Sanger Unified School District

District Information

District Name: Sanger Unified School District
District Address: 1905 7th Street, Sanger, CA 93657
District Phone: 559.875.6521
District Fax: 559.875.0311
District Superintendent: Marc Johnson
Superintendent email: marc_johnson@sanger.k12.ca.us
Web Address: http://www.sanger.k12.ca.us/education/district/district.php?sectionid=1

Demographics

Number of Students: 10,752
Percent of Free and Reduced Lunch: 74%
Percent of Limited English Proficient: 29%
Percent of Special Education:6.8%
Racial/Ethnic Percentages:

White: 17.0%
Black:1.8%
Hispanic: 68.8%
Asian: 10.9%
Other: 1.4%

Schools in District:

Sanger High School
Washington Academic Middle School
Sanger Academy Charter School
Del Rey Elementary School
Fairmont Elementary
Jefferson Elementary
John Wash Elementary
Quail Lake Elementary
Fairmont Elementary
Centerville Elementary
Jackson Elementary
Lincoln Elementary
Lone Star Elementary
Madison Elementary
Reagan Elementary
Hallmark Charter School
Wilson Elementary School
Kings River & Taft High Schools

Student Achievement Data:

The following data present a district overview of student achievement over a five year period, 2002-2003 to 2010-2011. The graphs include an overview of the District’s Academic Performance Index, (API) increase, the percent of students proficient in ELA and Math and the percent of students passing the California High School Exit Exam, (CAHSEE).  All percentages are compared to state averages, (note, the California Department of Education did not calculate a State Average for EL proficiency prior to 2004).

Please list source of comparison data:

California Academic Performance Index (API): Scale 200-1000 pts

	2003	2005	2007	2011
State	683	709	728	778
SUSD	638	702	753	815
State EL	n/a	631	646	692
SUSD-EL	575	634	690	771

Percentage Proficient Students on California State STAR Test - ELA

	2003	2005	2007	2011
State	36.5%	41.9%	45.5%	56.2%
SUSD	25%	35.3%	46.5%	60.2%
State EL	18.5%	21.9%	25.8%	38.7%
SUSDEL	11%	19.8%	30.9%	48.8%

Percentage Proficient Students on California State STAR Test - Math

	2003	2005	2007	2011
State	38.8%	45%	48.5%	58.4%
SUSD	29%	44.3%	55.3%	68.1%
State EL	26.8%	31.9%	35.8%	48.4%
SUSDEL	18.7%	34.5%	46.1%	61.7%

Percentage Students Passing California High School Exit Exam, CAHSEE

	2003	2005	2007	2011
State	66%	76%	77%	77%
SUSD	60%	72%	75%	85%
State EL	33%	42%	36%	39%
SUSDEL	31%	41%	37%	45%

Please comment on any aspect of the data that you believe is particularly significant.

After the 2003-2004 instructional year, Sanger Unified was designated as a Program Improvement District, one of the first 98 districts in the state to be so designated, as a result of our failure to meet minimum proficiency levels for our EL population.  We focused our efforts to increase student achievement for all students in Sanger Unified with emphasis placed on our EL learners.  Our four main areas of focus became, providing focused professional development, developing site administrators as instructional leaders, providing administrative coaching for site leadership, and developing a culture of collaboration using Professional Learning Communities.

As you review the data you will note that our district wide performance has increased dramatically during this time with our API and Percent Proficient now exceeding the state average in all areas.  Our percentage of students passing the CAHSEE has also increased in all areas and now is close to or exceeds the state average in all areas, a marked improvement from our 2003 performance.  Perhaps the most notable accomplishment that this data demonstrates is the increase in both the level of proficiency of our EL students and their pass rate on the CAHSEE during the period shown.
 
As a result of this improvement, the district exited PI status in 2006, having met all AYP targets for two consecutive years.  Three of our schools have exited PI status, including two that were at PI 4 and every school in the District met their AYP targets in the 06-07 assessment cycle.

 

              
Please present additional information that indicates your efforts to build a professional learning community have had a positive impact on students and/or teachers.

The development of Professional Learning Communities in Sanger Unified has been a journey that has spread over a period of nine years beginning with our efforts to re-shape the culture of the organization.  As an organization, we were focused on the needs of adults and that focus needed to be shifted to and centered upon our students.  This effort is ongoing and has been one of our primary areas of focus.  A part of the reshaping of the culture has been the development of themes for each year that support our efforts and remind us of our purpose.  Three years ago our theme was “Care enough to make a difference”; last year’s theme was “When you believe it, you will see it!”  We constantly remind ourselves of the fact that every child, every day must know that there is an adult that cares about them and believes in them.  This year our theme is, “Every child, every day…whatever it takes!”

We began the effort to establish PLCs in the district five years ago at our high school, through their partnership with the Riverside County Office of Education in their Riverside County Achievement Team program.  We began PLC development across the district two years ago and continue to grow in our practice and purpose.  While the success in PLC development is directly tied to the change in culture that has allowed for collaboration to even be possible, it has also allowed for rapid growth in collaborative practice across the district.  The student achievement data supports the fact that this development of a “culture of collaboration” has paid dividends as well.  Most recently we have seen the evidence and benefit demonstrated very clearly.  We are rapidly approaching our state assessment window and across the district the theme of “Getting to Proficiency” is being carried forward in our PLCs.  The willingness and determination to do “whatever it takes” is being demonstrated again and again on a daily basis.  PLCs are working together to identify critical standards where proficiency has not yet been evidenced, designing focused instructional support, identifying successful instructional strategies, developing EDI,(Explicit Direct Instruction), and lesson plans as teams.  The success of these efforts, as demonstrated by student learning, is assessed and monitored regularly and adjustments are made as needed with immediate support being provided to those who are not showing mastery.  This is only possible because teams of teachers share a common vision and goal, success for “our kids”!

Maybe the clearest demonstration of the power of collaboration was demonstrated recently by the 6th grade Language Arts team from our middle school.  They were asked to respond to a series of questions about their work as a PLC that were posed by the group participating in our monthly district-wide PLC leadership training.  The questions focused on all aspects of their work as a team from meeting frequency to development of common assessments and sharing of results.  The team is made up of six regular education teachers and one special education teacher.  Only two of the seven teachers were a part of this PLC last year with five of them new to the site, four new to the district, and one new to the profession.  Throughout the discussion, the power of collaboration was evident in the responses that were given and always the team members referred to “our kids” in their responses.  At the end of the discussion, the question was posed to the team, “If given the option would you ever return to your former practice and give up collaboration?” The response was an enthusiastic unison, “never!”  The veteran team member who is also the PLC leader then shared his personal reflection regarding the power of PLCs.  He reminded us that that located less than 50 miles from us are the largest living things on this planet, the Giant Sequoias.  These massive trees live for thousands of years and stand in splendor in the near by Sierras.  At first glance you would think that they stand in isolated strength and they do present that image.  What the casual observer does not realize is that the root structure of the Giant Sequoias is very shallow. As a result no matter how splendid they may appear, when they stand in solitary isolation they are individually susceptible to erosion that undermines their root structure and as a result make them susceptible to falling in strong winds.  When they grow in closer proximity in a grove, their roots begin to intermingle and the trees in the grove develop additional strength and ability to withstand the ravages of nature by relying on the additional strength of their neighbor’s roots.  He then said that he used to be like that Sequoia standing alone, confident in appearance. Now, because of his PLC, he is like that Sequoia standing in a grove, stronger because of those around him and the support that they provide.

 

Please elaborate upon strategies you have found to be effective in any of the following areas:

1. Monitoring student learning on a timely basis.

The District has developed a summative assessment that we refer to as District Performance Assessment (DPA), which is administered to all students in grades K-12 three times a year with the third administration being shortly before the State Assessment.  The results of each assessment are reported to each teacher individually for their own use. Additionally we analyze the data on a district-wide basis by grade level to look for trends and areas of concern.  This tool has served as a strong predictor of student success on the state standards based assessment administered annually.  At the site level, common formative assessments are developed by PLCs to monitor student learning and measure mastery of specific standards.  The results of these common assessments are used as the basis for the design and implementation of immediate interventions by the PLC members when mastery is not demonstrated.

Student learning is also monitored daily through the use of Explicit Direct Instruction (EDI) strategies.  The effective use of EDI increases student engagement in the lesson and requires continuous monitoring of learning through checking for understanding.  Using EDI, the teacher knows who has learned and who is still struggling and will provide additional immediate support to those students who are having difficulty with the concept.

2. Creating systems of intervention to provide students with additional time and support for learning.

Each of our schools has developed a Pyramid of Interventions which guide the levels of response when learning is not taking place.  These pyramids define our Response To Intervention (RTI) at each site with the understanding that RTI is a philosophy, not a program.  Intervention is first and foremost what the classroom teacher does differently today when the answer to the question, “did learning take place?” was no yesterday.  The use of EDI strategies provides for immediate interventions as a response to the regular monitoring of student learning by checking for understanding.  Our PLCs develop and administer common assessments and then design strategies to intervene immediately when learning did not take place as evidenced by the data.  As an example, one team of third grade teachers administers a common assessment on Friday, they analyze the results before they leave and then start the next week by flexing their grouping with the teacher that had the highest success rate reteaching while the other members of this PLC regroup the remaining students and either frontloading that week’s learning, reinforce prior learning, or offering enrichment.  We also have a cadre of reading development teachers that provide additional support at each site for students that are not performing below grade level in reading.  This program provides highly prescriptive support to small groups of students in addition to their core instruction in ELA.

Support for our English Language learners is given through daily ELD instruction which is a part of their core instruction.  Students are deployed for ELD instruction and the non EL students receive reinforcement or enrichment instruction during this time focused on ELA standards.  All students are supported through the use of Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English (SDAIE strategies that are employed during regular instruction.  These strategies increase our sound strategies to increase learning of all students, not just our EL population.

We have also developed an extensive after school program in our district.  All 13 of our elementary sites run after school programs until 6:00 pm, five days a week.  There is a strong tie between the regular instructional program and the after school program.  The lead teacher on each site coordinates collaboration between the two programs and all teachers provide a summary of the standards being covered on a week by week basis so that the after school program can provide reinforcement of the regular instructional program.

3. Building the capacity of teachers to work as members of high performing collaborative teams who focus the efforts of their team on improved learning for students.

We have developed a very focused program of Professional Development in our district.  One of the components has been a very specific focus on the development of a collaborative culture through Professional Learning Communities.  Sanger High School has been involved with Riverside County Office of Education for the last five years in their RCAT+ program, which focuses on developing data driven instructional programs through the use of PLCs.  Through our partnership with Riverside County we have been able to take teams of teachers and administrators to Riverside County twice a year to attend the PLC training presented by Rick and Becky DuFour.  Even though this involves a five hour drive, we gladly continue to participate because of the benefit that this has derived.  To date, every principal in the district and over 100 teachers have attended one of these two day sessions.  In May we will attend again and are sending a team of 35 district employees.  Those who attend assume an increased role in PLC leadership at their site upon their return.  Additionally we are in the process of being certified by Riverside County to replicate the RCAT process in our region.  As a part of this process, our RCAT team conducts a monthly PLC leadership training here in our district.  The principal and PLC leaders from each site participate in this half day session and we are seeing strong returns from this investment of time in the form of increased capacity and stronger practice at the site level.

Another dimension of our PLC development is now reaching to the teacher preparation program at our local universities.  We believe so strongly in the collaborative model and are dedicated to seeing PLCs and collaborative practice spread throughout our region.  We have had conversations with two of our local universities regarding changing the current model of student teaching placement so that teachers “new to the profession” will have a working understanding of the function and power of PLCs.  Rather than assigning a student teacher to a single master teacher, as has been the practice in the traditional model, we are developing a model that will assign the student teachers to a PLC a requiring them to function as a part of that team as they finish their credential program.  We believe that this model will provide a direct benefit to the student teacher by developing a broader placement experience, but will also hasten the development of PLCs in our region as new teachers leave the credential program with this experience. 

 

Awards and Recognition:

Since 2004 to present:
Eleven of fifteen eligible schools have been named California State Distinguished School.
Ten of eleven eligible schools have been named Title I Academic Achievement Award Schools.
Four schools have been nominated for the National Blue Ribbon Award.  Three have been awarded National Blue Ribbon status.
Thirteen of thirteen elementary schools have been named Bonner Character Education Award winners by the Bonner Character Education Foundation.
Washington Academic Middle School was named as National Middle School to Watch by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grade Reform in 2010-11.
Two schools have been named as National Healthy Schools by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation in 2011.
Sanger Unified has been awarded three Golden Bell Awards by the California School Boards Association for outstanding educational programs.
Marc Johnson, Sanger Unified’s Superintendent, was named National Superintendent of the Year by AASA for 2011-12.

04-05 School Year
California State Distinguished School 2004-2008
Sanger High School

05-06 School Year
California State Distinguished School 2006-2010
Madison Elementary
Lone Star Elementary
California Department of Education Title I Academic Achieving School
Sanger High School
Sanger High Cal STAT Leadership Site, Special Ed

06-07 School Year
Just For The Kids Honor Roll
Jefferson Elementary
California Department of Education Title I Academic Achieving School
Sanger High
Jackson Elementary
Sanger High Cal STAT Leadership Site, Special Ed
Spring Board Schools Achievement Award
Sanger Unified
National Center for Community of Caring Awards
Outstanding Community of Caring District in America
Sanger Unified

07-08 School Year
California State Distinguished School 2008-2012
Del Rey Elementary
Fairmont Elementary
Jefferson Elementary
John Wash Elementary
Quail Lake Elementary
California Department of Education Title I Academic Achieving School
Del Rey Elementary
Fairmont Elementary
Jefferson Elementary
Centerville Elementary
Just For The Kids Honor Roll
Del Rey Elementary
Jackson Elementary
Bonner Center Virtues and Character Recognition Award
Centerville Elementary
Jackson Elementary
Jefferson Elementary
Lincoln Elementary
Lone Star Elementary
Madison Elementary
Quail Lake Elementary
Reagan Elementary
Sanger Academy Charter School
John Wash Elementary