West Covina Unified School District

California Department of Education identifies Coronado Alternative High School as a 2011 “Model Continuation High School”

Challenge

Coronado Alternative High School is in the West Covina Unified School District. The school houses several programs including Home Schooling, Cal-Safe, Independent Study, and the alternative / credit recover school. The California Department of Education designates 86% of the students Hispanic, 6% White, and 3% Black or African American with 50% Socioeconomically Disadvantaged and 15% English Language Learners. The school has a high mobility and transiency rate. In the 2009/2010 school year the Principal was Armando Marentes and he noted that the school was not clearly focused on student achievement. For years they had used a “shotgun” approach to instructional improvement. Consequently, there was a two year drop in Coronado’s API. He also noticed that there were few instructional systems in place and little buy in by the staff and students.

Solution

Mr. Marentes began to put systems in place that supported a 17 minute period to the end of 2nd period. In the past, the teachers and students used this time for largely unproductive tutoring that did not necessarily support student learning. Now teachers use this period to teach Standards Plus lessons and to emphasize the important standards for which the students would be held accountable. This emphasis on standards based learning transferred to core instruction when the teachers began to use these same strategies in their regular teaching. Mr. Marentes began to use regular walk through classroom visits to support teachers, monitor instruction, and ensure everyone was teaching to the standards.

Results

Coronado Alternative High School students scored much better on the district’s quarterly benchmark assessments. The teachers began to see many more students become responsible for their own achievement and to become more interested in the school in general. The Principal reports that he saw more enthusiasm and commitment on the part of the staff. The school’s API went up 88 points (from 551 to 639) and there was a significant increase in the number of students passing the High School Exit Exam. In December, 2010, the California Department of Education named 27 California schools as 2011 Model Continuation High Schools. Coronado Alternative High School is on that list.

The instructional systems embedded in Coronado’s Standards Plus implementation and other improvement strategies have carried over into all areas of the curriculum. For example, the Standards Plus Test Taking Strategies are used in all classes. The new Principal, Julio Fonseca and the Coronado staff are committed to continue the systematic reforms that have contributed to the school’s improved outcomes.