Best Practices Case Studies

Lemon Grove School District
www.lgsd.k12.ca.us/lgsd/default.htm

Name: Lemon Grove School District
Location: Lemon Grove, CA
Elementary Schools: 6
Middle Schools: 2
Enrollment: 4,441

Lemon Grove School District turned underperforming schools around by holding all students to high standards and using disaggregated data to target resources. Ubiquitous access to technology resources gives everyone in the district access to the tools they need to make better decisions and improve direct instruction.

About Lemon Grove School District
Lemon Grove is a small, elementary school district located in a community of retirees and working-class families, six miles east of San Diego, California. The six elementary and two middle schools serve approximately 4,600 students. The year that L. McLean King became superintendent, seven of the district schools were ranked as underachieving by the California Academic Performance Index. Given the diversity and economic status of the community, many people did not believe that the students could reach the standards achieved in neighboring schools.

Data-Driven Decision Making: Starting the Process
King and his leadership team created three broad initiatives to address the achievement gap:

• Technology integration to provide ubiquitous access to applications and resources for all students and teachers.
• A literacy program of early intervention and reading recovery with teachers trained to provide direct intervention in alignment with state and national goals.
• An equity program to address the achievement gap between African American or Hispanic/Latino students and white students.

With ubiquitous access to technology and electronic resources, teachers had access to tools and resources for intervention and improvement. The district’s data analysis system consolidates data across the district with multiple measures, criterion assessments and state testing. Principals and teachers have used paper reports to identify achievement gaps and areas of need since 1999. In 2002, the district rolled out online reports that are easy to understand and query.

Every school presents a strategic plan based on their data and district-wide goals. The goals determine priority areas and the data helps identify strategic groups of students to focus intervention and resources. At the beginning of the year, teachers use the system to look at each child in their classroom and break down student needs for instruction. Interim assessments help teachers monitor the progress of student achievement for correction and refinement throughout the school year.

“Our principals and teachers have information on last year’s students to assess programs,” said Barbara Allen, project director for LemonLINK. “They bring up student scores to look at data as far back as the student has been in the district. Now, they have lots of information to use to determine instruction.”

Data-Driven Decision Making: Implementation
The transition from paper to electronic formatting for multiple measure reports has transformed the way that data is used in schools. Teachers and principals used to go through the paper reports with a highlighter to identify achievement gaps and needs. They spent valuable time organizing and reviewing reports rather than analyzing the data. The new data system gives teachers and principals easy access with cross tab options, historical data, and custom data views. These electronic tools combined with the data warehouse give them more information in more depth than ever before.

Teachers and administrators are learning to use data to test their assumptions about instruction and identify areas for intervention to meet their literacy and equity goals. “We all have our bias about what a good classroom looks like. I walk into a classroom and the kids are engaged, and the teacher seems on target.

But results show that students aren’t learning as much,” said Jere McInerney, director of educational services at the district. “We’ve been working with a consultant on our reading program with direct instruction—really targeted. Kids are learning and feeling good about it. It’s not the creative part of teaching. We’re not used to teaching that way.”

Before Lemon Grove launched their multiple measures matrix, they asked teachers to test the system’s usability and found the input was difficult and clumsy. Even though they had invested significant resources in the first system, they realized that it would never be used by teachers. They switched to a more teacher friendly system that has achieved widespread acceptance in the classroom.

Data-Driven Decision Making: Real Results
“Consistent and direct intervention based on targeted data analysis brings positive results in academic achievement,” said Principal Donn Griffiths. “Data helped us decide where to put one three-hour support aide into our school.” After analyzing state and district assessments, he found that a large percentage of fifth-grade students were performing below proficiency in vocabulary and reading comprehension. The intervention plan included corrective reading during the school day, after-school guided reading and readers’ workshop, as well as the support aid.

In 2001, six Lemon Grove schools were eligible for the California governor’s awards program, and three of the four Title I schools in the district were declared High Achieving Title I Schools by the State of California. Even with this success, the district still expects schools and students to do better and close remaining achievement gaps. “The culture of the district is that we can get better in our classrooms,” said McInerney. “We’ve taken giant steps. As we get closer, it is harder to make leaps.”