Patch Blog: Summer School Credit Critical Issue on Tuesday Agenda

Last Spring, theSchool Board voted to allow the Educational Foundation (LCFEF) to run summer school at LCHS, as our District could no longer afford the cost of operation.  This was an exciting opportunity, as the Educational Foundation could charge families to cover operating costs (something the District is not legally permitted to do), and any profit could be donated back to LCUSD.  Our School Board suddenly had a very strong interest in the success of the Educational Foundation’s summer school.

But on the same agenda, the School Board was meant to decide whether or not the transcript should accept summer school credits from “outside agencies.”  The most prominent summer school choice for LCHS students is the , and so this “outside agency” was the focus.  Among the stated concerns was that Hillside has a shorter “seat-time” than LCHS summer school (“seat-time” is just the total amount of in-class instructional minutes).  Apparently, our School Board suddenly had a very strong interest in establishing criteria for these “outside agencies” that would inevitably narrow the field of competing summer school options.

Clearly, our School Board faced a significant conflict-of-interest.  Just as there was a financial gain to be had from a thriving LCFEF summer school, they were considering whether they should impose new burdens on the other choices families had in the summer school market. 

Luckily, the School Board did not make a final decision that spring meeting, but it is due to reconsider this issue at the next two upcoming School Board meetings.  So what’s on the table now?

Superintendent Wendy Sinnette has made a recommendation that the School Board review a policy that would create an “end-of-course” standards exam for all summer school courses.  Students will need to score a 70% to receive credit for the course.  This is certainly better than a completely arbitrary set of criteria (like “seat-time,” for which the research does not corroborate a correlation to student achievement), but as our School Board discusses this policy, it is important the community show up to express their thoughts and concerns.  Here are some of mine:

1. Who will be making these assessments, and on what will they be based?

This question is critical.  We know many families avail themselves of summer school outside of LCUSD in an attempt to avoid certain teachers that they are not satisfied with.  We need assurances that these same teachers are not the authors of the exams.  

My Recommendation: Their current plan is to use California state standards in courses for which there are California Standardized Tests (CSTs).  But we know that many of the most popular courses for summer school are ones in which no test exists (I’m thinking Spanish).  For these other courses, I recommend they consider the standards established by the UC system for course accreditation.  

2. How will these standards-exams be aligned with “end-of-course” exams for courses offered during the year at LCHS?

The entire argumentation that legitimates assessing summer school students relies upon the assumption that LCUSD does indeed have some District-wide expectation for knowledge/skills for all of our courses that we demand demonstrated in a standardized format before we are willing to vouch for that student on the LCHS transcript. But this is not the case.  Some departments have standardized finals/midterms, but this is not the case for all courses.  For courses that have CSTs, we don't assign credit for the course based on whether or not the student meets or exceeds standards on that test.

My Recommendation: These standards-based exams should only be incorporated for students taking outside-courses, if the District also has such an exam for an in-District course.  If they want to establish alternative avenues for demonstrating proficiency (maybe passing grades on AP or SATII exams, for example), then that should be fine.  But if LCUSD is suddenly saying it needs to be responsible for evaluating the basic learning of students before it vouches for those students on the transcripts, then why would this burden be limited exclusively to courses taken outside of the District?

The same accrediting institutions that evaluate LCHS accredit Hillside Learning Center.  And, in fact, simple regression models suggest that the grades assigned in Hillside summer school courses are better predictors of success on CSTs than grades assigned in LCHS summer school courses.  If this is not good enough for us- if we want to demand that LCUSD independently evaluate student knowledge before assigning credit for the time/effort/money invested in a course- then we need to implement this expectation evenly.   

I mentioned earlier that the School Board did not ultimately make a decision last spring.  It was because the community was alerted and families turned out in droves to demand the School Board reconsider “de-certifying” Hillside.  It will take such a community response, again, to ensure a vote that is most consistent with the interests of students and families. 

This issue will be discussed over two meetings—the first “reading” is this Tuesday (November 15th) in the “Round Building” at District Offices (4490 Cornishon Avenue).  The meeting will begin at 7:00pm, and is the second “action item” on the agenda (listed as: “1B Recommendation on Summer School Credit for Graduation-Inclusion on District Transcript”).  I urge you to attend this meeting, and to have your voice heard.  The meeting will begin with a “public comment” period, but this is for items not on the agenda—since this item is on the agenda, make sure you fill out a slip at the back of the room to be heard on this issue while it is being discussed. 

Please post your questions/comments/concerns.  I hope you can make it on Tuesday.

This message was sent out to the Education Action Committee earlier today, along with other information regarding the hot topics on the School Board agenda.  If you would like to join this distribution list, please sign up here.