Three schools marked for changes

Three schools in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District may undergo drastic changes over the next year, according to a report issued Friday by a hearing panel that analyzed the schools’ failure to meet federal standards.

For several months, a seven-member advisory group visited Pomona and Wilson elementary schools and TeWinkle Middle School to find ways to boost student performance. The schools are in year three on the federal program-improvement list, meaning they must take corrective measures in the next year or risk sanctions and other interventions.

The draft report, distributed around the district Friday, proposes several solutions for the three schools, including a new English-learner curriculum, a longer school day for kindergarteners and an outside expert to oversee TeWinkle staff.

“We all want to be sensitive to how the sites are feeling,” said Susan Astarita, assistant superintendent of elementary education. “It’s a gut-wrenching thing to end up in year three. Principals and teachers are committed to providing kids with the best education they can, and they’ll do what they need to do.”

In its report, the hearing panel — consisting of two teachers, two principals, a parent, an outside consultant and a state union representative — said the following:

The report praised the schools on a number of issues, citing high after-school participation at Wilson, quality parent education at Pomona and dedicated counselors at TeWinkle. In mid-January, the district plans to conduct public hearings on the three schools, with a final report expected before the school board rules on the matter in February.

“I think it’s important to note that this is a draft,” Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard said. “It’s not the final document and it’s subject still to the public hearing process.”

Pomona Principal Janis King and Wilson Principal Candy Sperling were unavailable for comment on Friday.

TeWinkle Principal Dan Diehl said he didn’t want to comment on the draft report until he’d fully read it.

Until this year, Newport-Mesa had never had a school in year three of program improvement, which was created under the Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind Act. Schools with low-income populations enter the list if they fail to meet federal standards two years in a row. To graduate from the list, schools must make adequate yearly progress in back-to-back years.

Pomona and TeWinkle missed federal standards in a number of categories this year, but Wilson barely came up short. This year, 24.1% of the school’s English-learners scored as proficient or above in language arts; the federal target is 24.4%.

By 2014, No Child Left Behind has mandated that all students be proficient in all subjects — a goal many educators criticize. Astarita and administrative services coordinator Laura Boss said the state’s Academic Performance Index, which rates schools by how much they improve over the year before, more accurately indicates success.

“Our teachers and principals are resilient, and they are giving it their best shot,” Boss said.

FINDINGS FROM THE DRAFT REPORT

SCHOOL

PROBLEMS CITED

RECOMMENDATIONS

Pomona Elementary School

(2051 Pomona Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92627)

Wilson Elementary School

(801 Wilson St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627)

TeWinkle Middle School

(3224 California Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626)