La Quinta High School, Santiago High School and Garden Grove High School in Garden Grove Unified School District are schools that merit further examination as they appear to be “beating the odds” in academic achievement despite having demographic characteristics that would seem to make it difficult for students in these schools to succeed. Further study of schools like these would be warranted to identify specific efforts, elements or programs of these two schools that enable them to be so successful.

In addition, a number of programs exist in Orange County that should be examined more closely. Such programs include the AVID program in 111 schools across Orange County, the Orange County Math Initiative, High School Inc. Academies of the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce, and educational programs at the Tiger Woods Learning Center in Anaheim, 23 the Hermanitas mentoring program for Hispanic females in Santa Ana, and efforts by the Santa Ana Unified School District where College Board materials are provided to students during Language Arts classes from 6th to 12th grades and the mentoring programs of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Examining how these programs impact individual schools that appear to be beating the odds and discovering how these efforts could be reproduced in schools is a next step for further research.

By discovering elements that enable schools to have students who “beat the odds,” a foundation can be laid to compare what these schools are doing in either incorporating best practices from other areas or discovering new methods of success that work in the Orange County context so that such success can be replicated across all high schools in Orange County.

23

“Orange County, CA Dropout Prevention Plan: Helping Young People Graduate From High School Ready for College, Work and Life.” America’s Promise Alliance. April 2009

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Section X: Bibliography “All Things to All People: The Dilemma of Community Colleges.” Public Policy Institute of California, 15 Nov 2006.

Ascher, Carol, Maguire, Cindy. “Beating the Odds: How Thirteen NYC Schools Bring LowPerforming Ninth Graders to Timely Graduation and College Enrollment.” Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University Dec 2007.

“Best High Schools.” US News and World Report. 2009 <http://www.usnews.com/sections/education/high-schools>.

Brooks, David. “The Harlem Miracle.” New York Times 7 May 2009.

California Department of Education. Dataquest <www.cde.ca.gov>.

California Post Secondary Education Commission. Freshmen Pathways. <http://www.cpec.ca.gov/OnLineData/FreshmenPathway.asp> “California’s Out-of-School Immigrant Youth: A Vulnerable Minority.” Public Policy Institute of California, Research Brief Issue #117: Apr 2007.

“Closing the Gap: Meeting California’s Need for College Graduates.” Public Policy Institute of California.

“College is the Goal of Puente Program.” Riverside Press-Telegram. February 20, 2010. http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_W_wpuente21.4829615.html Gandara, Patricia, Rumberger, Russell. “Resources Needed for California’s English Learners.”

Institute for Research on Education, Policy and Practice, Mar 2007.

“History Lesson.” AVIDonline. 2006. AVID Center. 19 Jun 2009 <http://www.avidonline.org/info/?tabid=1&ID=604>.“Number Crunching.”

“Immigrant Education: All Younger Generations Enjoy Notable Improvement, but Wide Disparities Among Ethnic Groups Remain.” Public Policy Institute of California, Research Brief Issue #103: Sept 2005.

“Introduction.” AVIDonline. 2006. AVID Center. 19 Jun 2009 <http://www.avidonline.org/info/?ID=549&TabID=0>.

“Latino Educational Attainment.”Orange County Business Council. 2009. Orange County Business Council. 24 Jun 2009 <http://www.ocbc.org/lea.cfm>.

Leal, Fermin, Martindale, Scott. “O.C.’s Best Public Schools: High School Success Stories.” 29 May 2009 < http://www.ocregister.com/articles/span-style-weight-2429547-font-bold>.

Mind Research Institute. 25 September. 2009 <www.mindinstitute.net/.../OCMI_Schools_See_Double_Digits_PR_091509.pdf> “Orange County, CA Dropout Prevention Plan: Helping Young People Graduate from High School Ready for College, Work and Life.” America’s Promise Alliance. Apr 2009.

“Out-of-State Labor No Panacea: California Can’t Import Its Way Out of Shortage of Educated Workers.” Public Policy Institute of California, 23 May 2007.

Perez, Maria, Parrish, Tom, Anand, Priyanka, Speroni, Cecelia. “Successful California Schools in the Context of Educational Adequacy.” American Institute for Research, Jan 2007.

“Program History.” Puente. UC Regents. 19 June 2009. <http://www.puente.net/about/history.html>.

Ragan, Tom. “Newport-Mesa Schools Score Well on AP tests.” 7 August 2010. <http://articles.dailypilot.com/2010-08-07/news/tn-dpt-0808-ap-20100807_1_ian-hanigan-highschools-newport-mesa>.

“Serving High-Risk Youth Lessons from Research and Programming.” Public/Private Ventures, Sept 2002.

“The Progress of English Learners in California Schools.” Public Policy Institute of California, Research Brief Issue #99: Apr 2005.

“The Top of the Class.” Newsweek. 8 Jun 2009 < http://www.newsweek.com/id/201160>.

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