State grant may help Alta Vista off list

Alta Vista Elementary School is one of five Tulare County elementary schools listed on a compilation of the state’s "lowest-achieving” schools, released Monday by the California Department of Education.

The list was one of the requirements of the statewide reforms passed recently in an attempt to qualify California for competitive federal funding under the Race to the Top grant program.

Schools on the list are required to implement one of four intervention methods, and are eligible for School Improvement Grant (SIG) funds to assist in that process.

Lora Haston, superintendent at Alta Vista, said she intends to follow the “transformation” model, in which a series of required school improvement strategies, such as increasing instructional time, take place.

Though the transformation model requires replacing the lead administrator, because Haston is a new superintendent that will not apply.

Other changes schools in the state’s lowest five percent can enact include becoming a charter campus, replacing most of the staff or closing the school entirely.

Haston chose the transformation model, she said, because it is similar to some innovations already underway.

“It’s what we’re doing on steroids,” she said.

She said she believes the school ended up on the list because of a 60 point slip in the district’s Academic Performance Index rating.

Some of those changes which will be pushed forward on a faster timeline will be the creation of standards-aligned pacing guides and staff development in the area of checking for understanding.

She plans to apply for the grant that being placed on the list has made available to the small school district.

“It’s an attractive amount of funding, and the overall numbers make it seem like it would be a hefty enough grant that we could really made an impact,” she said.

A school on the list could receive between $50,000 and $2 million per year under the SIG grant terms.

At the Wednesday board meeting at Alta Vista, Haston said she will discuss her plans further with the Board of Trustees.

-- Contact Sarah de Crescenzo at 784-5000, Ext. 1045, or sdecrescenzo@portervillerecorder.com.