Although it will be a month before official results of the STAR (Standardized Testing and Reporting) scores and rankings are released, the VC-Pauma School district has enough results from the 3,453 students tested to know several things for sure:
As reported last week, Pauma Elementary School has increased scores enough to move out of the “Program Improvement” status it has been in for five years.
Unfortunately, the Lower Elementary School will take its place, becoming a “year two Program Improvement School.”
According to Asst. Supt. Ken Clark, “Overall on the summary of district performance in terms of number of students proficient at each grade level and subject matter, we showed slight improvement across the board with some high points and some that went down a little bit, but overall slight growth.”
VC-P scores compared to county and state averages “are with the performance of the county level and above the state levels,” he said, adding, “Our students performed as well as anybody in the county. They were right there with the county as a whole, which, given the demographic makeup of our district, is probably appropriate.”
Note: The overall demographic makeup in the district is 9.3% American Indian, 39% Hispanic, 49% white; 45.4% socioeconomically disadvantaged, 30% English learner and 11.8% Special Ed. (See chart published with this story on A1).
San Diego County generally performs above the statewide averages.
Each year the state gives each school an API (Academic Performance Index) base number. This is arrived at by looking at the school’s test results from the year before through the spectacles of new criteria. That number becomes the school's base number, which it is expected to exceed.
As noted above, the district is working from estimates in anticipation of what its official results will be.
However, according to Clark, those estimates have been very accurate in the past.
The assistant superintendent analyzed each of the school's scores:
Valley Center High School
VCHS showed small improvement overall. “We're real pleased with the performance in the English Language Arts. That seems to be steadily increasing, although not taking a big jump,” said Clark.
“Our concerns are primarily history, social science and science, which have been given more weight in the state Academic Performance Index (API) than last year,” he said.
Valley Center Middle School
“The middle school really had mixed results,” said Clark. “English Language Arts improved, building on the last couple of years. Math went down overall, but we also tested a group of 7th grade students in Algebra, which we hadn't done before.”
Also different from the previous year was that students were tested for history-social science and science.
Lilac Elementary School
“Again we had mixed numbers,” said Clark. “Overall performance continued to be very strong. They did show some decline with their English learner students.”
Note: English Learner students make up about 25% of the student population at Lilac School.
Upper Elementary School
“The Upper Elementary School showed growth,” said Clark. “Their English learner scores increased significantly, which was an area of concern for us.”
English learner students districtwide get additional instruction time in language arts. Both with grade level instruction and support instruction.
According to Clark, frequent assessments of the English learners was the key in helping to raise Pauma Elementary's scores so that it was no longer a “Program Improvement” school.
“If they mastered where they were they would be moved to a higher level so they are always challenged and always moving up,” he said.
Lower Elementary School
Overall scores at the school increased, according to Clark. “However the English learner population [which makes up 33% at the school] performed lower in English language arts than in the previous year. Unfortunately, it looks like they will become ‘a year two Program Improvement school.’ ”
Clark added, “If you have one group that achieves higher the expectation is that your subgroups would increase at the same amount. So if our overall school wide scores achieved higher levels, the expectation would be that the subgroups would have the same increase, which is sometimes difficult to do.”
Primary School
Only the second graders at the primary school are tested. That's a relatively small sampling, about 100 students.
“Their performance continued to increase and we are very pleased with that,” said Clark. “Because it's such a small group it’s actually more difficult to continue to increase because those numbers can be swayed significantly by the performance of two or three students.”
Oak Glen High School
Only 37 tests were given at the continuation school, which can lead to fluctuating scores.
“Their scores declined, however a lot of it was a matter of history-social studies and science becoming more prominent in the state tests,” said Clark.
Because Oak Glen is an alternative school the state measure for them is different. It’s called the Alternative School Assess-ment model.
Criteria for Oak Glen include attendance, course completion and how many of them graduate.
Independent Study
The 51 students in the Independent Study group made “a significant jump,” according to the assistant superintendent.
“Although there was only slight improvement this year, the trend for the last six years continues to be very positive!” he said.
Sunday’s morning rains didn’t deter the faithful at Community Lutheran Church from attending the groundbreaking for their new 600 seat sanctuary.
Their faithfulness was rewarded when their pastor, William Vogelsang, prayed for a few dry moments for the ceremony and was rewarded.
The rain picked up again right after the ceremony!
Community Lutheran Church was started 19 years ago in 1988 as a church plant by Grace Lutheran church of Escondido.
Dr. Charles Keturakat founded and began this new church and served as pastor until November 1989 when the current pastor, William Vogelsang, Jr., was called.
On Christmas Eve of 1992 the church’s first worship service was held at their current location at the bottom of the grade on the corner of Valley Parkway and Lake Wohlford Road.
Their preschool opened in January of 1993. As it continued to grow, the congregation expanded its parking lot and added a Ministry Building, which was dedicated in September of 2001.
Over one fourth of the congregation lives in Valley Center. Community Lutheran has now outgrown its current worship area and is building a 600 seat sanctuary.
This will free up needed space for its ever expanding youth and family ministries. Grading will begin in September with a completion date scheduled for late summer of 2008.
Bycor Corporation has been chosen as the general contractor for the $5.5 million project.
The VC Municipal Water District board Monday agreed to enter into a 20-year agreement with two companies to build a solar power plant at Lake Turner to provide up to 1 megawatt to power the Betsworth Pump Station.
The companies that will be partnering with the water district are Solar Power Partners, based in Mill Valley, Calif., and World Water & Solar Technologies, based in Ewing, New Jersey.
The water district has been working with the companies for two years to develop a project, according to water district Gen. Mgr. Gary Arant.
“The next step will be to conduct a scoping meeting with the community and conduct an environmental assessment. We would expect this phase to be completed by the end of 2007.”
Arant said he expected the plant to be operating by the end of next year.
“Over the 20-year life of the project there is the potential save between several hundreds of thousands to a couple million dollars in pumping costs, depending on how fast SDG&E raises their electricity rates,” Arant told The Roadrunner.
He added, “Beyond the power cost savings, we will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and we will retain the Renewable Energy Credits, which can sold, leased, or retained to offset other GHG production.”
Another benefit is that the district will be able to use the solar pump to operate two pumps when the grid is down, enabling VCMWD to move water through the main pumping station during power outages.
“We will also be able to run two of our electrics through ‘prime time’ when we normally have to turn off all our electric pumps at Betsworth. Since this is main feed into our system, this increases our flexibility in meeting peak demands during these periods,” said Arant.
Although the use of power varies from region to region, 1 million watts (1 megawatt) of power is often listed as being the amount typically used by 1,000 homes.
The solar plant will produce enough electricity to power 20–30% of the pump station’s capacity.
VCMWD will pay 8.5 cents a kilowatt hour, a price that can be increased 3% a year over the 20 years of the contract.
In January, the board instructed staff to open talks with Worldwater and Power, prior to an agreement to buy power at lower rates than currently offered by SDG&E.
In 2006 the district had rejected a proposal from the company because it required that the district take some financial risks associated with building and operating the plant.
However World Water and Power returned this year with an offer whereby the district does not need to make a financial commitment other than agree to buy the power produced by the plant.
World Water and Power will finance through Solar Power Partners and build the plant.
You can bid on some big prizes if you participate in the Queen of Hearts Ride and Festival to benefit breast cancer research on Sept. 22.
Some of the bigger items offered in the silent auction are a trip to the Bahamas for two, including hotel and airfare; condo rental for two and a Mexico getaway.
Others include a golf foursome at Woods Valley Golf Course, a movie night basket and a Harley Davidson clock.
Sponsors for the ride, and bid item donations, are still needed —and donations are tax deductible.
This fall road trip includes a 100-mile Backcountry trip that begins in The Roadrunner parking lot and winds along beautiful country roads to Julian and back.
This will be followed by a family-friendly festival at Adams Park featuring music by the Working Cowboy Band.
The festival at Adams Park runs from 2:30–5 p.m. There will be food and live entertainment. Meet master of ceremonies Stan Miller, Channel 10 anchor, Estha Trouw, Channel 6 anchor and Carol’s Crew, a group of women who will join cancer survivor Carol Mohrbacher in the Susan G. Komen 3 Day Breast Cancer Walk, Nov.9 – 11.
The money raised in the Queen of Hearts run will be directed to cancer research via Carol’s Crew.
Besides the silent auction you can purchase a ride in a Harley-Davidson Electraglide sidecar, have a photo of you and your motorcycle, or just you and your family, taken by a professional photographer. You can also enjoy the Adams Park swimming pool which will be open for the kids.
Registration to ride in the rally run is from 10 a.m.– Noon at The Roadrunner, (for pre-registration call 749-1112 or go online to www.queenofheartsride.com ).
The casino searchlights that caused so much controversy in Pauma Valley have been turned off, although perhaps not permanently.
According to Scott Kardel, public information officer for Palomar Observatory, Javier Saenz, the CEO of Pauma Casino, and Tribal Chairman Chris Devers have agreed to keep the searchlights off at Casino Pauma.
The Roadrunner received this statement from Devers: “The Pauma Band has continually incorporated its neighbors’ concerns in operating its casino, and based on recent comments that have been directed to the Tribal government we have turned off some exterior lights beginning August 21, 2007 while we review our policies.
“The Pauma Band is gathering information from its casino management staff, Enterprise Board, legal counsel as well as the County in an attempt to initiate a dialogue with the appropriate county officials,” said Devers.
The observatory had objected to the lights because they interfere with its astronomical work.
The County last week sent a letter to the tribe stating that it felt that the searchlights violated an earlier agreement that the tribe had made not to do anything to compromise the observatory’s operations.
The Valley Roadrunner
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Tel. 760.749.1112 Fax 760.749.1688
Website: www.valleycenter.com
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