Mountain schools don’t leave student performance to chance

A combination of factors puts local schools at the top

Lacey Rees -lrees@sierrastar.com

 

 

It is no secret around educational circles that our Mountain Area students tend to score higher, on an average, on academic performance tests than those in the Valley.

In fact last year two local schools, Oak Creek Intermediate and Bass Lake Elementary, reached the magic 800s, a target score set by the state as bench mark, and Rivergold Elementary had 799. Other Mountain Area schools were in the 700s. Most Valley schools in Merced and Madera counties scored from the mid-600s to the low 500s.

Why do mountain kids seem to perform better? We asked the superintendents of the four local school districts for their say and each gave some unique opinions.

All four administrators stressed the part that parents play in the success of a student. “Parent involvement is the key to our success,” says Bill McCabe, superintendent of both Coarsegold and Yosemite school districts. “The parent is our first teacher.”

“We have parents who understand the value of education that lower-performing schools lack,” says Michael McChesney, superintendent of Bass Lake School District. If parents value education, the message is very clear to kids, he says, “both outright and psychologically.”

Besides parents helping in the classroom, the parents support the school when there is difficulty with a student, he says. Being a small school district (1,250 kids), if there is a problem area, it can be analyzed quickly and changed sometimes in a couple of weeks.

“If parents don’t help at school, they help at home,” observes Tom Allcock, elementary school principal and superintendent of Raymond School District. “Success breeds success.” He also credits the support through parent committees, and an active school-site council.

Bob Owen, superintendent of Chawanakee School District notices that “every child has an extended family, his own family and the family of his friends. Everyone knows everyone.” He sees a lot of parent involvement in activities that he doesn’t see in an urban area with larger schools. Consequently, “kids will reflect the parent’s values,” he says.

Rural areas do not have as many competing activities, and many activities take place at school. “On back-to-school night, the parking lot is full,” he has observed.

 

Wealth of teaching applicants

In concert with parents for producing good students are good teachers, and all superintendents agree that the Mountain Area districts can afford to be picky.

Practically all the teachers are fully credentialed. When a position opens in Bass Lake School District, an average of 50 people apply, and sometimes as many as 100. “We start out picking from the cream of the crop,” says Dr. McChesney. “We feel our kids deserve the best we can muster.”

The downside of having really competent people is “others want to pick them off,” he says, but adds, “I’d rather have a competent teacher for five years than a mediocre one for 20.”

“We have very little voluntary teacher turnover,” says Mr. Owen. “When someone leaves, it is because they retire or for family relocation reasons.” Because the teaching staff is very stable, the district has a big pool of applicants to fill the few positions that come up, especially in the elementary grades. Most openings, he says, are for subject specialties such as math and science, where the applicants are fewer.

“We have an attractive environment in which to teach, so we can attract highly qualified teachers,” agrees Mr. Allcock. The mountain schools also have smaller classes on an average.

“We have good salaries. We pay well,” says Mr. McCabe, “and we have high expectations of students and staff, and people have lived up to those expectations.

Dr. McChesney voices his appreciation, echoed by the others, for the “ultra competent” administrative staffs in his district. “I am extremely fortunate to have such a talented group of people to be surrounded by,” he says.

The superintendents also give credit to the classified employees such as the bus driver, the cafeteria workers, the custodians and office staff, who all create a positive learning environment for the students. “It is a collaborative effort by all stake holders in the organization.”

Mr. Owen, however, cautioned, while comparing mountain schools to the Valley, that even good teachers in the Valley can find it difficult to teach a student who had never been to school in the early grades. Many kids come from other countries, with no English background. In Fresno there are 40 to 50 nationalities that are not native to California. That hurts them,” he says.

He remembers when there was 60 percent turnover of students in Madera, some students in and out two or three times a year. “The high test scores are not all due to good things we do,” he reasons. “That is not to say we don’t have some obstacles; we don’t have them in as large numbers throughout the system as Valley schools.”

 

School boards

School boards are very focused on what is right for the students. “Many school boards get hung up on mundane details,” says Dr. McChesney from experience with other districts he had contact with. “Our school boards are very focused on the goal of academic achievement. They spend time talking about things that matter.”

 

Community environment

Each mountain community is supportive of education. “You get communities where you don’t have that,” says Dr. McChesney. “We are blessed to have the combination” of business, parents and service organizations who value education.

Every year Mountain Area business gives thousands of dollars in scholarships to graduating seniors and supports the schools in fund-raisers during the year. The S.P.I.C.E. [Seniors Participating in Community Education] program donates thousands of hours to enriching the education of students. Parent teacher clubs put in countless hours on projects for schools.

The demographics of the Mountain Area finds that families are less mobile because they want to live here. There is a relative stability within the school system, speculates Mr. Owen. He also sees students living with their natural parents, creating a more stable family structure with parents more willing to help out students.

Students observe the people they live around, and decide, at least by the time they are in junior high school, that “they will have a better life if they are educated.” says Mr. Allcock.

To walk on to the campus of a Mountain Area school is to observe a feeling of school safety, observes Mr. McCabe. Speaking of his district, of course, but not excluding the others, Mr. McCabe says the campuses have a cleanliness and a common relaxed staff and students. No graffiti as seen on some elementary campuses. “Kids take a lot of pride in their school, and the community takes pride in its school, giving kids a safe and wholesome environment.”

It takes a combination of dedicated and educated teachers and staff, involved parents, and hard-working students plus a standards-based curriculum to produce academic excellence, says Mr. Allcock.

 Mr. McCabe aptly calls it a “partnership.”