PEACH HILL SCHOOL'S EFFORTS PAYING OFF.

Byline: Jackie Pinson Local View

The school year of the new millennium is well under way and I have so much to be happy about. All of my students, English and Spanish alike, are reading at or above grade level (excepting a few nonwaivered Spanish readers reading in English for the first time).

When celebrating this with colleagues, I was reminded this is the first group of students that has come to third grade since class-size reduction began in first grade. The Moorpark Unified School District was very pro-active in instituting class-size reduction since its initial inception.

Our district was also very proactive in instituting the after-school intervention programs last year to make sure all second- and third-grade students would be reading at grade level by the end of third grade. We also did a great deal of test preparation for the standardized tests. The results showed much growth in SAT 9 and SABE scores collectively and in disaggregate. The true test came, however, when the Academic Performance Index (the great equalizer) came out. The growth ratio of Peach Hill School was second in the district and took us off the underperformers list. This should put Peach Hill School in line for moneys from the state that we hope could be used for intervention programs in kindergarten and first grade, too.

I would like to commend first the kindergarten and second-grade teachers at Peach Hill School for the fantastic job they have done. I would also like to commend the district for having the determination to make sure all students can succeed, despite all the hoops the state requires us to jump through. We are meeting individual needs of every student, and that is what counts.

The public school system with new accountability standards, assessment benchmarks, and money to make it all happen, is more than making the grade. It is a very exciting time to be in public education.