The passing week brought about the renewal of Student Site Council (SSC) congregations for the new year. On January 24, Principal Diana Yarboi, Assistant Principals Yvette Taylor and Patricia Durham, and student/parent representatives met in the Ayala conference room to discuss a wide variety of things, starting first with the development of goals that had been outlined in the previous meeting and several other developments to be detailed below.

Goals

Goal one has been to focus on PBIS implementation as it pertains to staff preparation, which they’ve been working with Chino Valley Unified School District on over the past few months. Goal two was also centered around staff, however this goal was more centered around the crucial reunification aspect of staff training that would be necessary in case of a school emergency where students would need to be “reunified” with their parents. It was said that a more detailed and engaged plan would be implemented soon, hopefully just as a precaution.

ESA 

Other goals included the Essential Standards Assessment (ESA) developments for both English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics. Scores for both tests were reported as percentages of students from each grade level that achieved a score of “Standard Met” or “Standard Exceeded,” not as an average score percentage as what may falsely be assumed. 

All grades saw an increase in percentiles except for the 11th grade class, which dropped from a 77.2% to a staggering 69%. As was mentioned in the previous meeting and detailed further this time in January, Ayala English teachers continue to be at the top in terms of performance throughout the entire state.

Mentioned by Yarboi was the trend that mathematics has followed throughout the nation, which has been a noticeable downward trend. Only grades 9-11 were tested, with the freshman class being the only one to report lower scores in their second ESA than their first, a drop from 38.6% to 36.4%.

ESL Progress

English Learner (EL) students, of which Ayala currently has 77, have shown a promising trend of proficiency in their English progress. Around 73.6% are making progress towards English language proficiency according to statistics reported by administration, an 18.3% increase from what is presumably the last meeting.

Assorted Developments

The counselors were commended for their work to make the senior class as college prepared as possible, or perhaps “life after high school” prepared as possible. This specification comes from the fact that two-year colleges, military enrollment and other trade schools are considered in academic planning and are recognized as such in the following statistics. Around 68.5% of 676 students last year were prepared for college, with the graduation rate being an approximate 98%. 

While some believe that Yarboi previously inflated graduation numbers, she explained in the meeting the 100% claim came from the fact that seniors who completed their credits after their final year (during summer) were not considered for official graduation rates but still graduated on time.

ELA overall was reported to be 78.5 points above standard, with an increase of 21.4 points from the previous year around this time. Math was a lower but expected 7.2 points above standard, an increase of 11 points from what was previously a below standard score from this time last year. 

LCAP Goals

Goal one has been a development from the last meeting, where administration (specifically Yarboi) looked for rigorous “I can…” statements in each classroom they visit as a way to ensure that teachers are consistently updating and challenging student’s understanding in the classroom. Yarboi specifically stated that they keep to the motto, “We teach on our feet and we plan in our seat.”

Additionally, goal two was aimed on receiving an unintuitive 2 out of 2 on PBIS Tier 1 Features, specifically 1.5 and 1.9 by May 2024—goals which, when explained further, detailed more extensive intervention plans to be used by teachers concerning communication with parents and students, with teachers also being more generally responsive to the needs of individual students as they see fit.

The final LCAP goal outlined was a hopeful 81% in combined Standard Met or Standard Exceeded rate in both CAASPP ELA assessments, an increase of 5% from last year’s 76%. Since these goals don’t pertain to the senior class, they mentioned specifically that they would like to increase the percentage of students that meet A-G requirements before graduation by decreasing the D-F rates among those students, a 3% increase from last year.

Important Dates

The upcoming months are going to bombard all students with consistent changes and tests to go along with those changes, the most damage being done on the senior class that awaits college acceptances while handling AP preparation and senior events. Below are the scheduled dates for various tests in the upcoming weeks.

April 9 – Math Computer Adaptive Test (CAT)

April 10 – Math Performance Task (PT)

April 11 – California Science Test (CAST)

April 16 – ELA Computer Adaptive Test (CAT)

April 17 – ELA Performance Task (PT)

April 18 – Makeups

May 6-17 – AP Testing

Final Notes

Ayala staff has been drafting an application for the DuFour award for Model Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), an application that was completed by the end of the past week and will make Ayala, if won, the first school in California to win such an award. 

All track teams will be hosting an undisclosed fundraiser to help fund the League Finals that they host every year at the Bulldog Stadium, a large expenditure that they can’t always secure through school funds. Continue to check the Bulldog Times for more information (soon) on how you can support our track team.