WASC Mid Term Accreditation Report
For
Santa Monica High School (Samohi)
Draft
Staff
Principal: Dr. Hugo A. Pedroza
S House Principal: Gregory Runyon
A House Principal: Wendy Wax Gellis
M House Principal: Becky Romano
O House Principal: Jose Iniguez
H House Principal: Stephen Martinez
I House Principal: Eva Mayoral
Dean: Catherine Baxter
S House Teacher Leader: Meredith Louria
A House Teacher Leader: Jennifer Pust
M House Teacher Leader: John Harris
O House Teacher Leader: Amy Beeman-Solano
H House Teacher Leader: Renee Semik
I House Teacher Leader: Pete Barraza
Department Chair English: Rob Thais
Department Chair Math: Geoff Tipper
Department Chair History: Jaime Jimenez
Department Chair Science: Bertha Roman
Department Chair Language: Kelly Bates
Department Chair Art: Amy Bouse
Department Chair Performing Arts: Jeffery Huls
Department Chair Advisors: Al Trundle
Department Chair Physical Education: Norm Lacy
Department Chair Special Education: Kelly Tabis
1
Santa Monica High School Student/Community Profile, fall 2007Current Data since Full Self-Study/Visit in spring 2005
Santa Monica High School (Samohi) is a large four-year, comprehensive high school
located in the city of Santa Monica, an urban beachfront community of approximately
90,700 on the Westside of Los Angeles County. Samohi’s student population (3,123)
reflects the multicultural community surrounding the school.
The surrounding
community has a majority population of middle to upper class (60% employed in
management and professional occupations) with a median income of $61,400. The
population is well educated in comparison to Los Angeles County. Of the residents over
the age of 25 91% have earned high school diplomas and 54.8% have earned a B.A. or
higher degree. As of the 2000 census 72% of the population is Caucasian, 4% is African
American, 7% is Asian or Pacific Islander, 13% is Latino, and 3% are mixed race. There
are 44,497 households, out of which 15.8% have children under the age of 18, 27.5% are
married couples living together, 7.5% have a female householder with no husband
present, and 62.3% are non-families. The city of Santa Monica has a balance between
commercial districts and surrounding residential communities. There are approximately
15,000 businesses in the community and the median home price is $882,000.
Samohi is one of two comprehensive high schools in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified
School District (SMMUSD). The district serves approximately 11,704 students in grades
K-12. The SMMUSD also includes ten elementary (K-5) schools and three middle (6-8)
schools. Furthermore, the district supports one alternative K-8 school, a continuation
high school and an adult education school. Samohi’s student population of 3,123 (See
Table 1) decreased by 2.5% in the past three years and yet is still considerably larger than
the district’s other high school, Malibu High School, which has a population of
approximately 619 students. The population of our two feeder middle schools, Lincoln
(1000) and John Adams (1173), is 2173. Since the last WASC visit in the spring of 2005,
Samohi’s student diversity has changed slightly (See Table 1). For example, the overall
percentage of African American and Caucasian students decreased while the number of
Latino students has increased. Furthermore, 538 (17% of the student body) students at
Samohi regard a language other than English as their primary language (See Tables 2 and
3).
Over the last 3 years, our ELD department has seen a steady decline in new student
enrollment as well as the number of course sections offered. At present ELD students are
still able to take sheltered classes in English 9 and 10, English 11, World History and US
History, Chemistry, Biology, and Geometry SE. The number of students enrolled in
World History SE has dropped dramatically. Furthermore, we continue to offer two-hour
ELD Beginning and Intermediate classes, but the skills-development program was
significantly impacted in the last three years: one Advanced Composition section was cut
from the schedule and the Beginning Reading and Composition classes were combined
into the same room with the same teacher. To aid the classes that we continue to offer
the ELD department purchased a rolling computer lab for students to work on Rosetta
Stone software and individual skills in small groups. Another positive development is
that an increase in the number of veteran teachers seeking their CLAD credential-
2
equivalent will facilitate the process of mainstreaming students into classrooms.
Although Samohi has fought to maintain the exclusive ELD-oriented nature of collegeprep classes like Geometry SE, the department is facing the reality that the nature of the
program may be fundamentally altered within the next five years, with more students
mainstreamed in math, history and science.
Table 1: Ethnic demographics from 2004-2007
Year
African
American
Asian
Caucasian
Latino
Other
Total
04/05
Total
352
04/05
Percent
10.9
05/06
Total
298
05/06
Percent
9.7
06/07
Total
290
06/07
Percent
9
07/08
Total
266
07/08
Percent
8.5
230
1640
977
28
3227
7.1
50.8
30.3
0.87
100
227
1571
941
48
3085
7.4
50.9
30.5
1.6
100
237
1594
1009
75
3205
7.4
49.7
31.5
2.3
100
229
1496
1046
86
3123
7.3
47.9
33.5
2.8
100
Table 2: Languages spoken and number of English learners, fall 2008
Primary Language
Spanish
Farsi
Korean
Mandarin
Hindi
French
Portuguese
German
Italian
Russian
Turkish
Vietnamese
Cantonese
Japanese
Polish
Total # of students
412
89
24
18
6
4
4
7
0
25
1
7
3
11
8
# of ELL students
199
13
8
8
6
3
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
# of R-FEP students
34
8
7
12
0
1
0
1
0
2
0
1
1
2
3
Table 3: Distribution of students enrolled in English-language instructional programs, fall 2008
Status
Percentage of student body
Structured English Immersion
27%
Alternative Course of Study for Els-Parental
8%
Request
English Language Mainstream-Class Meeting
48%
requirement
English Language Mainstream Class-Parental
0%
request
Other instructional setting
17%
3
Our number of students with disabilities has remained steady at 262 or 8.3% of our
overall student population. Of these, 149 are in the Resource Specialist Program (RSP),
105 are in Special Day Classes (SDC) and 8 receive other special services. The number
of students attending Samohi with inter-district permits has decreased slightly from 562
in 2006-2007 to 542 in 2007-2008. Furthermore, the number of students eligible for a
free or reduced school lunch has remained steady. In particular, 861 students (28% of the
student population) qualify for a free or reduced lunch. Of these, 695 (22% of the student
population) qualify for a free lunch while another 166 (5% of the student population)
qualify for a reduced lunch (See Table 4).
Table 4: Free and Reduced Lunch program at SAMO by Ethnicity.
Asian
AfricanAmerican
Caucasian
Latino
American Indian
Other
Total
% Breakdown
Free
23
Reduced
7
Paid
198
Total
228
95
12
161
268
93
471
0
13
695
22.2%
41
104
0
2
166
5.3%
1371
470
6
65
2271
72.5%
1505
1045
6
80
3132
100%
Samohi’s major emphasis is for all students to meet the entrance requirements for fouryear universities. Our curricular emphasis has both a solid foundation in the depth and
breadth of the California State Standards, while maintaining particular attention to the
various learning styles and needs represented by all students. Of the 665 seniors who
graduated in June of 2007, 97% reported their future plans. 34% intend to attend a twoyear college, 59% intend to attend a four year college or university 7% have other plans.
In fact, 69.3% of the 2006-2007 graduating class met the University of
California/California State University entrance requirements. Particularly, 79.7% of
Caucasian students, 85.9% of Asian students, 56.9% of Latino students, 38% of African
American students, and 50% of Native American students met the A-G entrance
requirements. From the 2006-2007 graduating class, 233 students (33.4%) indicated their
intent to enroll in the UC system and another 85 (12.2%) indicated their intent to enroll in
the CSU system.
Samohi’s Student Outcomes (ESLRs) are a key tool for our curricular development and
teaching methodology:
Effective Communicators Who:
 Read, write, speak, and listen effectively
 Use technology as a presentation tool and communication device
Life Long Learners Who:
 Use higher level thinking skills
 Apply effective strategies to achieve personal goals
4

Use technology to manage information and construct knowledge
Responsible Citizens Who:
 Deal with other human beings honorably, and collaborate with them productively
 Work democratically to improve school, community, and society
 Develop the habits necessary for success in the world of work
Creative and Critical Thinkers Who:
 Understand and manage a complex and diverse body of knowledge
 Use reason, information, and creativity to solve problems
Apply learned skills and knowledge to new situation
Samohi also provides students with opportunities to excel in areas of special interest. In
addition to the array of course offerings that meet the A-G University of
California/California State University graduation requirements, we offer specialized
course offerings including ROP courses, local community college courses, ninth grade
interventions, music, and drama. Furthermore, an AVID program has been in place for
seventeen years. In the past six years the program has reduced slightly. In 2002 there
were 232 AVID students in eight sections and currently there are 189 students AVID
students in seven sections.
Other areas of special interest include our Regional Occupation Program (ROP). Since
the last WASC visit, a group of students enrolled in one of our ROP programs called
SAGE (Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship) represented the
United States in Shanghai and won first place in a worldwide entrepreneur competition!
The SAGE program promotes the ethical teaching of entrepreneurial enterprise by
connecting students to local universities, communities and businesses. SAGE students
have also won national awards over the past two years.
Our music department, arguably one of the best in the country, is another area of special
interest. This comprehensive program boasts an award winning wind ensemble, marching
band, choirs, jazz band, orchestras and more. Last year one of our wind ensembles
played at Carnegie Hall and this year the Orchestra will return to Austria and the Czech
Republic to play concerts in Vienna, Salzburg and Prague. Furthermore, our marching
band recently received an invitation to march and play in The New Year’s Day Parade in
London in January 1, 2009.
Our visual art department boasts six art teachers and a wide variety of media, including
sculpture, digital design, traditional and digital photography, traditional design, ceramics,
drawing, design, painting and Advanced Placement Art. Our classes serve approximately
one fourth of the population of SAMOHI. Prestigious art colleges seek out our students,
who continue their studies with full or partial scholarships at Rhode Island School of
Design, Cooper Union, School Museum of Fine Arts, Art Center and many other revered
institutions. We maintain partnerships with many community arts programs, including
the Santa Monica Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum (LACMA) and Virginia
Park. Our students have showed their artwork at LACMA, Museum of Contemporary
5
Art and local galleries. Last year, we had two winners in the Spotlight competition. Our
on-campus Roberts Art Gallery, which was established in 1937, hosts student shows as
well as the work of professional artists.
Our students can also choose to participate in our Academic Decathlon Team
(ACADECA) that has won regional championships in the past three years in Quiz Bowl,
Ocean Science Bowl and Science Bowl competitions. Samohi students participating in
Quiz Bowl competitions have not lost a state match in five years and were ranked eighth
in the country in 2006. Also of note, in 2005 Samohi celebrated its first winner of the
National Teachers of Teaching English writing award in several years. Two students
won that year and several more have won this prestigious award over the past three years.
Furthermore, the National Merit Scholarship Association selected twenty-eight Samohi
students for recognition from the Class of 2006. Seven became National Merit
Scholarship Finalists and seventeen were named Commended Students. In that second
group three are African American and one is Latino. The Class of 2007 recognized: five
National Merit Finalists, fifteen National Merit Commended Students, two National
Achievement African American Students, and four National Hispanic Scholars. Finally,
students may also choose to participate in one of our athletic teams that continue to excel
and win regional and state championships.
Since the last WASC visit in the spring of 2005, we have continued our efforts in
maximizing our small learning community (SLC), “house plan” format. To help us
continuously monitor our progress in this regard, we have hired an external evaluator to
evaluate and report on our progress on yearly basis. Furthermore, we have discontinued
using the Hi-Places survey used to gauge student, staff, and parent engagement. In its
place, we have used the High School Survey of Student Engagement (HSSSE) that
provides more detailed data points regarding areas of student behavior and attitudes that
were not addressed in the former survey instrument. In keeping with student
engagement, our average daily attendance (ADA) has improved slightly over the last
three years. (See Table 8) Also, student suspensions and expulsions have decreased at
Samohi (See Table 5). In 2004-2005 there were 433 suspensions and nine expulsions, in
2005-2006 there were 300 suspensions and eight expulsions, and in 2006-2007 there
were 253 suspensions and four expulsions.
Table 5: Suspensions and Expulsions by Race/Ethnicity.
04/05
04/05
05/06
05/06
06/07
06/07
Suspensions Expulsions Suspensions Expulsions Suspensions Expulsions
African
American
Asian
Caucasian
Latino
Total
84
2
72
1
38
0
11
121
217
433
1
3
3
9
6
87
135
300
0
4
3
8
1
100
114
253
0
3
1
4
6
Graduation and drop out rates are additional indicators of student engagement. In 20042005 fourteen students dropped out: ten freshmen, four Latino, eight Caucasian, and two
African American; however, these numbers dropped as we made a greater effort to track
down students who did not enroll after leaving Lincoln and John Adams (JAMS) middle
schools. In 2005-2006 five students dropped out (three African American and two
Caucasian) and in 2006-2007 only one student (Latino) dropped out of Samohi. During
this same period, the graduation rate has remained steady at 97%.
Absences and tardiness are other indicators of student engagement. Samohi emphasizes
the importance of student attendance. To improve student attendance and punctuality,
Samohi implemented a school-wide tardy policy last year. Teachers have been proactive
in monitoring attendance, identifying truant students, notifying parents, and working with
administration. In fact, teachers have often commented on the noticeable difference in
the number of students who are out of class during instructional times. We also now
have a system that notifies parents every six weeks if their child has been out of 10% of
their possible class periods. Some of these policies may have contributed to our
improved average daily attendance, up to 95.28% in the first year of year of
implementation of the tardy policy (see Table 8).
Table 6: Number of Students with less than ten unexcused absences.
2004-2005
2005-2006
2006-2007
2832
2578
2264
Table 7: Number of students with less than ten tardies.
2004-2005
2005-2006
2006-2007
2697
2511
2639
Table 8: Average Daily Attendance
2004-2005
93.71%
2005-2006
93.78%
2006-2007
95.28%
Faculty/staff demographics
Since the last WASC visit in the spring of 2005, our staff population has remained steady
at 135 teachers, eight administrators, 12 advisors, two college counselors, two librarians,
two psychologists, one full time nurse, two part time nurses, and one new graduation
intervention counselor and one ROP counselor. 96.3% of our teaching staff is considered
“highly qualified” according to the criteria of No Child Left Behind while another 3.7%
possesses an interim credential. Further, approximately 4% of the certified staff has
earned a doctorate degree and 65% have earned a master’s degree. In fact, seven of our
teachers are National Board Certified and another two are presently working towards this
prestigious certification. Also, many Samohi teachers are CLAD certified even though
they do not teach ELD or sheltered classes. Five teachers at present are BCLAD certified.
On average, our teachers have 12.7 years of teaching experience while administrators
have 24 years of experience in education. The ethnic make up of the certificated staff
mildly resembles our student body. 57% are Caucasian, 5.4% are African American,
7
25.5% are Latino and 9.7% are Asian and other. The average daily rate of absences
among faculty is 5.7%. Of these absences 27.9% are absences for illness, 36.6% are
absences for necessity, 8.5% are absences for school business, 8.1% are absences for
conferences, and 7.8% are absences for district business, and the remaining 11.1% of
absences are due to other reasons. 45.9% of our teachers are male and 54.1% of our
teachers are female, and 18.2% of our pupil services are male and 81.8% are female.
50% of our administrators are male and 50% are female, five are Caucasian and three are
Latino.
Unlike our certificated staff, our classified staff differs from the make up of the student
body. The classified staff includes 23 special education aides, 12 custodians, 20 office
support staff, six students outreach specialists, seven safety officers, four infant/toddler
center support staff, three regional occupation program staff members, two P.E. aides,
one lifeguard, one audio/visual support staff member, and one library aide. The ethnic
composition of the classified staff is 36.4% Caucasian, 36.4% African American, 24.7%
Latino, 1.3% Asian, and 1.3% Filipino.
Analytical Summary of Student Performance Data
Samohi measures student achievement in a variety of ways. Measurement instruments
include assessments required under the state’s Standardized Testing and Reporting
(STAR) program and California Standards Tests (CSTs), the California High School Exit
Exam (CAHSEE) and established assessment tools such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test
(SAT) and Advanced Placement (AP) exams. In addition, we have developed common
assessments that are administered in each of the core content areas. These tests, created
by teams of teachers within the district, are administered to students throughout the year
in core classes. Samohi uses the data generated from these instruments for various levels
of program assessment. District personnel have provided Samohi with a cutting-edge,
web-based student database that allows teachers and administrators to access assessment
data at the individual student level as well as at the whole class level. Data can be
grouped into the following categories: economically disadvantaged, special education,
and English Language Learners. Each category can be further sorted by ethnicity, and
gender. The data can then be reported by individual student, class period, teacher,
department, school, or district.
API
Since the last WASC visitation in the spring of 2005, Samohi’s Academic Performance
Index (API) has grown steadily each year (See Table 9). Despite our steady
improvement in our API scores, we narrowly missed our API growth target of 775. Like
many schools, the closer we get to a score of 800 the more we are leveling off. We did,
however, meet all requirements for 2007 Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Samohi is
ranked an 8 among schools of the same type (1 is lowest, 10 is highest) and a 7 among
the 100 most similar schools (1 is lowest, 10 is highest). Additionally, all of our
subgroups have improved their base API scores during the last three school years (See
Table 10). While we continue to see a disparity in the API base scores of African
8
American, Latino, and low SES students when compared to their Caucasian and Asian
counterparts (See Table 10), these subgroups have demonstrated steady increases in their
base API scores since the last WASC visit.
Table 9: Overall API Scores
Year
Score
2005
742
2006
770
2007
771
Table 10: API Scores by Race/Ethnicity
Year
African American
Asian
Latino
Caucasian
Low SES
2005
618
846
640
817
534
2006
638
864
680
833
666
2007
644
862
684
833
668
STAR/CSTs
Since the last WASC visit in the spring of 2005, the overall percentage of Samohi
students who scored at proficient or above on the math CST has not changed (See Table
13). In particular, the percentage of Caucasian and Asian students who scored at
proficient or above on the math CST decreased slightly while the percentage Latino and
African American students who scored at proficient or above increased. The percentage
of Samohi students who scored proficient or above on the English, science, and social
studies CSTs increased (See Tables 11, 12, and 14). In fact, since the last WASC visit in
the spring of 2005, all subgroups improved their percentages of those scoring at
proficient or above on the English, science, and social studies CSTs (See Tables 11, 12,
and 14). Despite these gains, an achievement gap persists for Latinos and AfricanAmericans on all four tests.
Table 11: Percent of students proficient or higher in ELA CSTs
All students
African American
Asian
Caucasian
Latino
Other
2004-2005
53.2%
27.4%
65.5%
71.4%
29.7%
52.4%
2005-2006
59.8%
33.2%
72.8%
76.4%
37.8%
63.6%
2006-2007
61.2%
32.2%
71.9%
78.1%
40.7%
70.0%
Table 12: Percent of students proficient or higher in social studies CSTs
All Students
African American
Asian
Caucasian
Latino
2004-2005
45.5%
22.0%
59.3%
61.0%
24.4%
2005-2006
52.3%
30.5%
62.3%
66.7%
31.1%
2006-2007
51.4%
28.3%
60.4%
65.0%
31.4%
9
Other
45.5%
59.3%
61.9%
Table 13: Percent of students proficient or higher in math CSTs
All Students
African American
Asian
Caucasian
Latino
Other
2004-2005
25.1%
4.2%
51.3%
35.2%
9.1%
27.3%
2005-2006
24.8%
6.7%
50.6%
32.7%
10.6%
31.8%
2006-2007
25.1%
8.6%
49.7%
33.4%
11.6%
16.7%
Table 14: Percent of students proficient or higher in science CSTs
All Students
African American
Asian
Caucasian
Latino
Other
2004-2005
35.3%
14.5%
60.3%
47.2%
14.7%
45.0%
2005-2006
40.1%
14.1%
59.4%
51.7%
20.7%
40.0%
2006-2007
47.1%
21.3%
66.7%
59.4%
25.4%
50.0%
CAHSEE
Over the last three school years, Samohi students have improved their overall first time
CAHSEE pass rates in both the ELA and math sections to 90% (See Tables 15 and 16).
Of note on the ELA portion of CAHSEE, the first time pass rates of African American
students for the 2006-2007 school year is 73%, down from 89% in 2004-2005. Our ELD
students, however, improved to 71% in the 2006-2007 school year, up from 61% in 20042005. Of note on the math portion of the CAHSEE, African American students improved
their first time pass rate in the 2006-2007 school year to 73%, up from 67% in 20042005. Latino students also improved in the same time frame from 74% to 80%, ELD
students from 65% to 75%, and students with a low SES from 74% to 78%. Further, we
continue to experience a disparity between the first time pass rates of Caucasian and
Asian students and those of their Latino, African American, ELD, and low SES
counterparts (See Tables 15 and 16).
Table 15: CAHSEE ELA Pass Rates for First Time Test Takers
Year
Overall
African American
Asian
Latino
Caucasian
ELD
Low SES
2004-2005
89%
89%
88%
80%
99%
61%
77%
2005-2006
89%
89%
96%
74%
99%
59%
74%
2006-2007
90%
73%
96%
81%
97%
71%
78%
10
Table 16: CAHSEE Math Pass Rates for First Time Test Takers
Year
Overall
African American
Asian
Latino
Caucasian
ELD
Low SES
2004-2005
87%
67%
98%
74%
95%
65%
74%
2005-2006
89%
75%
94%
76%
97%
65%
74%
2006-2007
90%
73%
100%
80%
98%
70%
78%
AP
Over the past three years we have both offered more AP classes and also enrolled a
greater percentage of our students in AP classes; however, performance has remained
stable. This is an affirmation of our open enrollment policy and suggests that it is
possible to invite all eager students into AP classes without sacrificing student
performance. From 2004-2005 to 2006-2007 the enrollment in AP courses increased from
846 students to 955 students and the specific number of AP courses offered went from 65
to 72. In May of 2003 73.1% of AP tests taken received a 3 or better and in May 2007
74.2% of the tests taken scored a 3 or better. (See Tables 17, 18, and 19).
11
Table 17: Samohi AP Results
Year
Exam
Art, Studio
drawing
Art, Studio
2D
Biology
Calculus AB
Calculus BC
Chemistry
Computer
Science
Economics,
Macro
Economics,
Micro
English
Language
English
Literature
European
History
French
Literature
German
Government
Human
Geography
Italian
Language
Latin
Literature
Latin Virgil
Music
Theory
Physics CMechanics
Psychology
Spanish
Language
Spanish
Literature
Statistics
US History
2005
# of
students
who passed
4
2005
% Passing
2006
% Passing
100
2006
# of
students
who passed
5
2007
% Passing
50
2007
# of
students
who passed
3
6
43
3
33
8
73
83
108
47
62
0
86
88
100
51
NA
83
71
64
68
0
78
86
96
57
NA
86
50
70
90
1
86
61
85
71
100
143
91
110
68
86
73
144
83
109
70
79
69
183
61
158
50
233
61
99
73
84
63
103
72
1
100
1
100
0
NA
13
93
7
70
11
79
5
26
0
100
67
NA
4
23
1
80
53
100
4
22
0
100
52
NA
0
NA
1
100
0
NA
1
100
4
100
0
NA
0
0
NA
NA
0
0
NA
NA
2
1
50
100
13
87
16
89
27
90
64
73
72
91
81
68
60
99
93
55
75
98
27
96
18
86
19
86
48
64
56
41
77
82
53
46
59
116
72
45
50
12
World
History
0
NA
1
100
0
NA
Table 18: Ethnic distribution of students enrolled in AP classes.
Year
Ethnicity
African
American
Asian
Caucasian
Latino
Other
Total
04/05
Total
83
04/05
Percent
4.8
05/06
Total
89
05/06
Percent
4.9
06/07
Total
66
06/07
Percent
3.3
07/08
Total
59
07/08
Percent
2.9
260
1134
235
4
1716
15.2
66.1
13.7
0.2
100
270
1203
256
15
1833
14.8
65.6
14
0.82
100
218
1356
306
50
1996
10.9
67.9
15.3
2.5
100
246
1318
377
64
2064
11.9
63.9
18.3
3.1
100
Note: These numbers show the average ethnic distribution of students per class. For example, one
student who takes three AP classes will be represented by three data points here, not just one.
Table 19: Ethnic Distribution of all AP students.
Year
Ethnicity
African American
Asian
Caucasian
Latino
Other
Total
04/05
Total
57
105
528
154
2
846
04/05
Percent
6.7
12.4
62.4
18.2
0.24
100
05/06
Total
53
111
562
154
7
887
05/06
Percent
6
12.5
63.4
17.4
0.79
100
06/07
Total
45
87
609
187
22
959
06/07
Percent
4.7
9.2
64.1
19.7
2.3
100
07/08
Total
37
96
583
210
29
955
07/08
Percent
3.9
10.1
61
22
3
100
Note: One student will represent only one data point here regardless of the number of classes he
takes.
GPA
Since the school year 2004-05, the overall number of Samohi students with a grade point
average of less that 2.0 has decreased (See Table 20). This trend holds true when data is
disaggregated by ethnicity and SES status.
Table 20: Percent of Samohi students with GPAs less than 2.0
All students
African Americans
Latino
Caucasian
2004-2005
28
45
41
13
2005-2006
21
39
35
12
2006-2007
21
43
35
10
*We were unable to find data for Asian and Low SES students despite considerable efforts.
SAT
The number of students taking the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) has remained the same
from 2004-2005 to 2006-2007 (See Table 21). Each year 537 students took the test.
The SAT test itself changed in 2005-2006; however, despite the changes we saw growth
13
last year in our average scores in all three categories: math up from 548 to 554, critical
reasoning up from 529 to 541 and writing up from 535 to 542. Scores prior to the test
change had also shown small but steady growth in verbal and math averages from 20022003 to 2004-2005 (See Table 21).
Table 21: Average SAT Scores
SAT
Math
Verbal
Critical
Reasoning
Writing
# of test takers
2004-2005
564
540
N/A
2005-2006*
548
N/A
529
2006-2007
554
N/A
541
N/A
537
535
537
542
537
* The SAT format changed in 2005-2006.
ACT
The number of students taking the ACT rose 30.6% from 2004-2005 to 2006-2007 and
composite scores have made small gains. The greatest improvement was a point gain in
English. (See Table 22).
Table 22: Average ACT Scores
English
Math
Reading
Science
Composite
# of tests taken
2004-2005
21.4
22.9
22.2
21.0
22.0
170
2005-2006
22.4
23.2
23.0
21.4
22.7
172
2006-2007
22.4
23.1
22.1
22.1
22.3
222
Significant Changes
Administration Changes
Since the last WASC visit in the spring of 2005, Samohi our former lead principal
accepted a job as an assistant superintendent of instruction within another school district.
She has since been replaced by Dr. Hugo Pedroza. Samohi has also seen a turnover of
three House Principals in the past two years. Further, our school district has recently
replaced our Superintendent and three Assistant Superintendents of finance, personnel,
and educational services.
Outreach Specialists
Since the last WASC visit, Samohi hired six student outreach specialists, one for each
house. Outreach Specialists are assigned a specific caseload of students who are in need
of academic and social support. These are struggling students who are usually not
supported by other programs on campus such as Special Education, immersion classes, or
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AVID. These students also have a GPA at or below 2.0 and are in ninth or tenth grade.
Of the six outreach specialists, three are bilingual in Spanish.
Outreach specialists seek out their student caseload and families on a regular basis, work
with their house leadership team, and lead parent meetings. Outreach specialists monitor
the academic performance, attendance, and discipline of students on their caseload and
develop close relationships with students and their families by providing strategies,
referrals, support, and mediation. Further, outreach specialists help coordinate two of our
new ninth grade interventions: Tutorials and Valued Youth (please see below).
Graduation Intervention Counselor
Since the last WASC visit, we have hired a graduation intervention counselor to ensure
that all students have sufficient support to pass the CAHSEE and meet all requirements
for graduation. Unlike the outreach specialists, our graduation intervention counselor is
not house specific and works one on one with students to ensure that they graduate. One
key concern for this position is supporting students in their efforts to pass the CAHSEE.
Beyond these individual conversations, the graduation intervention counselor spearheads
a CAHSEE boot camp, an intensive study programs for juniors and seniors right before
CAHSEE tests. The other key concern for this position is ensuring that seniors have the
grades and credits to graduate in June. In order to meet this goal the counselor checks
and tracks student grades and credits, communicates with individual students and parents,
facilitates communication with teachers, outreach specialists, and tutors. Finally, the
graduation intervention counselor is in charge of implementing the use of Tutor Vista,
Apex and other academic support software to help students study on their own. All of
these efforts are geared to support our goal that every senior graduate from Samohi in
June.
Algebra/Biology Block intervention dissolved
During the last WASC visit, Samohi offered a ninth grade intervention where
academically struggling students were programmed into a three-period block of time in
order to cover the biology and algebra curriculum, while other students had only two
periods to learn the same curriculum. Based on two years of data where 50% of students
enrolled in this class consistently failed these classes, Samohi dissolved this intervention.
Mostly, we believed that intervention ninth grade students continued to fail due to poor
literacy and math skills. In its place, we have developed two different interventions:
Algebra Essentials and Tutorials. (Please see below.)
Algebra Essentials
Since the last WASC visit, Samohi has developed and implemented a ninth grade
intervention for incoming ninth graders who struggle in math. Students enrolled in the
Algebra Essentials course do not take Algebra I until tenth grade, and in ninth grade
focus specifically on preparing for the math component of the CAHSEE while
simultaneously preparing for success in Algebra I the following year. This intervention is
limited to twenty students per period and lasts one period.
Tutorials
15
Since the last WASC visit, Samohi has developed and implemented a house-based
intervention for ninth graders who have demonstrated poor grades and low standardized
test scores. The class is limited to a maximum of fifteen students and lasts one period.
During tutorials, students learn how to increase meaning and understanding from texts,
academic vocabulary, time-management techniques, organizational skills, and selfadvocacy skills. Students enrolled in these tutorials do not take Biology until tenth grade.
Tutorial teachers monitor student progress in all subject areas through weekly checks that
students may access through Pinnacle, our on-line grade system. Students routinely
engage in self-reflection activities so as to monitor their own development on an
educational, personal, and societal level. The tutorial teacher and outreach specialists
collaborate when developing unit plans. All students enrolled in a Tutorial class are also
on the caseload of each outreach specialist. In this way, the outreach specialist is able to
monitor their student caseload first hand in and out of the classroom. This format also
allows students to develop meaningful and lasting relationships with adults in and out of
the classroom and to learn which strategies work best with individual students.
Valued Youth Intervention
Since the last WASC visit in the spring of 2005, our district has implemented a new
intervention program called the Valued Youth Program (VYP). The VYP is designed
around self-efficacy principles and is a cross-age tutoring program that students join
while enrolled at one of our feeder middle schools and continues through 9th grade.
Students enrolled in this program travel to a local elementary school twice a week where
18 ninth graders tutor "little ones" in various disciplines. To prepare for the work and
ensure their tutoring success, all tutors participate in a weekly "reflection day" with their
teacher and outreach specialist. Students develop their tutoring and communication
skills, improve their reading, writing, and other academic abilities, as well as build their
self-confidence. This class is limited to a total of twenty students and is blocked with an
English 9P class. The task of recognizing the value of each student-tutor is accomplished
in a straightforward way: they are paid for the time spent with the younger children. To
emphasize its importance, the first paycheck is delivered in an evening event in front of
the tutors' families, teachers and school administrators.
Three-year math graduation requirement
Since the last WASC visit, Samohi has made a specific effort to ensure high expectations
for all students by changing and narrowing course offerings so that they are more aligned
with University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) entrance
requirements. Historically, many Samohi students have been counseled to take courses
that are not UC/CSU approved. Also, until recently, there were many district-wide
policies that denied student access to approved courses. In response to this situation, two
years ago, Samohi, with school board approval, increased its math requirement from four
to six semesters to align with UC/CSU requirements.
Freshmen Seminar
Since a student led disruption in the spring of 2005, Samohi has implemented a “Facing
History and Ourselves” curriculum in the Freshman seminar classes to encourage
students to think of their sphere of moral concern expanding beyond their friends and
16
family and to promote better social and racial harmony on campus. The Freshman
Seminar curriculum also includes a health curriculum. In this course, freshmen students
explore their personal, cultural, and ethnic identity in relation to their peers within the
context of historic choices and consequences. Students are encouraged to develop selfconfidence and become active in their communities. Students are also given an
opportunity to discuss sensitive societal topics including racism, homophobia, and class
division.
School wide tardy policy
The school emphasizes the importance of good student attendance. Last year, a new tardy
policy was implemented which resulted in a decrease in the number of students arriving
late to class. Teachers have been more proactive in monitoring attendance, identifying
truant students, notifying parents, and working with administration.
Federal Department of Education funding for Small Learning Communities (SLC)
expires
Since the last WASC visit, Samohi has increased its proficiency in working within a SLC
structure. This is the first year, however, that we are working without funding from the
Federal Smaller Learning Communities Grant.
IPC includes teacher leaders
Since the last WASC visit, Samohi has also attempted to increase the collaboration
among houses and discipline departments. To this end, Dr. Hugo Pedroza has included
house based teacher leaders in monthly Instructional Planning Committee (IPC)
meetings. This committee spearheads the instructional focus of Samohi. Formerly, only
department chairs, the principal, and several house principals comprised this committee.
Four department chairs receive collaboration period
Also in an effort to increase the collaboration among houses and departments, the
department chairs of the English, math, science and social studies departments received
an open period to work on department goals and increase communication with teacher
leaders and administration to improve teacher support. This additional release time is
also to be used to support teachers, both new and experienced, but also to develop
curriculum and increase academic rigor. With this increased release time department
chairs will fully implement the common assessments and ensure curriculum alignment
within subject areas.
Governance changed to School Site Council
Since the last WASC visit, our school based committee known as “Governance” has
officially changed its name and format to comply with state regulations. This committee
is now called school site council (SSC). Up until the fall of 2007 Samohi was out of
compliance with state mandates for a school site council. Our school site council
develops and approves our Single Plan for Student achievement. This body will be
responsible for executing the WASC Action Plan in the future.
17
Measure BB Construction
Since the last WASC visit, Santa Monica and Malibu voters passed a $268 million
facilities improvement bond, Measure BB. Specifically, SMMUSD will use these funds
to initiate the new Master Facilities Plan throughout the district. While no specific
projects have yet begun, Measure BB will likely be used to build a new building housing
a library, art rooms, state of the art classrooms, and a house office. Funds may also be
devoted to address the lack of parking and athletic fields on campus. Finally, funds will
be used to make other overdue and necessary improvements to improve health, safety and
classroom instruction in our school. In October of 2007 the school board earmarked $57
Million for Samohi out of the total Measure BB funds.
Parent Center
Since the last WASC visit in 2005, Samohi has created a parent center (or conference
room) in the Administration building. Samohi established this center in an effort to
increase parent comfort and involvement in our school.
New Teacher Review Process based on the CSTP
Since the last WASC visit in the spring of 2005, our district has implemented a new
teacher evaluation process based on the California Standards for the Teaching Profession
(CSTP). All new and non-tenured teachers are evaluated under this new system while
tenured teachers may choose this format over the old format. By 2010, all Samohi will
teachers will be evaluated under the new CSTP format.
Young Collegians Program
We are developing and implementing the Young Collegians Program to promote the
college going culture by providing students with college level courses beginning in 10th
grade. This program will encourage and support them to be enrolled in advanced level
courses as they become juniors and seniors.
Implementation and Monitoring of the School-wide Action Plan
The administrative team (consisting of the principal, six house principals, one dean,
teacher leaders, and department chairs) take on the primary responsibility for ensuring
that the process for implementation of the action plan is carried out. During weekly
meetings, administration members report on relative progress in the Action Plan areas
and discuss the factors that have impeded or may potentially impede progress. While
there is no formal committee in place to monitor the WASC action plan, elements of the
action plan have been addressed through various entities. For example, department chairs
have worked with their departments and teacher leaders have worked with houses to
ensure that the action plan is carried out. Samohi’s School Site Council (SSC) develops,
on a yearly basis, a “Single Plan” for Student Achievement (SPSA) that integrates WASC
critical areas for follow-up. The SPSA goals are monitored by the SSC. The SSC
reviewed data from the past three years and includes CST, CAHSEE, API, and GPA data.
These data were disaggregated by ethnicity, socio-economic status, EL designation,
students with disabilities, and gender.
Report on School-wide Action Plan Progress
18
Component A: To increase the enrollment in advanced level courses in order to
more accurately reflect the school’s diverse population.
Since the last WASC visit in spring of 2005, our enrollment in honors or Advanced
Placement (AP) courses have experienced slight variations in relation to the numbers of
students of color or with low socio-economic backgrounds. Teachers continue their hard
work to maintain a balance between AP rigor and welcoming accessibility to students of
all level. All of our AP classes continue an open enrollment policy; there are no
restrictions for enrolling in AP classes such as entry tests or minimum GPA.
Samohi has continued to push and refine our “Bridge” program that seeks to recruit
incoming ninth and tenth graders from subgroups not historically represented in honors
and AP classes, and prepares them to enter and succeed in these courses. The Samohi
administration clusters these students into small groups in honors and AP courses for the
following year, ensuring that an informal support network surrounds the students.
Specific efforts to improve and expand this program have been made since the last
WASC visit. For example, in the past two years we have attempted to add math and
science to our current English and social studies bridge program. These expansion
efforts, however, have been frustrating as too few African American and Latino students
enrolled to justify the cost. Plans for expansion now are less ambitious in the short term.
We hope to have more success if we specifically target chemistry students this coming
summer. With this more focused effort we plan to train teachers on successful
recruitment strategies with specific students. If the chemistry bridge program takes off,
we will begin to earmark specific fields of study within in the math and science
departments as we slowly expand this program.
We are also expanding our current English and social studies bridge program to a
yearlong program, first with English, then hopefully social studies and other disciplines.
Starting this year the English bridge students will meet with their summer bridge teacher
once every two weeks for an hour to continue discussing ways to support students. The
hope is to build on the approach AVID takes of supporting students with a community of
learners who need support not only academically but also socially in terms of managing
expectations, schedules, teacher communication and other skills that students need to be
successful in school beyond the purely academic concerns of an AP or honors class. Our
experiences indicate that one of our most salient stumbling blocks to integrating
underrepresented students in our honors and AP programs is convincing students that
they can be “AP kids.” By clustering students of color together in AP and honors courses
- a “community of learners” approach - students are able to support each other in an
informal social network. This approach helps address the hidden curriculum of honors
and AP classes- too often students of color see few if any, students that look like them in
the honors and AP courses perpetuating a belief that these courses are the domain of
Caucasian, Asian, or affluent students. In acknowledgement of this very problem last
spring The Black Student Union held a daylong series of panels and discussions called
“Too Black for AP?”
19
Since the last WASC visit, several teachers have participated in conferences and other
professional development opportunities with an eye on researching successful strategies
for the increasing the diversity of students enrolled in honors and AP courses. This is an
especially critical concern of the College Board. Teachers also devoted a great deal of
time last year developing detailed curricula of their AP courses for the College Board.
Samohi devoted considerable funds for teachers to collaborate and compose syllabi that
reassured the College Board (and American Universities) that our classes met the College
Board’s rigorous standards. These collaborations also drove several discussions of how
best to vertically plan honors and AP curriculum throughout high school to facilitate
successful completion of these standards. For example, the English department has
initiated planning for increased research skills in all levels of freshman and sophomore
English classes prepare students for AP Language, AP Literature, and college itself.
Without discussion of vertically planning for AP success all the way back to 9 th grade
college prep and honors classes, it will be hard for some of our underrepresented students
to have success when they make the academic jump to AP.
Since the last WASC visit, we have struggled with three efforts to improve participation
of students with diverse backgrounds in honors and AP classes. First, specific Latino and
African American students were recruited for AP classes but being singled out based on
race turned off some students, even if our intentions were well meaning. Second, open
enrollment tutoring programs have been primarily used by Caucasian and Asian students
and have not been well attended by Latino and African American students. The altruistic
intentions behind these recruiting efforts remain a central focus of our AP and honors
programs; however, we will need to be more creative and careful in our efforts in the
future. Despite our hard work, the AP culture is in part driven by a culture beyond our
control. While we are still hopeful that we can make significant gains in the enrollment
of students of diverse backgrounds into honors and AP courses, the past two years have
taught us that the task is more difficult than some of us initially believed it would be.
Third, no significant ties have been made with middle schools. The middle schools have
sent study teams to Samohi and some departments (such as math and English) have
communicated with middle school teachers to coordinate curriculum and expectations;
however, no more has been done in this area than in the past.
We are looking into our AVID program as a source of recruitment and retention for
increasing the numbers of students of color in our honors and AP courses. While the
AVID program is open to both Latinos and African Americans, the program is more
popular with Latinos at Samohi. The recent minor gains for Latino enrollment at Samohi
may be attributed to AVID, but there has been insufficient study at this time to attribute
this gain to the efforts of our AVID teachers and students. Still, AVID is widely
acknowledged as playing an important role in increasing the number of students of color
in honors and AP courses.
Our new student data based, Data Director, may also play a role in supporting students
and looking for potential recruits for AP classes. At present the district is placing AP
scores in Data Director. Teachers and administrators in the coming months will be able
to use this data tool to guide instruction. For example, AP Language scores from junior
20
year are helpful tools for setting expectations in AP Literature for seniors. It is also
helpful to know how well students handled multiple AP classes in the past to best
encourage students to manage the rigor of their class load. Finally, the classroom grades
and AP scores of underrepresented students may be easily searched on Data Director to
guide teachers and administrators to seek new recruits to AP classes.
Component B: To implement common semester assessments, benchmarks, and
pacing plans in subject-alike classes in order to provide assessment information, in
addition to CAHSEE and STAR data, for analysis and to drive curricular change.
Since the last WASC visit in the spring of 2005, Samohi’s math, English, science, social
studies and languages departments have implemented standards-based common
assessments. The assessments have been incorporated into a larger curricular focus on
“power standards” (state curriculum standards). Teachers in the core subject areas are
given release time to align curriculum to the California State Standards and to ensure that
there is consistent rigor across classes. The common assessments, given at various
intervals, are considered formative and help guide instruction and measure progress
toward the power standards. We began our focus on common assessments in conjunction
with our district’s other comprehensive high school, Malibu High School, but a lack of
agreement on the focus and use of these instruments has ended this collaboration.
Although district personnel have supported this agenda and paid for professional
development to develop and administer assessments, they will no longer fund
professional development time for common assessments. District personnel, however,
will continue to help grade those assessments that are multiple choice and to place the
results in our new student database, Data Director.
Teachers developed unique common assessments in each of the departments and are
unique in each subject area. For example, the English department assesses students based
on writing standards at the end of the first semester and then students take a multiplechoice test at the end of the year to assess the content standards. The social studies
department follows a similar pattern; students take a multiple-choice exam at the end of
the first semester, and then at the end of the year participate in performance based
common assessments using a common grading rubric. The common assessments
instruments are continuously reviewed and revised based on last year’s results. Various
core departments are at various stages of development of common assessments. Most
departments have at the very least have addressed action steps one and two. Departments
have analyzed the data from these tests; however, the responses to this data vary widely.
Some departments such as the English department have used the results to revise
curriculum. Other departments, such as the social studies department, have decided to
change the assessments to seek more valuable data. They are also embroiled in a debate
over the efficacy of common assessments tied to the state mandated tests including the
CSTs. Other departments, such as the science department have yet to find consensus on
how to address the results of their testing beyond individual teaching decisions. And
finally, some departments, such as the math department, are in the midst of revising their
curriculum for a new text book that better prepares students for the CST and CAHSEE
tests, thus, the results from the tests have yet to take a priority over these larger changes
21
which will eventually demand rewriting the assessments that each math content area has
made up to this point.
Since the last WASC visit in the spring of 2005, Samohi has dedicated two voluntarily
paid professional development days (“buy back” days) to staff to develop power
standards (if they had not already). This time and other professional time supported by
the Samohi administration and district personnel have encouraged departments to plan
curriculum, semester common assessments, and benchmark assessments to meet these
power standards. While departments vary in commitment to certain common assessment
types or having common assessments at all, all departments have embraced the rationality
of agreeing on power standards for the department especially in light of the wide scope of
state and AP standards that each department feels pressure to address. This commitment
to focusing curriculum demonstrates the professionalism of each department. How to
assess students on these power standards remains a debate on campus (See Appendix A
for department summaries of common assessments).
Component C: To enhance school culture at Samohi by increasing the involvement
of students in the decision process
The urgency of this particular concern, driven in part by the melee in April of 2005, has
waned. This is partly because communication steps have been made to increase student
involvement in decision processes either by promoting communication with staff or
through more directed, formal communication. For example, since the last WASC visit
each house has established a Student Advisory Committee. This committee provides a
platform to improve our school culture by involving students in house decision-making
processes and building bridges of understanding. These student-led committees also
provide a forum for students whose GPA may be too low to participate in extra-curricular
activities (but are considered informal leaders among their peers on campus) to voice
their opinions and influence their school community. More than anything, the purpose of
this committee is to increase students’ sense of belonging and improve their perception of
high school-one of the most memorable experiences of their lives. During monthly
meetings students and house principals meet to discuss campus/community events and
explore ways to promote house and school spirit.
Our new school principal, Dr. Pedroza, maintains accessibility through his “open door
policy” and by interacting with students every day during lunch. Students have
responded to an increased sense of efficacy. Since the last WASC visit in spring of 2005,
Samohi has not experienced any major student disruptions despite certain instances that
could have resulted in similar results. For example, two years ago someone wrote racist
graffiti on a wall that faced the main quad. Although students were upset and some
wanted to take matters into their own hands, administration and staff worked actively
with students to improve communication and student decision-making abilities. In this
particular case, various informal student leaders were asked to meet and to recommend a
solution to the antagonism felt among the student body based on this incident. Students
were able to not only express their hurt and frustration, but were also able to spearhead a
viable solution to the problem.
22
Also since the last WASC visit, Samohi’s ASB has incorporated two “house based”
representatives from each house to facilitate communication between the houses and the
ASB as well as aid in the management of activities in the their respective houses.
Each class also has a “class” representative in the House of Representatives that meets
with the ASB twice a month. Although these “class” representatives are not in ASB, the
speaker of the House of Representatives is a member of ASB.
These “class
representatives” also serve as informal go-betweens for students, house administration
and teachers.
Component D: Develop and implement strategies to accurately assess disaggregated
school data and distribute it to the staff in ways that may be used effectively by
teachers to guide instruction.
Since the last WASC visit, Samohi has sought to improve ways to disaggregate student
achievement data and to disseminate it to staff. For example, our district has purchased
and implemented a web-based program called Data Director. All site administrators and
teachers have been trained in how to use this program and have access to student data
from any location that provides access to the Internet. Teachers are now able to examine
how students fared in various standardized tests including CST and common assessment
results. Further, all houses have spent professional development time in computer labs
leading teachers through the process of analyzing test scores and identifying needed
curricular or instructional strategies based on data results. During department meetings,
teacher are also using Data Director to view the results of department common
assessments, CSTs, and AP tests CAHSEEs to inform discussions of curriculum.
Teachers are presented with data from Data Director during House and Department
meetings to reflect upon and modify instruction. Although we have recently
implemented Data Director, approximately 1/3 of our teachers have logged on ten or
more times. The average number of logins to Data Director by teachers is eight and the
total number who have logged on at least once this school year is 135. Samohi and the
District remain committed to expanding both the available data and the capacity of the
faculty and staff to use that data. Teacher and administration feedback has been positive
and everyone is eager for more data to be made available in Data Director. At present,
district offices are working to include all AP test scores and more of the department
common assessment scores into Data Director. Finally, since the last WASC visit,
Samohi has requested over $100,000 to upgrade computers in our computer labs that will
in turn, allow teachers greater access to Data Director more effectively.
Component E: Increase Communication between all stakeholders and involve in
the decision-making process to promote student achievement.
Since the last WASC visit in the spring of 2005, the urgency of this component has
diminished with the recent changes in leadership over the past two years. Dr. Hugo A.
Pedroza replaced Ilene Straus as principal and Diane Talarico replaced John Deasy as
superintendent in the fall of 2006. This alone has set a hopeful tone on campus for open
23
and effective communication with administration. From the most powerful and skilled
staff to the greenest hires everyone is encouraged to reflect, question authority and
improve the policies within and among classrooms.
Ultimately, all of this
communication promotes student achievement, but it also at times can promote
contentious debate. Communication on campus is frequent and happens at all levels of
leadership from the weekly administration meetings, Instructional Planning Committee
(IPC) meetings, house meetings, department meetings, School Site Committee,
technology committee, sub-committees and hundreds of informal meeting and
collaborations on campus each day.
Also since the last WASC visit, the advisory faculty group (FAC) stopped meeting. It is
uncertain whether FAC stopped meeting because the change in administration decreased
their urgency to meet or their availability to meet decreased. When Samohi redesigned
itself into a SLC, it also established a School Committee on Redesign Efficacy (SCORE)
comprised of various stakeholders that focused on the progress and impact the redesign.
Since the last WASC visit, SCORE has met with less frequency. This year, SCORE
plans to meet approximately four times.
Since the last WASC visit, Samohi has also attempted to increase the communication
between Houses and discipline departments. Many teachers say they enjoy working with
new colleagues in their house but also miss informal collaboration and sharing of
resources that they enjoyed when department members were in close proximity to one
another. To this end, Dr. Hugo Pedroza has included house based teacher leaders to the
monthly IPC meetings. Formerly, only department chairs, the principal, and several
house principals comprised a committee that takes a leadership role in the development
of our school’s curriculum. While an increased number of house principals attend IPC
meetings, some IPC members would like to see participation of all house principals.
Additionally, to contribute to a more universal understanding of the house teacher leader
position and potentially lay the groundwork for some standardization, the teacher leaders
from each house published their sundry responsibilities for the faculty.
House autonomy remains a difficult balance between accountability and consistency on
one hand and the capacity for a house to experiment with the passions and ideas of the
house. No specific process for “creating and implementing autonomous house decisionmaking” has been developed; instead, the administrative team discusses each housebased program to ensure that neither Samohi nor a particular house will be adversely
affected. There has not been an overwhelming desire for greater transparency in the
houses in the past two years perhaps partially because the houses have made efforts to
collect and act on teacher feedback at house meetings. The houses continue to be the
laboratories for educational experimentation, but where agreement between the houses is
necessary some progress has taken place. Since the last WASC visit, Samohi has created
and published a common school wide discipline rubric. Moreover, Samohi has since
instituted a school-wide tardy policy in response to teacher concerns regarding tardiness.
House Advisors are also working on publishing a list of their universal responsibilities.
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Samohi continues to actively communicate with parents to keep them informed and
involved. Samohi’s SLC structure or houses continues to improve relationships and
communication with parents. Younger siblings have the option of joining the same house
as their older siblings and continue relationships with parents. Pinnacle also remains a
powerful and easy tool for teachers and parents to communicate. Parents and students
can check grades in real time. On average, 1, 992 logins to Pinnacle take place during a
typical 5 day school week. Many teachers now also provide students with web sites to
collect homework handouts and handy links. Samohi has provided some professional
development time to enhance this web communication trend.
Further, parent
organization including the PTSA, African American Parents Student Staff Support Group
(AAPSSSG), AVID, Immersion, and ELAC meet regularly to discuss issues and
concerns as well as achievements. Each organization includes members of the
administrative staff, teachers, and outreach specialists who help bring the message and
voices of each organization back to Samohi staff. Samohi ensures that all parents get the
proper notification about what is occurring with their child as well as on campus. Emails are sent out to all parents updating the about events, deadlines, grade notifications,
conferences, Open House, etc, and the school’s website is continually updated with
current information. Samohi, however, recognizes that not all families have access to
computers or the Internet so we send all parents hard copies of calendars, updates, PTSA
Newsletter, Viking Voice, and bulletins. Information is also translated into Spanish.
There have been specific efforts to improve the quality of communication and
relationships since the last WASC visit. For example, a conference room in the
Administration building has been committed to parents for their use. This was designed
to encourage parents to feel comfortable meeting on campus. Use of the room is limited,
but as a gesture it has been warmly received. Further, one of the parent groups has
changed its official name and focus to comply with state regulations and to focus on
curriculum. Spirit of Love/Bilingual Advisory Committee (SOL/BAC) used to be the
name of our Spanish-speaking parent group and focused predominately on political issues
in the surrounding community. Further, SOL BAC did not have a Spanish-speaking
administrator to collaborate with. The focus on school and community politics attracted
many non-parents and deterred parents who wanted to focus on the academic progress of
their children. This group is now called our English Language Advisory Committee
(ELAC). ELAC meetings are now led by parents who actively collaborate with a
Spanish speaking house principal. Meetings are held in a non-threatening forum where
parents are encouraged to participate at Samohi and informed of the academic progress of
their children. Additionally, since the last WASC visit Samohi has increased the number
of Spanish speaking advisors and has hired three bi-lingual outreach specialists.
Together, they have increased the amount of communication with Spanish speaking
parents and have helped establish a sense of belonging among parents. However, we
continue to work on ways to attract Spanish-speaking parents to school wide activities
such as Open House and Back to School Night.
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Appendix A: Summary of Department Based Common Assessments
English
The English department has developed common 1st and 2nd semester assessments and
benchmark assessments in grammar during each six-week grading period. The
department also collaborates on assessments and instructional material for the summer
reading one school one book project, but no single assessment is commonly used.
In November the department gives a multiple-choice diagnostic test modeled after the
CST tests. The results are posted in Data Director shortly after that. Then in the spring
students write a reflective essay about their CST preparations and their writing portfolio.
At present the department has committed time to work on grammar issues because it is a
weakness of the Samohi students according to diagnostic testing results standards. The
department has collaborated on six units, one for each six-week grading period. Other
power standards now under consideration are research skills and poetry analysis
primarily for better preparation for the AP Language and AP Literature courses. The
department is also working on improving vertical planning to better prepare students for
the AP, CST and CAHSEE tests.
This year we plan to create new end-of-semester writing exams to be implemented in
January and June of 2008-2009. We have had common end-of-semester writing
assessments for at least ten years, linked in earlier years to essential grade-level literary
topics (e.g., character in grade 9, theme in grade 10) and more recently to different types
of writing that appear in the CST essay prompts (e.g., persuasive, expository)—but these
are due for review and updating. We also hope to coordinate our common writing
assessments with those of Malibu High School.
Social Studies
This year the social studies department developed common assessments to test particular
power standards. Only the courses assessed through state testing (World and US history)
have developed and worked with common assessments in the past. But at that time the
assessments had less focus and were intended to prepare for and measure a full array of
standards assessed by the CST tests.
Although the department has collected data (in Data Director) for the past common
assessments, the department has not analyzed or used the data to guide instruction
primarily because many members of the department are strongly opposed to common
assessments. Still, World History and U.S. History continue the debate over new
benchmark assessments and undoubtedly the assessments now being given will play a
role in the debate.
In the meantime the Government classes are in the initial stages of identifying power
standards for assessment.
In general the social studies department hopes with guidance and over time they will be
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able to resolve this debate; however, it is not clear whether they will ultimately embrace
the goal of common assessments.
Math
For the past three years the math department has administered common district
assessments every semester and collected the results. The results are incorporated into
the students’ class grades each semester. Some of the results have been collected in Data
Director but this has been a recent and inconsistent development thus far. In the future
the department hopes to make it a more consistent procedure.
Thus far the tests have done an adequate job assessing how well the teachers have taught
the material and how well the students have learned it; however, most members in the
department feel that the present district assessments do not assess the right material
because it insufficiently aligns with the emphasis placed on certain skills on the CST
tests.
The department has begun a two-year plan to revise these common assessments. They
are currently in the process of creating curricular maps for Algebra, Geometry, and
Algebra II. These maps have been generated with the guidance of the power standards
that they developed as a department. Furthermore, they plan to use the new curricular
maps and Power Standards to guide our textbook adoptions this year and guide common
assessment changes this year and next year.
In addition to the district assessments, the math department uses the Mathematic
Diagnostic Testing Project (MDTP) tests (designed by UCLA) as a benchmark
assessment. These tests give detailed and powerful information as to the strengths and
weaknesses of our current students. Many teachers use this information to adjust their
instruction to better fit the needs of the students.
Science
From the fall of 2004 to the present the biology and chemistry sub departments have
administered common assessments. Since inception, the results for the chemistry
assessments have been incorporated into the students’ class grade. Starting this year the
biology assessment results will also be incorporated into the students’ class grade. In the
past teachers have looked at the results of the common assessments but only informally
collaborated on curriculum revision. In the future the science department will formalize
this process.
At the recent buy-back days the science department developed power standards and used
them to guide the yearly revisions of the new common assessments in both chemistry and
biology. The 2007-2008 assessments have also been aligned to cover the material
emphasized on the CST tests. During the buy-back days the department also began
analysis of the most recent common assessment results. The chemistry sub department is
in the process of looking at discrepancies between the CST and common assessment
results. The biology sub department was not satisfied with the quality of their common
assessment and is in the process of revising it this year.
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Language
Spanish
All Spanish 1 and 2 students at Samohi take the same comprehensive final exam at the
end of both first and second semesters. These exams reflect the four components of
second language acquisition: reading, writing, listening and speaking. Each exam has
the following sections: multiple choice vocabulary and grammar, short answer/verb
forms, reading comprehension, writing, listening and some form of speaking. All
Spanish 1 and 2 teachers at Samohi administer the exams over a period of three days, so
as to not place too much emphasis upon one section of the exam. The Spanish sub
department utilizes a common method of reporting progress, which consists of a fivecategory system that gives the final exam a weighting of 20% in the student’s grade. We
meet regularly to compare assessment results and to design curriculum.
Samohi Spanish teachers have met in the past with the Spanish 1 teachers from Lincoln
and JAMS and they, too, have agreed to administer the same semester exams that Samohi
uses.
French
French 1 and 2 students take an exhaustive final at the end of both semesters that includes
oral comprehension, reading comprehension, vocabulary, and a large multiple-choice
section that encompasses all grammatical concepts studied. This test is based on our very
old textbook series and has been modified over the years. We anticipate a change of
exam with the new textbooks that were recently approved and should arrive later this
year.
In the past few years the French sub department has met and otherwise communicated
many times with the few other French teachers in the district regarding French 1. All
parties have agreed to administer the core elements of the French I exam as a common
assessment.
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