San Mateo County Grand Jury
• 2011-2012
Court and Community Schools Issue | Background | Findings | Conclusions | Recommendations | Responses | Attachments
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 5 findings
F1
Fewer than 20 percent of the core academic courses in the Community Schools were taught by “highly qualified” teachers in the 2010-2011 school year. The SMCOE has plans to increase that percentage.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
Consolidate the three community schools into one central campus location and increase the number of core academic courses taught by No Child Left Behind-defined ”highly qualified” teachers in preparation for the 2012-2013 school year.
F2
The San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE) is considering consolidation of the three Community School sites to one campus at the Gateway site in order to more effectively utilize facilities, teaching resources and funding. This would also provide the opportunity to increase the percentage of courses taught by “highly qualified” teachers.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
Establish and periodically review performance measures of the Court and Community School program. Consider including the number of course credits earned per student /semester as one element and metrics related to student outcomes such as successful return to district schools of residence or GED credential earned.
F3
Currently, the Court and Community Schools assess individual student progress by tracking the number of credits earned per student. The schools do not summarize earned credit data across students or set other meaningful measures to evaluate overall performance of the Court and Community School programs.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
Evaluate whether embarking on the process of Western Association of School and Colleges accreditation is in the best interest of the Court and Community Schools in light of the value to students to gain direct entrance to UC or CSU campuses and the significant resources that would be required to attain such accreditation. 7
F4
The SMCOE does not track the number of Community School students who return to their district school of residence or achieve other meaningful academic outcomes, such as earning a GED credential.
No recommendations for this finding
F5
The Court and Community schools are not Western Association of Schools and Colleges accredited 6 Conclusions The San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury concludes that:
No recommendations for this finding
Conclusions 4
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CL1 Page 7Consolidation of the three Community School sites into one site makes sense in order to make better use of scarce funding and to enable the program to utilize highly qualified teachers for most or all its courses.
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CL2 Page 7The Court and Community Schools should collect aggregate student data on course credits earned as one measure of overall program effectiveness. Student outcomes, such as successfully returning to district schools of residence or earning a GED credential, should be tracked and related program goals should be established.
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CL3 Page 7If there are students in the Court and Community Schools who aspire to attend college after completing high school, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) accreditation of the schools would enable the students to be considered for admission by UC/CSU. WASC accreditation may also provide a process for self-evaluation in areas such as student learning and instruction, curriculum, assessment and accountability and school organization. However, the SMCOE should weigh the benefits of attaining accreditation, given the substantial time and effort that would be required and the relatively few students who would be likely to benefit. It should be noted that students aspiring to attend UC/CSU can do so by attending a Community College first.
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CL4 Page 7The staff of the Court and Community Schools operates under very challenging circumstances and are to be commended for their dedication and serious attention to student progress.
No Responses Found 1
Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.
San Mateo County County Superintendent of Schools
Elected County Office