SBCSS News and Press Releases

County Superintendent Holds Annual Schools Briefing With Media

2009-09-22

SAN BERNARDINO - San Bernardino County Superintendent Gary Thomas reviewed record gains made by San Bernardino County schools in the recently released statewide Academic Performance Report, in a briefing with the media this morning.

With a record 40 additional schools in the county reaching the state standard of 800 on the state's Academic Performance Index (API), the number of county schools has reached a record-high of 147 through 11 years of testing.

Even with the gains made, Thomas stressed that there remains access and achievement gaps among student subgroups across the county, and he is calling for a call to action to reduce those gaps, as well as troubling dropout rates.

Other public education issues discussed included reducing the impact of the H1N1 virus on schools and communities and detailing trends in enrollment and demographics countywide.

Some of the items discussed were:

• The county's API growth score increased 17 points to a record-high of 734. For the first time since state testing began, more county schools made their API growth targets than those statewide.
• The disconnect between results from the state's academic measurement model, the Academic Performance Index (API), and the federal guide, Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). County schools made great strides in this year's API scores (61 percent of county schools made their API targets), while there was a slight dropoff in schools making their federal AYP targets (46 percent of county schools met the AYP targets).
• In combating the county's high dropout rates, strategies will focus on trainings to reduce mobility rates; teacher trainings on connecting with students; reaching out to parents with interventions and resources for their children; and providing better communication for schools and districts countywide.
• The drop in enrollment in public schools in the county remains a trend. Last year's enrollment of 420,325, with a drop of nearly 8,000 students, was the largest single-year drop since statewide data was collected in 1990. There have been enrollment declines in two of the last three years. Enrollment across the West End, East Valley and High Desert is sporadic in growth, as well as declines.
• Partnering with the County Department of Public Health, flu vaccinations for the H1N1 virus will be done at schools throughout the county this fall. In addition, there will be a countywide surveillance and monitoring program to track the spread of the virus this academic year, and prevention information for students and their families will be made available.