Charter schools, University High score well
by Mary Bustamante on Jul. 18, 2006, under Education, LocalTerraNova figures best in state at a handful of Tucson locations
Some of the smartest kids in the state and nation go to a handful of Tucson charter schools.
Scores on the TerraNova were relatively flat for most Tucson-area school districts, although some schools had big increases or decreases.
Students at Lifelong Learning Academy, BASIS-Tucson and Hermosa Montessori, all Tucson charter schools, were tops in the state on the TerraNova, the dual-purpose assessment portion of AIMS that compares student scores across the country.
University High School, a college preparatory school in Tucson Unified School District, also made it to the top in Arizona. Its freshmen reading score, at the 92nd percentile, was first in the state. It was first in math at the 92nd percentile and it tied BASIS-Tucson, also at the 92nd percentile, in the language category. The national average is 50.
BASIS-Tucson’s freshman class was right behind UHS at the 91st percentile in reading and the 90th percentile in math, good enough for the second top spot in state scoring.
Fourth-graders at Lifelong Learning Academy were first in the state at the 89th percentile for language and first, at the 86th percentile, for reading.
Seventh-graders at Hermosa Montessori, 12051 E. Fort Lowell Road, tied a Tempe school at the 90th percentile for first in reading.
Lifelong Learning Academy Principal May Lou Klem said 15 pupils attended the school’s fourth grade last year.
“We have small class sizes. We got a half-million-dollar grant to put top computer hardware and software in our school a few years ago and each of our students has his own computer at school.”
She said she has nothing against public education and wonders what all public schools could do if they had the small size and computer resources her school has.
Klem said the school has great certified teachers, students who are focused and parents who were “very, very, very involved” in their children’s education.
BASIS-Tucson, 3825 E. Second St., was ranked as the third-best high school in the nation by Newsweek magazine in May.
Students there are required to take at least eight advanced placement courses and a minimum of six advanced placement exams before they graduate.
University High, 421 N. Arcadia Ave., has been at the top of the list when state test scores are released nearly since its inception in 1977.
And Hermosa Montessori also stays at or near the top.
Other schools showed considerable improvement on TerraNova scores.
Third-graders at Cavett Elementary, 2120 E. Naco Vista Drive in Tucson Unified scored 27 percentage points higher this year than last in the language section of TerraNova.
Cavett Principal Jeanne Herron credits good teachers, including lots of bilingual ones who focus on English learners. The school has gotten extra money because it was under an improvement plan, which meant it could get more supplies and extra training for teachers.
The school has a reading tutoring program during the day and an afterschool reading and math tutoring program.
Fourth-graders at Miller Elementary, 6951 S. Camino de la Tierra, gained 25 points in math, the biggest county gain in that grade level and subject.
Miller Principal Cathryn DeSalvo said teachers met weekly and identified students who were most behind and found out exactly where they needed extra help.
All Miller students get a half-hour of intervention classes a week to improve their academics, and the ones who needed it the most were put into smaller teacher/student ratio groups, she said.
At Mesquite Elementary, 9455 E. Rita Ranch Road in Vail School District, Principal Connie Erickson attributed the seventh grade’s top showing in the county in math on a “reteach and enrich” program. Students who didn’t understand the weekly math concept that has been taught get additional instruction on it. Those who got it the first time still get instruction on the concept, but at a higher grade level.
Students with high math aptitude are identified in second grade and put on an advanced-math tract, she said.
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