In the News

School Gets High Marks from County
By Tracy Garcia, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 04/01/2008 10:03:09 PM PDT

WEST WHITTIER - A good report card is reason to celebrate - and that's why the Los Angeles County Office of Education is granting an "Academy Award" this week to Pioneer High School's guidance and counseling department.

The 1,600-student school is being lauded for its first-ever Support Personnel Accountability Report Card, a document that every school is asked to put together every year, but only one in 20 statewide ends up doing so.

For Pioneer, the SPARC detailed the school's guidance team - from Principal Alex Flores to attendance clerks and probation officers - and their backgrounds, as well as the team's recent achievements and goals, and information on student attendance and college readiness.

Every SPARC is scored on a rubric - and on its first try, Pioneer hit all of the rubric's requirements, Los Angeles County Office of Education Project Director Bob Tyra said.

As such, it will be honored with the county's "Academy Award" at a special ceremony Friday at Cal Poly Pomona.

"Basically, we ask for schools to show us in a succinct document who they are: who is on their team, what do they do, and how well do they do it," Tyra said.

"Then we take that document and put in on our Web site so it becomes public," he said. "That way, parents, teachers, administrators and everybody can quickly see what's going on with students."

Pioneer's SPARC showed that over the past four years, attendance has climbed from about 94 percent to a current 95.1 percent - the highest it's ever been.

Suspensions have dropped by 45 percent over the past two years while on-target graduation rates increased by 5 to 10 percent at each grade level over the past three years.

Students completing the so-called "A-G" requirements - classes needed for entrance to the UC and CSU systems - rose by nearly 15 percent, and participation in career technical education classes skyrocketed 115 percent from 2006-07 to 2007-08.

The improvements are due to clear, consistent communication between staff and students about behavior expectations and the consequences if they're not met, said Assistant Principal of Guidance Audra Pittman.

At the start of the school year, Pittman said, "We let each student know that it is a privilege and not a right to attend this school.

"It went a long way toward improving safety on campus," she said.

The fact that Pioneer was able to "organize itself to do a report card is great," Tyra said.

"That's why we also give props to Whittier High and other schools that do it because they took on a challenge that 19 of 20 schools statewide won't take on," Tyra said.

"It's an excellent way to get focused," he said. "It's a good starter document that gets schools in the public eye, and tells the public who you are and what you're doing."